Track of the Week: Bauhaus: Mask (1981)

I've always thought that Bauhaus have been given short shrift: whilst some of their peers suhc as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Nick Cave have been rescued from the muck heap of goth rock and (rightly) hailed as both innovators and rock greats, Bauhaus have been largely ignored, left to rot in the cultural dustbin marked 'Fields of the Nephilim'/'Sisters of Mercy'/'The Cult' etc. This is grossly unfair, as, at their best, Bauhaus combined dark and richly theatrical music with a vital, morbid sense of humour derived from B-movies and the Cramps, in much the same way as the Banshees or Nick Cave - just listen to the shaggy dog story of 'Of Lillies and Remains' for proof! Given their carefully cultivated image, its appropriate that their best album and one of their best tracks should be entitled 'Mask'. The song starts of with guitarist Daniel Ash playing a two note drone. The drums play a slow pulse like a heart beat, whilst David J's bass, hollow and sombre, tolls like a funeral bell. A host of strange noises, backward tape effects, and what sounds like a chainsaw hover in the mix. The overall effect is not unlike stumbling upon a horde of goblins preparing for war in their underground lair - so far, so over-the-top gothic. But Bauhaus can never resist going at least 12 steps too far - which is largely the point. Vocalist Peter Murphy starts moaning like a zombie, which really has to be heard to be believed. It's hard not to imagine the singer rising out of the ground at this moment, all white face paint, sharp cheek bones and black hairspray. As his multi-tracked vocals declaim lines like 'From the growth underneath the closed mouth... Rack-trapped cubist vowels' like a chorus of undead Bowies, you can almost picture the smiles on the band's faces - the whole thing is so overwrought, so utterly over the top, but, like Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, it's entirely intentional and all part of the fun. Then, as we reach the coda, eveything changes. Major chords appear. Peter Murphy starts chanting 'The shadow is CAAAAAST' in a way that is almost anthemic, and higher in the mix then before. And then, to cap it off, everything is drowned out by a delicate, twinkling acoustic guitar part, not unlike moonlight breaking through dark clouds. Magic is not too strong a word.At their best, Bauhaus managed the rare feat of being entertaining and funny whilst at the same time combining innovation with a genuinely sinister edge. They created interesting music AND they sold records, which of course means they have little in common with the artistically-bankrupt black-clad metal-heads who make what passes for Goth music now. In fact, members of the post-punk revival searching for a way to expand their sound and audience on their next album but still create interesting and edgy music could do worse then rediscover Bauhaus.