I'm amazed no-one's reviewed this. On the other hand... I feel that I really should preface what I’m about to say by stating that I’m a huge fan of Bauhaus.
It was 1988. I was discovering alternative music, and came to what was then 'goth' via The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission, both of whom had singles and albums in the chart at that time. They grabbed me because they were a world apart from the Stock Aitken and Waterman conveyor-belt pop that was saturating the top 40 then.
My search for more different-sounding music, music that wasn't mainstream bilge, soon brought to me to The March Violets, The Cure and Bauhaus. And I loved 'em. What struck me even then was that The Sisters, The Mission and Bauhaus, although lumped together in the 'goth' category, sounded nothing alike and, indeed, shared very little common ground. And I liked them because of their disparate nature. The other 'goth' bands I came to like were similarly un-goth. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, James Ray and the Performance, Alien Sex Fiend, Field of the Nephilim... They were all New Wave or post-punk (or descendants thereof): none of them fitted the stereotype, none of them churned out hackneyed clichés about vampires and coffins and death (Bauhaus' 'Bela Lugosi’s Dead' notwithstanding, but it predated the formalisation of 'goth' by years and was a one-off, and ok, Wayne Husey's lyrics were nothing but clichés strung together, but they were never clichés about graveyards and bloodletting).
Anyway, Bauhaus impressed me. What made Bauhaus great was their willingness to experiment. They were extremely prolific during their short lifespan, and never did they fall to becoming formulaic. As such, their legacy was impressive. Yes, they had some weaker tracks, especially on the single b-sides, but that was ok, because they were always pushing their own boundaries while still knocking out some truly killer singles.
I tend to be quite sceptical about comeback albums and band reunions. And Bauhaus' Go Away White reinforces many of my reservations. Don’t get me wrong, it's not a bad album. And it's not a clichéd 'goth' album either. It’s just not a Bauhaus album. Ok, some purists say that Burning from the Inside isn't a proper Bauhaus album, but I think it holds up well and is an integral part of their canon. Go Away White isn't. Precisely why, I find it hard to put my finger on. Put simply, it lacks the magic. It also lacks the diversity and texture that was the only thing that was 'typical' about their previous studio albums.
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From the opener, 'Too Much 21st Century' and the too-similar second track 'Adrenalin' (a title that's been done to death, surely) it's very much built around bright, chunky distorted guitars and solid 4/4 rhythms. It's largely kinda one-pace, stomping along. The slower tracks are sequenced so as to be expected – a couple of uptempo songs, must be time for a slower one with vocals that are more spoken... not only has it all been done before and better, but Bauhaus themselves have done it all before and better.
So, as I say, it's not bad. I've spent the last week or so wondering if I'd like it more if I tried to forget it's a Bauhaus album and listen to it without the weight of expectation. Mmmmaybe. But then, it still doesn't grab me, and had it not been a Bauhaus album, I'd probably not have bothered buying it, or listening to it more than once. Maybe it will grow on me, maybe it won't. For now, I'm going to let it sit for a while, and give In the Flat Field another spin. Now that's an album!
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