Mask

This whips ass. They've got a dude who's probably a worse vocalist than me, the thinnest, shittiest production imaginable and they've swathed the whole thing in reverb. It's simply majestic as to the degree that this sucks, therefore it gets a maximum score from yours truly.

It’s somewhat reminiscent of Joy Division in that it has that Martin Hannett style wall of sound production that sounds like it was recorded underwater or in someone’s bathroom. Unlike Joy Division though, this was good, not as depressing and didn’t want to make me slit my wrists. It’s just balls to the floor straight ahead industrial post/punk no wave that often funks. It’s good stuff and you can dance to a lot of it. Even better, for once the bonus tracks are not just a bunch of shit demos slapped on the end as an afterthought, they actually add to the overall package, rather than detract from it. Winning!

“Mask” by Bauhaus (1981) Never heard this album or group. I’m familiar with Bauhaus, the original early 20th century German art movement, and this group attempts to do a similar thing in the 1980s. Formal order to the point of monotony, accentuating the surrounding chaos. It’s cool. Fascinating, even. Proto-goth rock, anyone who enjoys both Jane’s Addiction and David Bowie will enjoy this album, if he or she has the patience for nearly unending minor keys and mechanical proto-disco rhythms. Thoughtful lyrics, even if frequently obscure. For example, in “Fear of Fear”, we get a hopeful message, encouraging the listener to overcome his or her insecurities or anxieties, bringing to mind that strange advice from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”, which is the silliest advice ever to receive public acclamation. I think Bauhaus would agree. Nice ‘tribute’ to Debbie Harry on “Harry”, although I’m not sure how she would feel about the line “They'll line you up and strip you down and then you'll see / That you're still the horny two-eyed bitch you used to be”. The song "1. David Jay 2. Peter Murphy 3. Kevin Haskins 4. Daniel Ash" is very cool. Actual backmasking as an art form on “4. Daniel Ash”. Wonderful fishcake recipe on “2. Peter Murphy”. Highly recommended. Musically, the album is inventive (this 1981, remember), and it is performed with exactitude, both in the solid grounding of the rhythm section and the sometimes ethereal melodies and harmonic flourishes. Lots of 1980s electronic experimentation. A good album, if somewhat dated. 3/5

Groovy haunted and so well paced

Time to put on my darkest eyeliner, it's goth time

FISHCAKES

Haven't heard this record before. Love it. Maybe I should become a goth.

I like it and I’m really sorry that girl sold all your shit, Andy. Five stars.

love my sad boi music this album feels so cohesive, there's not a song that feels out of place

2.84??? This is so awesome! Easy 5/5. Sad but wired stuff.

Creepily good. The album cover is a masterpiece. Bass and guitar on ‘Dance’ is dope.

I am digging the groove right off the bat. shit that started me on the third track! I am still digging the groove. THE PASSION OF LOVERS IS FOR DEATH!!! In Fear of Fear is another cool tune. Great album really toroughly enjoyed that.

Oh shit. This is actually playing weird and dark shit the right way. I think I really liked it actually.

Funhaus

A bit weird, it didn't wake up anything inside me, but also didn't bothered me to listen

This was very....strange. I was expecting something like Joy Division or The cure (things that I like), but it was more...darker and strange. I liked it, but not too much.

A solid post punk album, one that made me want to hear live.

That’s what the point of the mask is

Maybe Goth was scary and dark and menacing when it first hit the scene, but now it just feels kind of “spooky”, like the cheesy haunted house that used to petrify you as a kid.

Shockingly underwhelming. I think it’s completely fine for early goth, and there’s a decent amount of good stuff on Mask, but it’s never mind-blowing. There’s also a lot of elements that proved to be influential, but sound really awkward and poorly executed in Bauhaus’ hands. The spoken word gloomy poetry of “Of Lilies and Remains,” the Jim Morrison-esque crazed jitter of “Muscle in Plastic,” the effects-riddled closer/title track that makes you want to jump through the speakers and tell them to turn OFF the pedal board. The songs that do work, though, are still not the strongest goth songs in history. The grating vocals nearly ruin “Dancing” and “The Man with X-Ray Eyes,” and the annoying delay effects on “The Passion of Lovers” teaches us that there’s a such thing as too much aesthetics. Bauhaus is a good band, but rarely a great band. It seems like their biggest strength was just being early to the party and bringing a sound and an aesthetic that was damn near inevitable, given the post-punk scene at the time. The guitars can be cool when they aren’t washed out, the vocals can be good when it’s not riddled with spoken word tropes, and the rhythm section does evoke the right vibe when it’s not fighting to course-correct the previous two issues. It sounds like I hate Mask, when I don’t. It’s just a 60/40 album with a bad batch of tracks, and good tracks with bad habits sprinkled throughout. If it sounds like I hate Mask, it’s explicitly because everyone knows Bauhaus *can* write songs a million times better than this. In fact, they did!! The album’s biggest weakness is that it doesn’t have the seminal goth track “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” The issue is that “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” never ended up on a proper album, which means it couldn’t be included in this book, so in order to include Bauhaus, the book had to make a choice, and while Mask isn’t a bad album, I think it is a bad choice to include on this list. If you take the time to listen to “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” and immediately listen to Mask back-to-back, it’s clear that Mask isn’t even a fair replacement for that single. Honestly, I think the song “Hollow Hills” summarizes Mask best: it’s a good goth song if you have little to compare it to, but less than impressive if you’ve heard other seminal goth songs. And not to play the comparison game, but Juju came out 4 months before Mask! It’s sad that Bauhaus can’t reach the heights of their first single, but being first doesn’t absolve you enough to validate a mid-tier album.

At best, a poor man's Cure. Yes, dark, but the sound is thin and tinny, as if it's being heard on a distressed cassette tape in an underpowered Japanese-made compact car with a weak stereo system in the early 1980s, which in one's case, indeed it was. "Of Lillies" is of some interest. One likes some of the shearing guitars (e.g., on "Dancing") but the overall feel of even the strongest moments ("Kick in the Eye") is of being quite dated.

Des bruits bizarres puis d'autres bruits et encore des bruits bizarres, c'est vraiment pas le style de musique que je préfère. Reprends toi rapidement Robert.

So I saw Bauhaus at a music a festival a awhile ago, and thought their set was pretty decent… Now of course I was getting the “Best Of” set-list, so was curious how this album would sit with me… Turns out not-so-much… It is fairly original, but there’s not a whole lot you can really do with that “sound” as it gets pretty repetitive after a bit… The only tracks that were mildly interesting – and I emphasize the word MILDLY, were “The Passion Of Lovers”, & “Kick In The Eye”… I see people going on and on about the “David, Peter, Kevin, etc.” song – so I was kinda curious about that one, but what an utter waste of time… Gonna give this a 2 since seeing them live – albeit playing the best of their material over the course of their career, was at least interesting, and doubt they would have gotten to that place without albums like this that moved them along the process of developing their sound…

Goth. Sounds super sloppy and incoherent and the vocals were wholly unenjoyable. Some passable beats occasionally. 2.0 stars.

Fucking terrible to listen to. This did absolutely nothing for me.

Not a fan of this kind of music at all. Also, why did one of the final bonus tracks go from gothic to reggae?

Kamalt El Hadra 8.M Rbo3 Etheleth M 3l Bouheli Mte3 Dostoevsky.

very cool

I love this type of sound, absolute genius

Good goth fun.

Fantastic!

Great album to get in October, definitely get spooky vibes. Great album overall.

9/10 wonderful album from beginning to end I liked this a little bit more than their first album too

After sitting through 2 weeks of mediocrity I'm probably rating this higher than I would normally, but it is also some really interesting post punk

"In Fear of Fear" was my favorite. This is a little Joy Division and a little Siouxsie Sioux. It was raw, simple, and a great, dark listen. Good stuff.

Godfathers of Gothic. exceptional album

Chaotic but pleasant. Kinda like clown core but British

I had a really good time listening to this. Bauhaus have always just escaped my listening so I'm glad to have finally sat down and had a crack and this weas really just a great album. What a fantastic voice for all of the spoken word sections as well, gave me chills at times

Goth boiz

the perfect mix of sad dance music, going on my repeat listen list

Goth post-punk classic. Killer bass lines, shrieky guitar, driving rhythms and all the weird that Peter Murphy can summon.

In the muggy serenity of a red sky morning, I revisit this dichromatic glam rock gem, which I first heard on a chilly, acid soaked night/morning thirty three years prior. Still high. Not as high. Still high, though. Different times, ya see. "Goth", as I came to understand, signifies nothing but black and white silver screen teenage glam. As a genre of popular music, its useful to understand that these sorts of labels are the inventions of critics who, regardless of other ideological considerations about the phenomenology of music, all want to be great taxonomists: the Coiner of a Genre Name. A band like Bauhaus, like the punks before them, were studied in the same artists and records. The Velvets, The Stooges, Bowie, Roxy Music and all the great Dub Reggae that were floating around the UK. In the US, the latter really wasn't a thing; Aside from the phenomenal Christian Death out of LA, The Doors got substituted for the Dub, and well, if you like Jimbo Lizardpants, have at it. The difference is depth and proportion; The original punks, by and large, loved the immediacy of what can be done with four rock n roll chords when played fast. The best, in my opinion, went from there. The rest got mohawks and established the official sartorial choices. Bauhaus went hard into the weird psychodramas of early Bowie, communed with the deep cut VU, favorited masochistic love songs, Bryan Ferry's silver screen louche and ennui stricken debonair, the absolute basslines of Dub. And, clearly, explored the rabbit holes only fans will follow. Bowie hero Scott Walker. The art rock of John Cale, Nico, and Eno. All of it theatrical. All Glam. Theatrical kids are drawn to the theatrical, the dramatic to the dramatic. Throw in silent and mid-century art films. Bauhaus. That first impression was of the self-contained universe the album created. It had its own physics. The bass is rainbow gravity, and everything else bounces around, with songs forming like cloudshapes, instruments and sounds objects in the sky, death ray guitars, Peter Murphy, sounding like Iggy Bowie at their most decrepit and spent, offering commentary. Vapor trails. Disquietude. Exiliration and the ecstasy of the psychic connection one can have with a record: the mind meld. Bauhaus. These years later, and still high, though different shit, different times (fuck you teenage me; I got a license to Ill), and, aside from time permitting me to really explore the same rabbit holes as Bauhaus; proceeding from the same sources. That exploration led me to same places, a, and I am able to spot the same influences. Edge Lords, naturally, would declare this as derivative and therefore, shit, and return to glaring women out of the record store. Edge Lords are Rogans—obvious and obtuse. Tree-spotters, if you like. What Bauhaus do, song to song, is take those things, and remake them inside of their universe. What if John Cale had Dub as inspiration. What would the low end on "Sister Ray" sound like? And what would the imagined black and white movie look like? Theatrical. Glam. One of my absolute all -time favorites "The Passion of Lovers" is the second track, all melodrama and with a huge hook, and all of it sounds new. "Of Lillies and Remains" teleports the VU's "Lady Godiva's Operation" into a twisted Victorian parlour drama starring Conrad Veidt. "Hollow Hills" is pure pagan horror. Everything on this album is completely compelling. My first impression was the correct impression, and my appreciation has only deepened for this epic dichromatic glam classic. Within its universe, I find myself appreciating the fine details, the nuances, the shifting context of then and now. I guess I haven't mellowed—at least not in the important ways. Me and my licensed Mowie Wowie found the experience amazing.

Bauhaus makes goth music fun. This album was a blueprint for so many goth bands that followed but what makes it stand out is the total uniqueness of the music itself.

A great album that is really fascinating with its... groove. Yes, that's right. Bauhaus never wanted to be labeled as 'gothic rock'. While their music is dark and the title track shows this perfectly (as 'Hollow Hills', my favourite) other songs really put the drums and bass to the forefront and let it roll nicely. If you read up on the band it's not that surprising since they loved reggae. All in all, this album is an atmospheric journey that keeps you invested in each track. One of the highlights of this list.

Perfect. One of my favourite albums ever. In the Flatfield is also great of course, but this one contains Mask.

Good, really good. Twisted and dark and weird rhythms

Essential Bauhaus.

This album is so bizarre that I think I'm in love with it. Favorite track: Satori

Very cool

I knew that Bauhaus was seminal to if not the originators of goth music (and culture), but what I failed to recognise were the spin-offs of their breakup, including Love & Rockets and the one-hit wonderful Tones on Tail. I bopped to about 50% of this album (the part that sounded like vintage mid-70s Bowie) and got serious Joy Division vibes from the other 50%. I’ve 5-starred both of those, so what choice do I have?

Nice drum sounds.

1981. Key Songs: Kick in the Eye, The Man with X-Ray Eyes, Dancing

Never would have checked these guys out, like it a lot! Other bands borrowed from them for sure

Pretty cool

Puro sonido post-punk / siniestro / gothic rock . Canciones como Hair of the dog, Kick in the eye, Muscle in plastic o The man with X-Ray eyes. Pueden gustar más o menos pero creo que definen un sonido que luego se ha replicado con más éxito por otras bandas. El bajo, la batería o las guitarras afiladas. Estos discos en vinilo los estuve buscando eternamente sin éxito. Son 3 estrellas sobradas, pero les voy a dar 4 por que últimamente he estado muy rácano.

I kind of love how bad the production is on this. It can't destroy how much I like these songs. Not an album I was familiar with before, but will listen again.

Pretty good album. Never heard of it, but it's a solid mix of goth rock and pop.

Absolutely loved it. I only give it 4 stars because The last songs of the album felt quite weak for me

Can hear a lot of ways that they influenced later artists. Interesting stuff!

As I approach my mid-30’s, the biggest driver of what I listen to is that I’m a Deadhead - so the great majority of the time that I’m listening to music, it’s jam bands, or the myriad of genres they draw their influence from. Even in such a kaleidoscope of musical styles, goth rock isn’t one of them. However, when I was in high school I listened to a ton of 80’s alternative & indie, so Bauhaus is a band I’ve known of for years upon years, all the songs most people know like “Bella Lugosi’s Dead”, “Stigmata Martyr” or this album’s own “The Passion of Lovers”, to name a few. I’d always figured these guys were more of a singles band than anything else, and for the first five songs of this record the music was mostly background noise in my AirPods while I went about some chores at home. Imagine my surprise when I reached “Kick in the Eye” and a bass line started that sounded like something Phil Lesh would’ve laid down on a version of “Dancing in the Street” from the late 70’s - I sat up straight and the album had my full attention! From that point on it’s more like a melange of goth, funk, and experimentalism, and a far more interesting album than what the initial five tracks suggest.

I had no idea what to expect, but thoroughly enjoyed the album.

I like this FISH CAKES!

Good but not my fav of theirs

I might be a Bauhaus fan now! Kind of had them looped in with The Cure but I enjoyed it more than them. I can definitely see where AFI got some of their modern sound.

Enjoyed the music, not in love with the filler noise stiff.

It rocked... occasionally

El disco se me hizo pesado. Sólo conocía The Passion of Lovers. Aunque brinca entre el post-punk y lo gótico, se nota un estilo bien definido que terminará siendo una gran influencia durante todos los ochentas, sólo no entiendo Harry, que parece más una canción de Soda Stereo en el 88. 3.5 Estrellas que voy a subir a 4 porque sí es un gran disco aunque no sea de mi total agrado. Songs: The Passion of Lovers, The Man with the X-Ray Eyes

3.5 | Supuse que Bauhaus estaría en algún lugar de la lista. No se si vaya a venir el debut pero creo que esta es la elección obvia para poner en caso de solo poner un disco. Aunque personalmente me agrada mucho más algo como Bela Lugosi is Dead aquí es música mucho más accesible, a pesar de iniciar con dos canciones poco convencionales el resto del disco es bastante melódico, en tanto que el disco anterior podía sentirse aun más oscuro que el que ha tocado de The Cure aquí se siente más hacia ese sonido de Siouxsie. Son los verdaderos padres del Gótico (al menos en mi opinión) y creo que es muy simple, a quien le gusta el estilo le pueden encantar, a quien no le gusta le sonarán a escuincles pretenciosos hablando de lo oscuuuuro que es mi vida. Debo decir que caigo en el primer campo.

Surprisingly accessible and clear to hear how Bauhaus have influenced other bands. The Bravery, Interpol. lots of Bauhaus in their sound. I always had Bauhaus pegged as a band that were impressive but difficult to love, that's changed after spending time with this album. I'll definitely be dipping further into their work

This is a very weird moody album but I mostly really dug it even if it’s a bit hard to get into. 4/5

Definitely got more into it the more of a chance I gave it. It has that 80s vocal-trappings which sometimes bring it down a bit for me, but damn there are some nice grooves in here as well as some interesting instrumentation. Had to listen to it twice, was originally a 3.5 rounded down to 3 but I think I have to go up to 4 since it is intriguing enough to me. Especially as the album evolves/devolves into experimental.

I'm a sucker for this kind of monochromatic music.

Utterly charming. Just the right amount of strange.

Absolutely loved this album, totally off the wall, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find the lyrics captivating. Interesting.

Never got into Bauhaus which is weird as they would seem on the surface to be right in my wheelhouse. Well the first two songs are great and there are a couple surprisingly good dance tracks. 1. David Jay 2. Peter Murphy 3.... is a strange trip of a song. There's some real variety here and its less dark than anticipated. Enjoyed it more than I thought 3.75

I had never heard of this. They really brought out the fun in goth. I loved the theatricality of the album. So many unexpected twists and turns in each song.

Aw such an immersion of memories for me! Remember booking this out from my local library. Creds to the librarian who added it to the stock!

Highlight: Kick in the Eye, The Passion of Lovers. I'm not sure how to interact with this album. It feels like it's having a conversation I don't know enough to keep up with.

Almost flawless. Better than the debut album?

Not as gothy as I thought it would be. Still a unique voice and sound though.

I like this record more when it's energy levels are higher. The varied instrumentation, including saxophone and piano, are nice. The slower, darker moments are also nice, though my attention is held more during the livelier tracks. Favorite tracks: "Of Lillies and Remains", "Dancing", "The Man With X-Ray Eyes"

Very good, not as good as the debut tho 🤷

I like this style in general, and some of the tracks sound very different and interesting. The album is a bit long, though; there is definitely some filler that could be left out.

Love a bit of goth and post-punk, and wasn't familiar with this album, so it was a very nice discovery. Judging by some of the reviews I need to get hold of the CD reissue as some of the bonus tracks generated quite a few comments... Fave track - "The Man With X-Ray Eyes" sounded most gothy. Liked the dancepunkiness of "Dancing", too...

Long time listent of Bauhaus, very enjoyable.

Spooky season is upon us and I am loving this emo boy music

Had to board a bus at 5:30am, put this song on and was surprised how well this album complemented the pre-dawn atmosphere. So far the two moods are “spooky ghost” and “spooky ghost d a n c e”, and I’m satisfied. HL: “Hollow Hills”, “Mask”, “Kick in the Eye”

Very interesting sounds! Still pretty 80s

Wait until mid-album. It gets worth it.

Driving guitar, intense music from the experimental legends of alternative rock.

Loved this. Bowie meets Art Brut and that is right up my straße

It doesn't have Bela Lugosi's Dead on it, but I still enjoy it. Have never listened to the album in its entirety and it doesn't quite all gel for me but still liked most of it. I know it's gothish, but also strikes me like David Bowie made an album with The Doors after they finished Soft Parade.

This is Tuesday 11 pm WPRB music. It definitely has a crowd, I’m just not in it. In a purely neutral way, it has a timeless quality, it’s hard to assess when it came out without checking. This band feels very influential, “Hollow Hills” feels like the intro to a nirvana song, so clearly the band is pulling on the right strings. Kick In the Eye is a really tight song, and a much better use of that plunky 80s bass sound than yesterday’s album

This kind of classic gothy post-punk tends to be to my taste. It might have to do with the rhythms. Must investigate further

Vissa va megabangers men de ble lite lustigt och lite långt mot slute

This one took me a few days to digest, I wasn't really sure if I liked it or not at first. I've heard of Bauhaus before but I don't think I've listened to them actively. I knew this was going to be gothic rock so I expected something like The Cure, but I was surprised by just how dark and rough this is. Some of the songs were familiar to me, but the two singles(?), "The Passion of Lovers" and "Kick in the Eye" didn't appeal to me as much as the fantastic "Hollow Hills", "The Man With X-Ray Eyes", and "Mask". I think I'll be revisiting it a lot, and I'm delighted to have found it. It's a 4 for me right now because I find it a bit uneven, but I could see the punkier songs growing on me, which could eventually raise it to a 5. Side note: I'm getting sick of the sneaky "Bonus tracks" and "Deluxe Editions" on Spotify. They should be either clearly labelled as bonus or you should be able to filter for the original version. With this album, the title track has a very definite end to it which is kind of spoiled by the 5 off cuts that follow it. Plus it makes the album like 50% longer...I have over 1000 albums to get through here!

The second release from one of the pioneers of goth rock is more varied than most of the other pioneers of the goth movement. You can hear much more of the post-punk influences, along with a little dub throughout. I was a fan of Peter Murphy's singing at this point (both for the band and for me personally) - I think later material can be a bit monotonous. The rest of the band is more varied as well. The acoustic elements and keyboard flourishes are welcome, as is the sax on occasion. I don't know if this one makes my list, but a pretty impressive effort all around.

I wasn't really in the mood for it today, but I'm glad I gave it a listen anyways. really like this album!

4.0 - Took me a bit to adjust to the muffled drum tracks but I ended up liking this album more than expected. I like the distant guitars that add an element of unrest in the background, as well as the riff on “Of Lilies and Remains.” The vocals, though thin, work well with tortured lyrics, enhancing an overall austere and gothic sound. I imagine I’ll like this even more after a few more listens. Standouts: “Dancing”, “In Fear of Fear”, “Mask.”

I've always like the vibe and image of Bauhaus but apart from their Bela Lugosi hit (which I bought on 12") could never get into them. Listening back now their sound is a lot more experimental (not mainstream at all) and authentic. 'Earwax' is a treat. It's pretty spare and basic (in a good way) so I'm happy to have reacquainted with them.