Music Review: Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out

Call it a cop out or the sign of an incredibly dedicated fan, but here we are again with another review of a Bauhaus album. This time, I will talk about the third full studio album offered by the group in 1982, The Sky's Gone Out.

Album cover art for The Sky's Gone Out

Other reviewers before me have given this album a positive enough review but dock it for 1) being much more dark and negative than the preceding studio album, Mask, and 2) being an odd mix of individual songs that stand out on their own but don't really connect to make a complete sounding and feeling album.

From my perspective, yes, The Sky's Gone Out is much darker than my favorite Bauhaus album, Mask. But hey, we goth-y sorts love that kind of thing, right? Yes, yes we do. And I think there is something to be said about albums with strong, individual songs, that don't necessarily flow into one another. Not everything needs to be a concept album, telling a story from start to finish through several songs.

Bauhaus. Left to right: David J (bass), Kevin Haskins (drums), Peter Murphy (vocals), Daniel Ash (guitar)

The Sky's Gone Out opens with a cover of Brian Eno's "Third Uncle." Admittedly, I hadn't gotten into Brian Eno until more recently (I certainly heard this cover well before hearing the original). I also admit to being incredibly picky about covers. Most covers, in my mind, are sub par at best. There are the rare few that are decent, but the original is still better. And then there's the category this cover falls under - covers that are just as good if not BETTER than the original. I like Brian Eno's work, but I actually love the Bauhaus cover more than the original. Then again, I think I like every Bauhaus cover more than the original song...though the cover for "Ziggy Stardust" and David Bowie's original are on roughly equal footing for me.

The second track, "Silent Hedges," is a song I always enjoy seeing performed. The passion that comes through, the constant point to the ground to symbolize "the beautiful downgrade" and "going to Hell again." It's such a wonderful song and has been a favorite of mine for a long time. And for those that like all the gloom and doom, tell me a lyric like "Burning the private paradise of dreams/madness at the hands of the electric clock/what happens when the intoxication of success has evaporated?" doesn't send chills down your spine? Easily my favorite part of the song.

Peter Murphy at some point in his solo career (probably in the 80s?)

The third track is "In The Night." For whatever reason, I didn't used to give this song any attention. I'd often skip it. Then a couple weeks ago, I just listened to it fully. And I felt like I got slapped in the face by reality and woke up to something sensational. The song starts off relatively slow and transitions into a song more similar to post-punk's predecessor genre - punk. The schizophrenic nature of this song with some beautiful (yet dark) lyrics makes this such a great track. Should Peter Murphy ever play this one live, I imagine the entire audience, regardless of whether they know the lyrics to this one, would go absolutely bat shit crazy. The likelihood of this happening is probably slim to none, but I can only hope I'm there for that moment.

Skipping over the fourth and fifth tracks (the fifth track being a special number with a good one minute plus at the end repeating "we love our audience!" which could very well be a nod to all the critics out there that consistently gave Bauhaus poor reviews), we come to "The Three Shadows" parts 1, 2, and 3. The first part is a haunting instrumental. I think Peter Murphy opened with this one when I saw him at the Moody Theater here in Austin in November 2011 (I know it was one of the three parts and most sources say it was part 2, but I don't remember him singing any lyrics and the intro music was very long while part 2 doesn't have all that much a musical intro before the lyrics begin). Part 1, to me, is just one of those songs that sends chills down your spine (I'm listening to it as I write this part, and sure enough...chills down the spine). Some parts of this song actually remind me of the more musical elements in some of Peter Murphy's solo work (perhaps a hint on some work on Dust and Holy Smoke). You want a quintessential goth song? Here it is.

Part 2 is, according to Peter Murphy in recent interviews, a song he wrote and composed wholly (recall, most Bauhaus songs he had parts in writing lyrics and music, but he was not the predominating force). This song has the feel of something from the 1800s. Some dapper gentleman, sitting in a bar, sipping at whiskey, thinking of some prostitute. I don't know. Maybe that's a little too literal a reading of the starting lyrics. But it's almost a statement, to me, of the death of the noble gentleman and how the speaker of the song is pulled into the middle of the rat race but will always exist. I openly admit I'm not so great at interpreting song lyrics. But, there is something exquisitely dark in this song that I can't fully put my finger on.

I will finish with discussing "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything." This is a fairly simple song musically consisting of just guitar (mostly acoustic until about half way through), some drums (half way into the song), bass/violin (I think the recording uses a bass while it is performed live with a violin), and vocals. As Peter Murphy explained to the crowd during the Mr. Moonlight tour at I believe Dallas (maybe Austin? I forget), this song was inspired (musically) by the first chords he learned to play on guitar and that he wanted to write lyrics around that. As for the song's meaning, I interpret the lyrics as a statement of the beginning days for the band: "All we ever wanted was everything / all we ever got was cold / get up, eat jelly / sandwich bars and barbwire / squash every week into a day...oh to be the cream." To me, it all began as this desire to have everything - the fame, fortune, happiness, acclaim, fans, etc. But, as with all new things, you start at nothing. And in basically creating a new music genre, you have the added difficulty in having to sell that vision to people. So, you may want everything, but you end up getting only cold. You're poor, so you eat PB&J and the barbwire bitter words of critics (there are pictures of, if I remember correctly, Kevin Haskins ripping newspaper reviews of Bauhaus albums to shreds because the reviews were incredibly negative). And you have to work hard, move fast, and effectively squash a week of life into a day. And then there's still that dream fantasy..."oh to be the cream." Effectively, oh to be the best part of it all. The richness, the decadence, the cream.

Peter Murphy again, but sporting blonde hair! This was probably late 80s to early 90s when the Deep album was released

On the whole, I'll agree with the reviewers I mentioned earlier. Yes, this is a dark album. It is dark musically, and it is dark lyrically. Its delivery leaves no mistake to be made about first impressions. There is evil and nastiness in the world and this album points it out to you. Additionally, yes, the songs don't exactly flow together perfectly. The final song on the album, "Exquisite Corpse," is probably the most schizophrenic song I have ever heard, it itself not flowing perfectly from one section to the next. But, as I also said, I think there is something to be said about an album of strong songs that points out, perhaps, the disconnected nature of life and human interaction. While still not my favorite Bauhaus album, it is certainly a sensational trip. I don't think I could give just one answer for the most gothic album, but this would certainly make the list of albums that defines our little subculture.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (just because the reggae part in "Exquisite Corpse" ruins that amazingly chilling song...I love the guitar work in that one, but man the reggae part...just no)

More information: Official Site of Bauhaus Official Site of Peter Murphy