Showing posts with label Bauhaus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bauhaus. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Favorite Albums: 60 - 59

60. The Sky's Gone Out by Bauhaus (1982)

The third Bauhaus album kicks off with a ripping rendition of Brian Eno's "Third Uncle". "Silent Hedges" follows, a pretty cool song about someone having a mental collapse, basically. "In the Night" is actually an older Bauhaus song, but this is the first album it appears on. Cool song. "Swing the Heartache" is one of the most famous Bauhaus songs, not that that's saying a whole lot - ha ha. It's also one of their best, I think. "Spirit" is an all-out tribute to the band's fans. Very good song. The next song starts off a trilogy. "The Three Shadows, Pt. 1" is a haunting four minute instrumental, very lovely. "The Three Shadows, Pt. 2" is about a minute shorter, also pretty chilling, especially with Peter Murphy's voice. "The Three Shadows, Pt. 3" is only about a minute and a half, but completely changes the tone of the three part song while also expanding on the themes in part 2. Good stuff. Part 2 is the best of the three, though. "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything" is a very sad song, really. One of the gloomiest songs I've ever heard, and extremely beautiful. "Exquisite Corpse" closes the album. It is a somewhat chaotic, very fragmented song, seemingly, again, about someone losing their mind. Really well done. Overall, this album is kick ass. Not a weak spot on it, and several very very strong spots. Highly recommend it.
5 Best Songs:
5. "Third Uncle"


4. "Swing the Heartache"


3. "The Three Shadows, Pt. 2"


2. "All We Ever Wanted Was Everything"


1. "Spirit"


59. Nothing's Shocking by Jane's Addiction (1988)

I started this entry on June 28th. It is now July 7th.
Sorry... I really don't have the time to get into this any more, now that school has started, so... From here on out, it's going to be very very generic. Once I get settled into a pattern, I'll come back through and redo all these, but right now I just don't have the time.
5 Best Songs:
5. "Up the Beach"


4. "Pigs In Zen"


3. "Ted, Just Admit It..."


2. "Mountain Song"


1. "Summertime Rolls"

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Favorite Albums: 102 - 101

102. Why Do Birds Sing? by Violent Femmes (1991)

For most people, there are only two Violent Femmes albums worth a damn. The self titled debut, and 3. This one is pretty loathed by a lot of Femmes fans. Personally, I dig it. It's obviously not the best album, but considering how dark and depressing 3 was it was a necessary goofing around rebound. The most notable song on this album is the cover of Culture Club's "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" I was in Columbus one time the summer after this album came out, and OSU's radio station did a mash up of both versions, and it was awesome. Never heard it again, but it was the coolest shit ever. This is a pretty hard album to describe. There's "Hey Nonny Nonny" which uses the lyrics of a poem from the Middle Ages, "More Money Tonight" which tries to be tongue in cheek but comes off as pompous asshole, "Life Is a Scream" and "Flamingo Baby" which might be two of the most annoying songs I've ever heard. "Girl Trouble" and "Out the Window" are two of the better songs on the album, both of which sound like they could have been on the debut album. Overall, it's pretty easy to see why not a lot of people like this album. It's pretty uneven, but for the most part it's still enjoyable.
5 Best Songs:
5. "Used To Be"
4. "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?"
3. "American Music"
2. "Girl Trouble"
1. "Hey Nonny Nonny"

"Used To Be"


"Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" (Anime fan video, but pretty well done.)


"American Music"


"Girl Trouble"


"Hey Nonny Nonny"


101. Burning From the Inside by Bauhaus (1983)

This was the third and final Bauhaus album before Peter Murphy split and the rest of the band became Love and Rockets. What a way to go out. This album had some of their coolest songs on it, from the awesome, nearly 10 minute title track to the sadly beautiful "Hope" and "Kingdom's Coming" to the album's signature song, "She's In Parties." "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight" is outstanding, one of their coolest songs ever. "King Volcano" is an interesting little medieval folk song sounding chant. "Antonin Artaud" is pretty much the only "rock" song on the album, an aggressive little ditty that punches you in the face after the mellow opener "She's In Parties." "Honeymoon Croon" sounds very Talking Heads inspired, but not to the point where it seems out of place. "Slice Of Life" is another bad ass tune, one of the few Bauhaus songs that doesn't have Peter Murphy on lead vocals. ("Who Killed Mr. Moonlight" is another.) It's a shame this was the last Bauhaus album, because they really were figuring it all out by this point. Just a classic album with no weak spots.
5 Best Songs:
5. "Slice Of Life"
4. "She's In Parties"
3. "Burning From The Inside"
2. "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight"
1. "Hope"

"Slice Of Life"


"She's In Parties"


"Burning From the Inside"


"Who Killed Mr. Moonlight"


"Hope"