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Swing the Heartache: The BBC Sessions

by

Bauhaus

 
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Swing the Heartache: The BBC Sessions

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Avg: 4.5 (83 ratings)

If you want to blame anyone for burning the combination of campy horror and performance art into the public consciousness…

  • We Say...

    Review by Peter Parrish

    If you want to blame anyone for burning the combination of campy horror and performance art into the public consciousness, you can probably point a pale, bony finger at Bauhaus. One can almost picture the swirling robes as Peter Murphy launches into each number with the vocal affectations of an aristocratic bloodsucker. It’s tempting, when assessing the band, to allow Murphy to soak up all the limelight — especially as he’s such a weirdo. “In this solemn place of fill wetting dreams/ Of black matted lace, of pregnant cows” he cheerfully warbles on “In the Flat Field.” Mm, ok then… Faced with this deeply strange lyrical onslaught, the consistent, mesmeric tightness of the rhythm section could be criminally overlooked. So too, could the crawling, treble-infused guitar blitz of Daniel Ash, which not only characterises the group’s sound but set the tone for countless creepy-copyists. These BBC recordings find Bauhaus at their spikiest and most direct, though also in an occasionally playful mood. No-one who hears the melodramatic “Party of the First Part” could be left in any doubt that the collective tongue was rarely far from a cheek. Sure, it’s about a young lady selling her soul to the devil — but it’s still funny.

  • They Say...

    Review by Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

    Whether it was the immediacy of recording or some other unexplainable element, Bauhaus always thrived when doing British radio appearances, with no less than five of the 18 tracks collected here seeing official release by the band on singles or albums during its first lifetime. That one of these was Bauhaus' biggest-ever British hit, the completely and perfectly over-the-top rendition of Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust," is further testimony to the band's success at the Beeb. The five show appearances here, including both John Peel sessions and guest spots with other DJs, make for an excellent sampling of the band in many different guises, from obscure rarities to redone versions of some of Bauhaus' most successful songs. The first six tracks cover In the Flat Field-era material, including a slightly more laid-back version of T. Rex's "Telegram Sam" and an energetic thrash through "A God in an Alcove," as well as the powerful take of "Double Dare" which was used to begin Field. The midsection covers a lot of ground, from the familiar takes on "Ziggy" and Eno's "Third Uncle" used on singles and albums to the quirky, film-dialogue-sampling drama of "Party of the First Part," not to mention an otherwise unavailable song, the funky, percussion-heavy "Poison Pen," never successfully recorded by the band elsewhere. Another rarity pops up among the final tracks -- of all things, the Strangeloves' legendary Nuggets-compiled garage-rocker "Night Time," given a great bouncy reading here. Add to that some sharp takes on the lengthy title track and "She's in Parties," not to mention a version of "The Three Shadows Pt. 2" that's notably more successful than the recording on The Sky's Gone Out, and Swing is an unparalleled success, a collection that will interest and satisfy newcomers as much as longtime band fanatics.

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