Crackle: The Best Of Bauhaus - Dark Publications

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Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

bauhaus for your house December 17, 1998
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

Bauhaus hardly need an introduction. Crackle is the first true "best of" compilation of the work of the fathers of goth. Released to coincide with the world reunion tour, Crackle goes deeper into Bauhaus, beyond the singles, and explores each of their albums. Do not expect any rarities on this recording-- "best of" collections are meant to introduce new generations of fans to the work of influential artists, and Crackle does that quite well. The album is cohesively arranged by tone and mood, not by the historical order of the sixteen songs. Crackle opens with Daniel Ash's abrasive guitar underscoring Peter Murphy's commanding presence on "Double Dare". Kevin Haskins' incredible drumming leads us down into "In the Flat Field" which rises from the ashes of punk, only to shift gears as David J demonstrates his idiosyncratic and amazing bass guitar skills on the classic "Passion of Lovers" (and that's just the first three songs!). The version of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is the original Small Wonder Records single (much more spare, minimal, and riveting than the larger-than-life arena rock version which is on the Singles Volume 1 collection). Also included on the disc is "Silent Hedges", "Mask", "Ziggy Stardust", "Spirit", "Hollow Hills", and more. Unlike the tracks on the Singles album, which were the favorite songs of the Beggar's Banquet executives, Crackle is the personal beloved choices of Ash, Haskins, J, and Murphy themselves. If you are new to the work of Bauhaus, this fantastic album will certainly convince you of their deserved legendary status.

5 out of 5 stars

The Old School October 25, 2005
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

Bauhaus is not a melodic band nor are they a metal band. They don't try to hit you with sugary hooks and sing along lyrics nor do they attempt to hit you with rapid-fire thrash metal. They are an old school gloomy "Goth" band that the musical press once described as "a funeral dirge." Goth rock (and especially early, old school goth) was characterized by having three qualities to it - a slightly punk edge, a sublime metal edge but also a heavy influence of "art" or "artistic" rock. This "art rock" influence, in addition to the other influences, made them less attractive to hardcore punks and metalheads. Goth is a heavy dose of art rock blended with punk and a dash of metal. Perhaps in parody of the art rock influence in goth, this band is called Bauhaus - German for "art house."

Their songs are splintered, fractal slabs of rock with sparse lyrics and harsh, even weird delivery (Peter Murphy one of rock's weirdest vocalists). This was never meant to go mainstream yet somehow it did, with a certain crowd. The secret, hidden appeal of this band seems to be their very abstractness in itself. It's an elusive, gloomy quality that makes this band last throughout the ages.

Highlights include:

Bela Lugosi is Dead - song about Bela Lugosi, the famous actor who played the original Hollywood incarnation of Dracula.

The Sanity Assassin - energetic number about a mysterious, abstract character who makes people go crazy.

Double Dare - one of their most aggressive tracks, showing the punk and metal elements actually overpowering the art stuff.

5 out of 5 stars

The Best Place to start if you're interested in Bauhaus August 28, 2003
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

This is probably the best collection to start with if you're interested in discovering the joy that is Bauhaus. It starts off with stuff from the first releases In The Flat Field and Mask, and then get's into the last couple releases The Sky's Gone Out and Burning From the Inside, along with a great cover of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" for good measure (to make up for the cover of "Telegram Sam" I assume). This record is a good deciding point on whether you'd like to pursue Bauhaus or not. If you like Crackle you'll probably like the studio albums from Bauhaus, and if you don't like it then at least you've gotten the gist of it without spending over $.

4 out of 5 stars

Surplants the other collections as the place to start 4 newbies July 18, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

The original version of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" that appears here clinches it. This version has a lot of trippy studio effects and what-not that make it much more essential than the live version on 1979-83 Vol. 1. (although that one's cool too). CRACKLE is a cool collection, although I wouldn't call all of it great. Peter Murphy clearly has some vocal limitations, but he manages to sound good and appropriately creepy much of the time. Their version of "Ziggy Stardust" isn't much different than the original on its face, but they somehow manage to make it their own anyway. It's pretty cool. I'm less thrilled with the strange cross-breed of goth and disco that is "Kick in the Eye," and the B-side stuck on the end ("Crowds") is plain gross, with one of the worst vocals ever recorded.

Not a perfect collection, and as another reviewer pointed out, some essentials are missing such as "Stigmata Martyr." I agree the producers missed an opportunity to make a perfect Bauhaus collection. Certainly they've made enough great songs to fill one disk. Still, there's a lot of good stuff here and I would recommend this as a good starting place. Those new to Bauhaus really need to hear the original "Bela," and this collection will give them a good idea about whether or not they want to explore more of this band's dark music.

1 out of 5 stars

Warning!! Read this before buying May 31, 2005
6 out of 94 found this review helpful

The first time I heard Bauhaus was in my brother's car in Portland, Oregon. The radio station was playing Bela Lugosi was dead and at the time I thought it was pretty good, however it should be noted that I didn't hear the whole song, just part of it. A few weeks ago I remembered Bauhaus and decided to buy an album without listening to any other songs. I read all of the reviews and decided that Crackle would be a good place to start even though it was just singles. I eagerly anticpated the CD and when I finally got it I threw it into the CD player and listened to ........... feedback ....... wierd guitar sounds ...... speaking and talking but no singing ...... more endless wierd noises and feedback. I thought mabye it was one bad song and fast forwarded it, same thing on next song, fast forward, same thing, fast forward .....

In short, there is no music here in the general sense of melodies, hooks, choruses, nothing at all just wierd experimental sounds. This band literally went into the studio and recorded whatever they felt like and it is utter and total trash. That is why this band was overlooked, because there is absolutely nothing redeeming about this music. I can only assume that all of the positive reviews on this website are from the only 25 fans in the world. The very odd thing about this group is that part of them went on to make love and rockets which is much better in all respects. Maybe this was a formative period, I really don't know and I don't care. Now, I have to find someone to unload this piece of cr@p on and that will be a very difficult chore. My only advice is, before you purchase this please find some of their songs and listen to all of them. they are agonizing....I would rather go to the dentist. Enought said.

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