Bauhaus

Just finished reading the biography of Bauhaus. Interesting read, but badly written. Ian Shirley is a poor author. I remember getting annoyed at his Residents book - which I have since passed on.
Any way. It is written by a guy who I reckon used to write for Smash Hits or Jackie back in the day. If you are wanting deep insight in to the machinations of Bauhaus (as I was) then you are going to be very disappointed. There are stories that go nowhere and then the denouement is....to rude to be printed, or best left unsaid. Not good enough for a "warts and all" biography. OK for Jackie or Record Mirror. The book does seem to be based around a 1994 interview the guy had with the group.

I saw bauhaus many times in the early 1980's. Live they were certainly par excellence. The tour they did with The Birthday Party + Subway Sect sticks in my head. They were good. I didn't buy their records though, certainly no LP's. I just used to pick and choose their 7" outputs.

One thing that is interesting (to me) is that they began playing back in the early 1970's as a pub band doing covers etc. (without Pete Murphy) and looking back - Bauhaus were just a glorified "covers" band. They have a name for such bands now - "tribute" bands. Thay did so many cover versions.
Any way. I bought "Crackle" CD from Amazon. Played it and danced to it. "Kick In The Eye" is probably one of the best songs ever put to vinyl.....

Like Bauhaus. Didn't think much of the book, but read it from cover to cover - more than I can say for the Slits of Gang Of Four recent biogs....