IT'S BROWSING ROUND SECOND HAND RECORD SHOPS WEEK.....(1 of 4)

Four quick posts in succession, all written at the one time, appearing Monday - Friday in celebration of the joys of finding vinyl records for reasonably cheap prices in second hand record shops. Or charity shops.

Bauhaus are one of the many bands of the early 80s era who could lay claim to having a say in the 'invention' of goth rock. It's fair to say that most folk will recall the name of only one member of the four-piece, that of singer Peter Murphy. And yet, the fact is he only became part of the band when the others approached him, not because of his vocal talents, but simply because he had the right look.

And recalling what Jacques the Kipper wrote about a few weeks ago, Murphy was one of those blokes who it was impossible for even the most hetro and red-blooded male to deny was good looking. Certainly, there were plenty of us who tried hard to capture the image, be it the impeccably prepared hair, the sharp as a razor cheekbones, or the piercing eyes made all the more memorable by the clever application of make-up.

Bauhaus never quite made it the way so many expected them to. I was surprised to find out that of the 11 singles and 4 EPs released at their peak between 1980 and 1983, only two of them actually cracked the Top 40, and one of these was a cover of Ziggy Stardust (indeed, this was their biggest success hitting #15 in 1982).

My favourite song of theirs is the stunning Bela Lugosi's Dead which I featured quite some time back on TVV. But not far behind is the lead track on the Searching For Satori EP from the very same year.

Kick In The Eye had in fact been released as a single in 1981, but stalled at #59. On the back of the Ziggy success, the record label gave the single a re-release. But still the public wouldn't bite and the EP stalled at at a disappointing #45. And I could have sworn it was a huge hit...it was one of those songs that inevitably filled the floor of any student disco I was at.....it was also one of the many hundreds of 7" records that I stupidly lost more than 25 years ago. So it was great to pick a copy up the other week and listen to all three tracks one more time:-

mp3 : Bauhaus - Kick In the Eye (Searching For Satori)
mp3 : Bauhaus - Harry
mp3 : Bauhaus - Earwax

The b-sides by turn are surprising (ie not the sort of song you'd associate with miserable goths) and weird (ie unlistenable shite.....but feel free to differ)

And here's a performance from an 80s TV show - cant remember which one - could very well have been Oxford Road Show which aired on BBC2 and was named after the location of the BBC TV Manchester studios:-



I bet you had all forgotten just how great this song is.......