Burning From The Inside

1983’s Burning From the Inside is Bauhaus’ most commercial-sounding album. It is arguably their most effective, and, sadly, their last album as a group, though numerous collections and live recordings have appeared in its wake.

This album shows all of the group’s strengths. Bauhaus creates an immediately identifiable ‘mood’ in the mind of the listener, as in the opening track (She’s in Parties). They have an uncanny knack for revealing massive, dense beats in the middle of what would be, in others’ hands, straight-ahead rock songs.

Bauhaus also has a unique ability to wring poignancy and nostalgia out of the weirdest lyrical constructs – as in the album’s centerpiece, Who Killed Mr Moonlight, introduced by piano and mournful saxophone. The album originally ended with Hope, a brilliant three-minutes that advises “make the most of a million times no” with choral vocals, a gorgeous, thick bassline, and a shimmering guitar.