This Is for When (Live At Hammersmith Palais, 9th November 1981)

Just weeks after Bauhaus released their second album, Mask, this 1981 concert recording took place at London's Hammersmith Palais. It starts with Peter Murphy’s memorable spoken-word piece: “This is for when your sex is full of voodoo/This is for when your clothes are imaginary/This is for when your flesh creeps and never comes back.” Though the band had always been enamored of the sonic effects they could draw from a studio, this live set affirms the immediacy of their songwriting. The music is urgent and passionate, with Murphy in the role of unhinged sex god and guitarist Daniel Ash as the unpredictable sorcerer of sound. Bauhaus were often compared to Joy Division, but where Joy Division were cold and hypnotic, Bauhaus were licentious and explosive. There's a lot of Jim Morrison and David Bowie in Murphy, and a lot of Mick Ronson and even Jimmy Page in Ash. Bauhaus may have adopted the hostile, asymmetrical disposition of the postpunk era, but in concert they were a white-hot rock band. “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” is a showstopper worthy of its own light show.