Peter Murphy 5 Albums 5CD Book | Box Set (bauhaus)

The sound on the 28 (I think I counted right!) bonus tracks is not always great, understandably with demos and rough mixes. Of the finished ones, the sound is good on the ones I personally find essential: Tongue full length / Camera / Teeth full length / Strange version two.

Strange remix and Tongue edit sound a little weird as we already mentioned. Final Solution club mix a bit tinny, but IIRC the original 12” was too.

The unreleased demo Groovy Place is slightly rough quality but is an absolute corker. Raw and underproduced, in a good way, great riff, sounds a bit like Murphy fronting Tinderbox era Banshees.

The Wish rough mix is an odd one. I prefer the music to the final version released on the B side of The Scarlet Thing in You, but prefer the final version’s vocal.

 

Listening again to Cascade I really, really like the remaster. The old CD is a great one, but I really love this new one... a bit of compression, maybe?.. has made it slightly more kick ass and detailed, while not harming the beautifully recorded, beautiful music at all, IMO.

eg the rhythm (non acoustic) guitars in Scarlet really drive and ring now, the analogue synths in Whale sound awesome, Knife sounds divine.

Should the World and Cascade are the standout remasters for me then, love them.

 

A few more thoughts...

Tale of the Tongue full length version is considerably quieter on the Cherry Red than the new box, possibly better on the CR but there’s not much in it.

Final Solution club mix on the Cherry Red isn’t the club mix at all. I don’t know what it is, but the correct club mix is on the new box.

The Cherry Red Should the World cover colours are nothing like my 1986 CD or LP, I only just noticed. Blurred and much darker, altered. Not sure if it’s deliberate or just a botch.

Socrates the Python demo is a mess, very rough, but kind of fascinating!

And to repeat again, Should the World just sounds excellent. Nothing can alter the dated keyboards and machines or coldish original sound of albums like this, or Bowie Never Let Me Down (1987) or the terrific Iggy Pop Blah Blah Blah (1986), but whatever was done to 1986’s Should the World is some kind of lesson in how to mess with one of those kind of albums. It never sounded warmer, clearer or better. Really pleased with it. Never Man and The Answer is Clear (my two favourites) sound...

 

I was listening to my 12 inch of Blind Sublime the other day, surprised none of the mixes made it on this book set.
Edit: See they're available on the Cherry 2 disc, oops!

 

Yeah, at first glance the set seems to be missing lots of stuff, but each disc is packed close to 80 minutes and whoever compiled it seems to have totally considered that many, iff not most Murphy fans will have the Cherry Red World and Hysteria, so has attempted to cater for this, ie the essential finished Deep era remixes are included rather than Deep demos seeing as there was no Deep expanded and probably never will be. And the Socrates demo is in the box because it was the only Hysteria demo not on the Cherry Red. Fun Time Cabaret demo is on the box but not the final version which most will have on the Cherry Red.

The only real faux pas for me is to include only the demo of Cascade era B side Wish in the box. The final version should be there instead IMO (no room for both on the packed disc).

 

Thanks for all the extra info, appreciated.
I picked up Deep in 89 on cassette and is still a favorite- I really didn't delve any further till the Wild Birds comp in 2000.

 

Interestingly although Love Hysteria here isn’t a million miles from the 1988 UKCD, it is warmer, and Indigo Eyes especially IMO sounds better on the 2018: the bass and bongos are more pronounced.

I’m guessing but I reckon the box album uses a suitably adjusted version of the LP master, because it actually sounds more like the 1988 UK LP than the 1988 UK CD. The LP interestingly is very good, whereas the earlier Should the World UK LP to my later, more nerdy ears, is a waste of time and sounds like the contemporary CD. But the old Hysteria LP DOESN’T sound like its contemporary CD.

Someone from Beggars Banquet said around the time of the Cherry Red Hysteria CD that two very separate masters were made for the album in 1988: IIRC one fully analogue, one digital DAT.

So that’s all why I’m guessing this new one uses something related to the analogue master, as it doesn’t have the coldish, slightly bass shy sheen of the 1988 CD.

FWIW!

 

Wondering if that was the case for Deep. Of course I don't remember, but a few comments over the years gave the cassette a big thumbs up over the compact disc (mastering wise)

 

Heh, wasn't expecting lyrics, nice touch. Presentation is very nice on this set.
32 shipped from Arkive, thanks @jamesc for the tip

 

I’ve had a love, not love thing with Murphy over the years, but relistening to these albums sounding so good, they really are very, very good indeed, his voice truly spellbinding. I struggled a bit with some of Holy Smoke, eg can’t stand its Sweetest Drop track, the original or the bizarre rave remixes which I couldn’t finish listening to! Although its best tracks for me are as good as anything here.

Been remembering his early solo London shows, giddily buying a cool All Night Long T shirt at the Love Hysteria press / launch show at Sadlers Wells Theatre and sticking it on over whatever I had on, getting funny looks from “vintage” goths in Bauhaus gear. I was only 15 and dressed in white and blue

I like to think Peter clocked the kid me sitting in the Murphy, not Bauhaus shirt in the 2nd row seats in front of the stage, as during Dragnet Drag’s dropout middle section, he turned his head in one sudden, theatrical, movement to where I was sitting, on the beat as the music falls away, and sang that “a grey surprise..” section staring directly into my eyes. The actions of a true stage master who’d been there as a fan himself, staring up at Bowie, Iggy etc in the mid 1970s. Give the kid a thrill! He certainly did. I’ve been lucky enough to be in rooms with and / or spoken etc with many of my favourite musicians in subsequent years, and have experienced some astonishing live performances, but that kid at Murphy March 1988 moment is still very special. This set brings it all back.

CHEERS PETER


(Sadlers Wells Theatre, March 1988)

 

Interesting, I still have my 1990 orig UK Deep LP, I’ll give it a listen next time my turntable’s out. I used to have the 1989 US RCA LP too which was imported into Europe quite heavily due to its earlier release, but I think it’s AWOL.

 

Mind your discs in the tight slots though, I already scratched one of mine a bit.

 

Not as tight as the Lush book, thank God!
That was fun-
Copy and Paste 5 albums into accurate rip

 

You guys are killin' me. I've been (flimsily) hanging my hat on the fact that the originals (probably) all have better dynamic range, but at the price through Beggars this looks too good to resist.........

 

Mark, on Deep I'm not really detecting much difference in EQ, the levels of course are boosted but they aren't a bricked mess, mostly. Peaks and valleys are still present. Wider soundstage compared to my old US and Canadian Vertigo compact discs.
Dropbox - 07- Cuts You Up.wav

 

This set is pretty tempting! I never really 'got' Bauhaus -- to be perfectly honest -- but I've been a Peter Murphy fan going back to when Deep first came out. I think I have his entire SOLO catalog on individual CD's, and have heard him live twice.

One nice inclusion in this box is Murphy's (live?) remake of David Bowie's "Stay" (a bonus track on the very first CD), which is really, REALLY wonderful!!

 

Actually it was the earlier bit when he suddenly shoves his face into the white strobe light stage front. I’ve been looking at YouTube

 

I’m sure they do, but DR isn’t the breaker for me. I have really old Love Hysteria (Canadian Vertigo) and Burning From the Inside (USA A&M) CDs that probably have high DR but are sub par CDs with unthrilling sound and inferior clarity to other versions. Having said that, all the old Murphy UK CDs are not like that and are keepers, just saying... DR is great but lowered DR or compression where it’s IMO needed is no bad thing. The only one I’m really a bit hmm about re mastering choices in the box is some of Deep. The extra bass is welcome and the nice EQ, it just sounds a bit too jacked up in places. Maybe. eg Shy.

 

On at least the London date of the 1986 UK tour for Should the World, they did Stay for about a minute which then turned into Kick in the Eye (Bauhaus) without pause, as the final encore. It was fantastic! As was the ending of the main set, a BLISTERING Final Solution. Not sure if the audio is anywhere online. Piccadilly Theatre, it was.

 

Man, you got that quick!

 

Not bad for economy shipping!
Shipped from New York.

 

Yeah, I think they learned from the Lush book! I wonder if the UK book is a little different than the US one because the discs are easy to remove on my copy.

 

I saw the debut and Deep tours but missed Love Hysteria somehow. I bet that would have been a great show.

Like you, I wasn't nuts about the singles after Deep but I forgot how much I liked Keep Me From Harm off of Holy Smoke.

 

Ah, maybe. Is it manufactured in the US? The UK is made my LLC in Europe I think, maybe just the disc.

 

I should have checked before posting. Mine is made in the EU as well (disc and book both show that). I immediately thought of that Lush book when I pulled this one from the shipping envelope and was worried about getting the discs out but they slide right out of my set.