Format: CD, Vinyl, Cass.
Label: Virgin, Beggars Banquet, 4AD, Polygram
Tracklist:
A1. Hair Of The Dog
A2. Passion Of Lovers
A3. Of Lillies And Remains
A4. Dancing
A5. Hollow Hills
B1. Kick In The Eye 2
B2. In Fear Of Fear
B3. Muscle In Plastic
B4. The Man With The X-Ray Eyes
B5. Mask
Credits:
Performer – Daniel Ash, David Jay, Kevin Haskins, Peter Murphy
Lyrics By, Music By, Producer – Bauhaus
Mastered By – Arun Chakraverty
Photography By – Sheila Rock
Managing the sometimes hard-to-negotiate trick of expanding their sound while retaining all the qualities which got them attention to begin with, on Mask the members of Bauhaus consciously stretched themselves into newer areas of music and performance, resulting in an album that was arguably even better than the band's almost flawless debut. More familiar sides of the band were apparent from the get-go; opening number "Hair of the Dog," one of the band's best songs, starts with a double-tracked squalling guitar solo before turning into a stomping, surging flow, carefully paced by sudden silences and equally sudden returns to the music, while Murphy details cases of mental addictions in pithy phrases. The energy wasn't all just explosive angst and despair, though; the one-two punches of "Kick in the Eye" and "In Fear of Fear" have as much hip-shaking groove and upbeat swing to them as portentous gloom (Ash's sax skronk on the latter, as well as on the similarly sharp "Dancing," is a particularly nice touch). Elsewhere, numerous flashes of the band's quirky sense of humor -- something often missed by both fanatical followers and negative critics both -- make an appearance; perhaps most amusing is the dry spoken-word lyric beginning "Of Lillies and Remains," as David J details a goofily grotesque situation as much Edward Gorey as Edgar Allen Poe. Add to that three of the most dramatic things the band ever recorded -- the charging, keyboard-accompanied "The Passion of Lovers," the slow, dark fairy-tale-gone-wrong "Hollow Hills," and the wracked, trudging title track, where the sudden appearance of an acoustic guitar turns a great song into a near-perfect blend of ugliness and sheer beauty -- and the end result was a perfect trouncing of the sophomore-slump myth.
Ned Raggett / AllMusic
