Leaving Records, in partnership with Stones Throw Records have announced that they will release The Bela Session by Bauhaus on 23rd November on vinyl and digital platforms. The Bela Session captures the first time Bauhaus recorded together, just six weeks after forming as a band, on 26th January 1979. This is the first release of that complete recording session featuring all five tracks, three of which are previously unreleased. This also marks the first official reissue of the single ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ on vinyl for over thirty years, as well as the first time the studio recording will be officially available on DSPs. The audio has been newly mastered from the original analogue tape by Mandy Parnell at Black Saloon Studios (Björk, Brian Eno, Aphex Twin).
Bauhaus are a four-piece from Northampton, England, composed of Peter Murphy (vocals, occasional instruments), Daniel Ash (guitar), Kevin Haskins (drums), and David J (bass). Venerated and highly influential, the band emerged from the post-punk alternative music scene of the early 80s with a string of innovative albums and a powerfully dramatic live presentation. Their music embodies a minimalistic, disconsolate style of post-punk rock unlike any other.
‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ is the quintessential gothic rock record and a cornerstone of the genre. Originally released in 1979 on Small Wonder Records ‘Bela’ failed to make the pop charts but remained a staple of the UK independent singles chart for many years and has widely influenced contemporary goth culture as well as popular culture at large. Among many highlights, a live recording of ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ was the iconic soundtrack to the opening scene of 1983 horror film The Hunger (starring David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve, and Susan Sarandon); it’s been covered by Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack, Nouvelle Vague, Chvrches and others; cited as an influence on authors Chuck Palahniuk and Neil Gaiman; used on Saturday Night Live’s skit “Goth Talk”; and the band itself was parodied on Beavis & Butthead and South Park.
