Ash Wednesday three weeks ago would have been the perfect time to post this piece and use the punny title. But I’m Jewish, and I always forget about these events until I see people walking around with gunk on their foreheads, at which point I invariably think: “Right, I almost forgot about Daniel Ash!”
Best known for being a founding member of seminal post-punk outfit Bauhaus (notice I didn’t dare say “Goth”, though I suppose I have now…oops), Ash has arguably made his best, and certainly most diverse music in the, er, wake of that band’s, um, ashes. (Sorry, I really am trying to avoid the “G” word, but the puns are damn inescapable).
“Bela Lugosi’s Dead” is a fantastic song for which the lyrics were written as Peter Murphy read randomly from the newspaper. But you already know that one, so here’s my favorite goth/dub reggae jam, “She’s in Parties.” I think Ash’s playing on this song is probably the single biggest influence on me as a guitarist. Not that you asked but…it’s not your damn blog, is it?
Mp3: “She’s in Parties” – Bauhaus
Official site: http://www.bauhausmusik.com
Buy music and DVDs by Bauhaus on Amazon
Ash’s most commerically successful band was Love and Rockets, who had a huge hit with the inescapable (in 1989) guaranteed-to-separate-the-old-fans-from-the-new-fans 120 Minutes-pandering radio-friendly single “So Alive.” Here’s a far, far better song from that album, a glam stomper about his love affair with a machine:
MP3: “Motorcycle” – Love and Rockets
http://www.loveandrockets.org
Buy music and DVDs by Love and Rockets on Amazon
But Ash’s most criminally underrated band was the utterly fantastic Tones on Tail, an experimental electronic-pop band he formed with Bauhaus’s drummer Kevin Haskins (brother of bassist David J) and their roadie, Glenn Campling. The band only lasted about 2 years, just after Bauhaus ended and before Ash and Haskins reconnected with J. to form Love and Rockets. During this time they recorded about 25 songs, most of which were released as singles and EPs. While they never quite got as big as the bands which precedeed and followed them, Tones on Tail did have one fairly successful single, “Go”, which is still being played in clubs to this day. Apparently Moby sampled it on his track of the same name, but I’ll never know for sure as I have a pretty strong “no Moby” policy and I don’t intend to change.
Going with the lesser-known tracks again, here is my favorite song in the T.O.T. oeuvre, the Moroderriffic “Performance” (a.k.a. “Shakes”).
MP3: “Performance” – Tones on Tail
Buy the aptly titled “Everything” by Tones on Tail from Amazon
Ash has been making solo records as well for the past 15 years or so, which you can check out here. I, however, need to get some work done.
And even if you don’t like his music, you really need to give it up to a man’s having such amazingly consistent hair all these years.
The Official Daniel Ash site.
Buy Daniel Ash solo music from Amazon
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I DJ’d with Mr. A back in December…I have to hand it to him, the man’s got some diverse musical tastes. But I must deflect any negativity made towards ‘So Alive’! It may have pandered but it did it well.
Well, are you suggesting that one judge how “good” a song is by how well it sold, or how many spins it got on the radio?
I’m not against pop hits, I just don’t think that song is their best one, just because it’s their best known (which is a result of it being the one on which the label spent the most money to promote).
I mean, it’s a fine song, but it’s hardly deserving of representing their catalog, which it does for most people. It’s certainly no “All in My Mind” or “Haunted When the Minutes Drag” or “Mirror People” or “Lazy” or…
Now that James Cameron found the tomb of Christ aren’t we all Jewish?
By the way, heard the new Feist, or not your cup of tea?
‘Haunted’ is actually my favorite song of theirs. Excellent and certainly not commercial based on length.
No, I’m certainly not saying we should judge based on commercial appeal. But I don’t think the reverse should be true either. Just because the song sold well doesn’t mean it’s good any more than it means it’s bad. It just got way more commercial exposure than any other material. I still think it’s a great L&R song.
@ chris:
No, dunno from Feist. Tho I hear she’s Feisty. What should I peep?
@ sean:
I understand what you’re saying, and I’m not hatin’ on “So Alive” just because it was on the radio.
BUT. Don’t forget that it got that commercial exposure because the label decided to make it the single: it wasn’t based on the song’s inherent merit (if such a thing even exists).
So I guess my contention is that it’s a shame that it therefore became the song that ‘represents’ L+R to the masses. Unlike, say, a radio-friendly edit of “Haunted.”
But along the same lines, I’m happy for the band that they were exposed to a wider audience as a result of its success.
Happy Friday!
Daniel Ash’s solo career is really awesome.. you should hear “me and my shadow.”
[...] worth checking out if you missed it the first time includes a piece I did on David Sylvian, one on Daniel Ash, the awkwardness that is Goth, the awesomeness of Moroder’s “The Chase” and his [...]