In the Flat Field

In the Flat Field
Studio album by Bauhaus
Released 1 October 1980
Recorded Southern Studios, London, June - July 1980, except "Double Dare": BBC Maida Vale Studios, London, 4 December 1979
Genre Gothic rock
Length 38:45
Label 4AD
Producer Bauhaus
Bauhaus chronology
In the Flat Field
(1980)		 Mask
(1981)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]

In the Flat Field is the debut album by British gothic rock band Bauhaus, released in October 1980 on 4AD.

Contents

Recording

Following a 30-date tour, Bauhaus set out to Southern Studios in London to record their first album. As the band had a clear conception of what they wanted the record to sound like, they opted to produce it themselves. While most of the album was completed with the planned release date of September 1980, the group found it difficult to record a version of "Double Dare" as good as the one they performed on disc jockey John Peel's BBC Radio 1 programme. Bauhaus applied to the BBC to use the Peel sessions version, but due to obstructions from the Musicians Union the process took over a month.[2]

Release and reception

While In the Flat Field received positive reviews in fanzine publications, the album was "absolutely slated" by the British weekly music press, according to Bauhaus biographer Ian Shirley.[3] The NME review described the album as "nine meaningless moans and flails bereft of even the most cursory contour of interest, a record which deserves all the damning adjectives usually leveled at grim-faced 'modernists'."[4] Sounds review was also negative: "No songs. Just tracks (ugh). Too priggish and conceited. Sluggish indulgence instead of hoped for Goth-ness. Coldly catatonic."[5] Despite the negative reviews, In the Flat Field topped the independent charts, and made the UK Albums Chart for one week, peaking at number 72.[6]

The album was first released on CD by 4AD in April 1988, with eight bonus tracks including the singles "Dark Entries", "Terror Couple Kill Colonel" and a cover of T. Rex's "Telegram Sam."[7] Five of these bonus tracks had been previously compiled on the 4AD EP in 1983.[8]

On October 19, 2009, 4AD/Beggars Banquet reissued the album as an Omnibus Edition, which features the 24-bit remastered CD of the original 9-track album in a replica mini-LP sleeve (with corresponding inner sleeve featuring the lyrics), plus a 16-song bonus disc of singles, outtakes, alternate recordings and original versions. The set comes inside a semi-long box, coupled with a 48-page book that includes comments from band members, photos, complete lyrics, complete tour date information for 1979 and 1980, and an essay by Kevin Brooksbank on the formation and creation of the band, the singles and the album.[9]

Track listing

Original release

All songs written and composed by Daniel Ash, David J, Kevin Haskins and Peter Murphy. 

No. Title Length
1. "Double Dare"   5:10
2. "In the Flat Field"   4:17
3. "A God in an Alcove"   4:19
4. "Dive"   2:48
5. "Spy in the Cab"   5:19
6. "Small Talk Stinks"   4:32
7. "St. Vitus Dance"   3:33
8. "Stigmata Martyr"   3:41
9. "Nerves"   8:07

1988 CD re-release

All songs written and composed by Daniel Ash, David J, Kevin Haskins and Peter Murphy unless noted. 

No. Title Length
1. "Dark Entries"   3:52
2. "Double Dare"   5:10
3. "In the Flat Field"   4:17
4. "A God in an Alcove"   4:19
5. "Dive"   2:48
6. "Spy in the Cab"   5:19
7. "Small Talk Stinks"   4:32
8. "St. Vitus Dance"   3:33
9. "Stigmata Martyr"   3:41
10. "Nerves"   8:07
11. "Telegram Sam" (Bolan) 2:11
12. "Rosegarden Funeral of Sores" (Cale) 5:34
13. "Terror Couple Kill Colonel"   4:21
14. "Scopes"   1:34
15. "Untitled"   1:27
16. "A God in an Alcove" (original version) 4:09
17. "Crowds"   3:15

Omnibus Edition bonus disc

  1. "Dark Entries" (Single A-side - AD 3[A]) – 3:52
  2. "A God in an Alcove" (Original Version) – 4:09
  3. "Untitled" (Single B-side - AD 3[B]) – 1:28
  4. "Terror Couple Kill Colonel" (Original Beck Studios Version) - 4:45
  5. "Telegram Sam" (Original Beck Studios Version) – 2:19
  6. "Terror Couple Kill Colonel" (Single B-Side - AD 7[B]) - 4:34
  7. "Scopes" (Single B-Side - AD 7[B]) - 1:34
  8. "Terror Couple Kill Colonel" (Southern Mix #2) - 4:26
  9. "Crowds" (Single B-Side - AD 17T[B]) - 3:16
  10. "Dive" (Out-Take/Alternative Mix) - 2:15
  11. "Spy in the Cab" (Out-Take/Alternative Mix) – 4:31
  12. "Stigmata Martyr" (Out-Take/Alternative Mix) - 3:45
  13. "Rosegarden Funeral of Sores" (Single B-Side - AD 17T[B]) - 5:32
  14. "Double Dare" (Alternative Version/Mix #4) – 5:34
  15. "Telegram Sam" (Alternative Mix #1) – 2:24
  16. "Untitled 2" – 1:11

Personnel

References

Notes

  1. ^ link
  2. ^ Shirley, p. 43
  3. ^ Shirley, p. 44
  4. ^ Gill, Andy (8 November 1980). "Bauhaus: In the Flat Field". NME: p32. 
  5. ^ McCullough, Dave (8 November 1980). "All angst and no play or: the yawning pitfalls confronting young modernists". Sounds. 
  6. ^ Shirley, p. 46
  7. ^ Brooksbank, p. 150
  8. ^ Brooksbank, p. 164
  9. ^ allmusic ((( In the Flat Field (Omnibus Edition) > Overview )))
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