The Sky's Gone Out in Bloomington, MN

More fragmented in origin than it might appear on first glance -- the leadoff track, a phenomenal, nuclear-strength rip through
Brian Eno
's
"Third Uncle,"
featuring some fantastic soloing from
Ash
, came from a
BBC
radio session performance --
The Sky's Gone Out
was caught between the expectations of an audience now thoroughly embracing the incipient goth genre, with all the built-in limitations such expectations often provide, and a band which wanted to please them while still following its own muse. On balance it's quite a fine album, but unlike
Mask
it misses the infusion of a more positive energy, and simply doesn't gel as perfectly, more notable for individual songs than as a whole. Old, pre-recording-career songs like the strong but already dated
"In the Night"
were revived and balanced against experiments and attempts to further develop the band's sound, ultimately making
feel more like a compilation than anything else. Piece by piece, though, the songs still often showed
Bauhaus
in excelsis.
's elegant, haunting acoustic guitar work received two great showcases --
"Silent Hedges,"
adding a more familiar electric explosion to a fine
Murphy
performance detailing a desperate mental collapse, and
"All We Ever Wanted Was Everything,"
a sympathetic, nostalgic reflection on dreams of the past, again matched by a perfectly balanced
vocal. Other standouts include the brooding lope of
"Swing the Heartache,"
with a skeletal rhythm matched against some of
's best guitar work, and
"Spirit,"
a live standout inspired by the performance vibe the band received from its fans. ~ Ned Raggett