To celebrate their 20th anniversary,
Bauhaus reunited for a tour and released the
Crackle compilation in the U.S. The band initially claimed that
Crackle was an American edition of 1979-1983: Vol. 2, which was never released in the U.S., but less than half of the songs appear on both collections. Which means, of course, that
Crackle shouldn't be viewed as a compilation for collectors -- instead, it's an excellent single-disc overview of the group's brief career, containing all of their essential songs, from "In the Flat Field" and "Bela Lugosi's Dead" to "Ziggy Stardust" and "Burning from the Inside." Hardcore fans may wish there was something special about the comp -- the only thing new is the perfectly adequate remastering -- but it's nice that there's finally a thorough single-disc retrospective of the groundbreaking goth quartet. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine