''Should the World Fail to Fall Apart'' is the debut album by the British solo artist Peter Murphy, formerly of the

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

band

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

. The album contains Murphy's covers of

Magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

's "The Light Pours Out of Me" and

Pere Ubu Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their ...

's "Final Solution." It was released in 1986.

Production

Many guest musicians appear on the album, including

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

and

John McGeoch John Alexander McGeoch (25 August 1955 – 4 March 2004) was a Scottish musician and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of the rock bands Magazine (1977-1980) and Siouxsie and the Banshees (1980-1982). He has been described as one o ...

Critical reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' wrote: "If Murphy could remove the melodrama from his delivery, a lot of the songs might have been quite nice. But even at low volume and languorous tempo, he can’t shake the old goth theatrics out of his voice." The ''

Spin Alternative Record Guide The ''Spin Alternative Record Guide'' is a music reference book compiled by the American music magazine '' Spin'' and published in 1995 by Vintage Books. It was edited by rock critic Eric Weisbard and Craig Marks, who was the magazine's editor-i ...

'' called the album "the least perfunctory" of Murphy's solo releases.

Track listing

Original LP track listing

All tracks composed by Peter Murphy and Howard Hughes ( Stephen Betts); except where indicated # "Canvas Beauty (Romance Version)" # "The Light Pours Out of Me" (

Howard Devoto Howard Devoto (born Howard Andrew Trafford, 15 March 1952) is a retired English singer and songwriter, who began his career as the frontman for punk rock band Buzzcocks, but then left to form Magazine, one of the first post-punk bands. After M ...

Pete Shelley Pete Shelley (born Peter Campbell McNeish; 17 April 1955 – 6 December 2018) was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He formed early punk band Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto in 1976, and became the lead singer and guitarist in 1977 whe ...

) # "Confessions" # "Should the World Fail to Fall Apart" # "Never Man" (Peter Murphy) # "God Sends" # "Blue Heart" # "The Answer Is Clear" # "Final Solution" ( David Thomas, Craig Bell) # "Jemal" (Peter Murphy)

Canadian LP track listing

The Canadian version of the LP, released on

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PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

, has a different cover as well an alternative track listing: # "Should the World Fail to Fall Apart" # "Never Man" # "Tale of the Tongue" # "God Sends" # "Blue Heart" # "The Answer Is Clear" # "Confessions # "Final Solution" # "Jemal" # "The Light Pours Out of Me" In addition to reordering, the track "Canvas Beauty" was dropped in favor of "Tale of The Tongue", which had been released in the UK as a non-album single.

2011 deluxe edition bonus CD

In July 2011, Cherry Red Records released a 25th anniversary deluxe edition of the album with a bonus disc of 13 B-sides and remixes: # "Canvas Beauty" (Fast Version) # "The Light Pours Out of Me" (Original version) # "Confessions" (Remix) # "Should the World Fail to Fall Apart" (Version 3) # "Stay" # "Tale of the Tongue" (12″ Version) # "Blue Heart" (12″ Version) # "The Answer Is Clear" (Version) # "Final Solution" (Club mix) # "Jemal" (Version 2) # "Should the World Fail to Fall Apart" (Unreleased version) # "Final Solution" (Full version) # "Final Solution" (Third and final mix) * Track 1 released on Beggars Banquet 12″ EP SOVE 2359 (CA), 1986 * Track 2 released on a Various Artists sampler, 1985 * Tracks 3, 4 and 10 released on Beggars Banquet 12″ BEG 179T (U.K.), 1987 * Track 5 exact origin unknown * Track 6 released on Beggars Banquet 12″ BEG 174T (U.K.), 1986 * Track 7 released on Beggars Banquet 12″ BEG 162T (U.K.), 1986 * Track 8 released on Beggars Banquet 7″ BEG 143 (U.K.), 1985 * Tracks 9 and 12 released on Beggars Banquet 12″ BEG 143T (U.K.), 1985 * Track 11 is a previously unreleased alternate mix * Track 13 released on Beggars Banquet 12″ BEG 143TP (U.K.), 1985

Personnel

*Peter Murphy - "naive" guitar, keyboards, drum programming, lead vocals, harmony vocals *

- guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, drum programming, piano *Chris Pye,

, Peter Bonas, Philip Rambow, Steve Turner - guitar *

Daniel Ash Daniel Ash (born 31 July 1957) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He became prominent in the late 1970s as the guitarist for the iconic goth rock band Bauhaus, which spawned two related bands led by Ash: Tones on Tail and Love an ...

- "manic" guitar *

Erkan Oğur Erkan Oğur (pronounced ) (born April 17, 1954) is a Turkish musician. A pioneer of fretless guitars, he invented the first fretless classical guitar in 1976.Martinelli, op. cit.Unfretted, op. cit. A composer, he has influenced many musicians wit ...

- acoustic guitar, EBow *Eddie Branch, Paul Cover - bass *Steven Young - drum programming *

Martin McCarrick Martin McCarrick (born 29 July 1962) is an English cellist, keyboardist, guitarist and composer. Aside from being a live and recording artist, he is also a teacher and visiting lecturer in music. Career His first recording in the pop/rock ar ...

- cello *Gini Bell - violin *Joji Hirota - congas *Jon Keleihor - "potty" percussion *Paul Vincent Lawford - "complementary rhythms" percussion *Jon Self - harmonica ;Technical *Gerry Kitchingham,

John Fryer John Fryer may refer to: *John Fryer (physician) (died 1563), English physician, humanist and early reformer *John Fryer (physician, died 1672), English physician *John Fryer (travel writer) (1650–1733), British travel-writer and doctor *Sir John ...

- engineer *Carlos 'Sosa' - cover painting

References

{{Authority control Peter Murphy (musician) albums 1986 debut albums Beggars Banquet Records albums