Minor Key Monday 35: Peter Murphy – A Strange Kind of Love

I always have to stop myself when I say I like “all kinds of music”.  Because, honestly, that just isn’t true, there is really only one kind of music I like.  No, not [just] Black Metal, I’m talking about music in a minor key.  I mean, I’m a pretty happy guy, but there is something about sad, sad songs that just does it for me.  I don’t dislike Vivaldi’s “Spring” and “Fall”, but I far prefer “Summer” and “Winter” (guess which seasons he writes in a minor key).  “Satisfaction” is a fine song, but I’d rather listen to “Paint it Black” any day…you get the idea.  Basically, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that sting [of soul crushing sorrow and sadness]

This month on Minor Key Monday I talk about a song from the Bauhaus guy’s solo career:

I’ve always enjoyed Bauhaus.  Really dark and gloomy music, it’s right down my alley (and will undoubtedly show up on here at some point in the future).  However, as I was looking around for a song to talk about this month on youtube I came across today’s song.  Bauhaus might have basically started the goth scene, but they were early enough that the “gothiness” was a bit muted when compared to the cheesier excesses of the second wave that I love so much.  Not so with today’s song, “A Strange Kind of Love” is straight up GOTH while at the same time somehow managing to avoid descending into modern darkwave ridiculousness like so many bands that came later.

This actually isn’t the most common version of “A Strange Kind of Love.”  First released on Peter Murphy’s 1989 album Deep, the original song was just acoustic guitars with vocals.  I’m sure a lot of people probably prefer the acoustic version as the subtle guitars really highlight the excellent vocal work.  But I’m a black metal fan, why go for subtlety when you can hit the listener over the head with your sorrowful vibe?  Thus, this version of the song lays the excellent melancholy synth line from the end of the song over almost the entire track.  It also adds bass and drums to fill out the sound (only making it sound a tiny bit poppier in the process) which I think is an acceptable sacrifice in order to move away from the acoustic folk feel of the original.

They are both fine versions, maybe it is just the more prominent synth line that is tipping it for me.  I basically made a mental note to learn it for my recorder as soon as I discovered this song after all.  Now I just need to listen to the rest of Murphy’s solo stuff and see if anything else approaches “A Strange Kind of Love” in my estimation.  As is so often the case, my initial explorations into his solo work suggests that I might have already found my favorite song from him.