Should the World Fail to Fall Apart is the debut album by the British solo artist Peter Murphy, formerly of the gothic rock band Bauhaus. The album contains Murphy's covers of Magazine's "The Light Pours Out of Me" and Pere Ubu's "Final Solution." It was released in 1986.

Production Many guest musicians appear on the album, including Howard Hughes and John McGeoch.

Critical reception Trouser Press 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 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, Pete Shelley, John McGeoch) "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 Vertigo/PolyGram, 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 Howard Hughes - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, drum programming, piano Chris Pye, John McGeoch, Peter Bonas, Philip Rambow, Steve Turner - guitar Daniel Ash - "manic" guitar Erkan Oğur - acoustic guitar, EBow Eddie Branch, Paul Cover - bass Steven Young - drum programming Martin McCarrick - 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 - engineer Carlos 'Sosa' - cover painting

References