Dali's Car is a Peter Murphy side project that followed the break-up of Bauhaus. If it's less well known than the work of Tones On Tail and Murphy's solo albums, this is perhaps due to the fact that THE WAKING HOUR, embellished as it may be by Murphy's distinctive voice, is closer to the work of Japan than that of Bauhaus. An unusual project for Murphy, Dali's Car is a collaboration with Japan's Mick Karn, whose exotic and otherworldly arrangements steal the show here.

The melodies recall Middle Eastern traditional songs, while the fretless bass riffs share much in common with modern African jazz and zouk. The experiments here with alternate song forms and atonal melodies presage the attention acts such as Dead Can Dance and Rosetta Stone would later pay to non-Western music forms. Although a stamped and dated product of 80's new wave, THE WAKING HOUR is an important and seminal work in the Goth/Exotica genre that blossomed in the late 80's and early 90's, as well as an essential part of any Bauhaus fan's collection.