Birthday Party - Classic or Dud

I think they covered Oh Happy Day as a b-side around the same time, so that's probably true. He did a great cover of Bobby Hebb's "Sonny" too.

Both Birthday Party and solo cave are classic, though I generally prefer later solo Cave best. I always enjoy BP stuff, even though it has a cartoony feel that sometimes just bugs me. I know it's not COOL to say so, but Cave's later and more gentle stuff just seems more honest to me. I know I'm in the minority with this opinion. Oh well.

I don't get the idea that they are just Stooges obsessives. The Birthday Party's music is much more intricate than any Stooges music. They sure don't sound like Thee Hypnotics. In fact, I think they may have nicked more from the Magic Band in some of those odd aggitated tom driven rhythms than the Stooges.

The energy and chaotic vocals is at that level on some tracks, but the BP did many interesting and weird things that sounded great. Examples of such would be the layered feedback on "The Friend Catcher" or the the odd tape looped western soundtracks overdubbed (sampling before samplers) on "Zoo Music Girl" or the odd slow noir songs like "Jennifer's Veil" or "Wild World". And as said above, yes indeed they got funky for some drug addled expatriot Aussies. I also liked how they incorporated the horns and organ in some songs.

and if you can hunt down the version of Dead Joe that Nick did on his solo Australian tour a few years back, GET IT. It's great. He just pummels the piano and screams that shit.

but we can add "Wild World" and make it the top six, in no particular order.

I kinda like some of the uh.. wackier stuff like "Capers" "Rowland Around in that Stuff" "Hats on Wrong" and "Waving My Arms" also. "Capers" has gone on many a mix tape.

Jennifer's Veil
Mr. Clarinet
Friend Catcher
Wild World
Swampland

Junkyard changed my life, easily one of my favorite albums ever! Just don't want to over-represent it 'cause all phases of the Birthday Party are GREAT GREAT GREAT

1. "Mutiny in Heaven"
2. "She's Hit"
3. "Nick the Stripper"
4. "Six Inch Gold Blade"
5. "Release the Bats"

6. "Blast Off"
7. "Deep in the Woods"
8. Their cover of the Stooges' "Loose" on The John Peel Sessions

He did that on his solo American tour, too. I was really fucking amazed and happy to hear a Birthday Party song when I saw him in Chicago.

Rrrrats in paradissssse, rrrrrats in paradisssse!

my 2 pennorth'

When I was really obsessed with the Birthday Party I looked all over the place for Crime and the City Solution records (except the disappointing Paradise Discotheque) and couldn't find any - did anyone ever reissue them? maybe I should check on slsk.

good

I was cautious of the Sparks movie knowing it had animation in it, but it ended up being probably less than a minute.

The doc screened last night at the AFI Silver in Md near Washington DC, and will be there for one more screening the night of September 25.

My short preview of it for Washington City Paper got posted yesterday in their Fall Arts special

Saw the doc tonight - you can rent it on Amazon. All of the concert and recording footage is terrific - most of it I've never seen before. The animation is, well, there - I didn't think it was particularly special, but didn't distract. What I didn't care for at all was the fake film scratching/sepiatone whenever there's a talking head on screen. It's apparent that the filmmakers were using footage from different eras (Nick Cave suddenly has a mustache, now he doesn't) and use the fake effects to give it some uniformity but it just looked dumb. Similarly, there are segments where a song is playing with lyrics and notebooks animating along, but there's never a point where the camera just holds on them. If I saw this in a theater, I'd go crazy because you'll want to hit pause all the time. Also, subtitles are mandatory.

BTW, the Rowland S. Howard documentary (Autoluminscent) is also rentable on Amazon. That one is an absolute must see. (I'd see that one first actually)

i saw it at the cinema and loved it. it was a one off screening so was packed and there was an incredible atmosphere; a real electricity in the air. i'd highly recommend watching that way if possible.

and agree about the RSH one. essential.

thirded

if you don't want to give your money to Jeff fucking Bezos for making space penises, you could even rent it from the filmmakers:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/autoluminescent

Oh sweet gonna buy that, last time I looked at their site they didn't have VOD options.

The RSH doc is also available on Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/autoluminescent

(same link!) I don't know of any non Bezos source for the Birthday Party piece.

i saw this doc a few days ago also - agree there is some great footage - esp. the studio stuff - although by the 13th live sequence featuring nick cave writhing around on the floor i had checked out a bit

semi-agree re the excess of gfx treatment but would say overall the film-makers did a great job taking material from disparate sources and shaping it into a unified whole

to me it felt about 20 mins too long? which is ofc mainly a requirement of getting it to feature length - but also perhaps reflects that TBP story isn’t thaaat interesting? they have a great sound - were clearly an incredible live force - but they don’t develop much over their lifespan and kind of grind to an exhausted, drugfucked halt

they were clearly remarkable in that historical moment and the film does a good job of capturing that - you could show it to a teenager and they would get what made the band compelling (eg I don’t think the recentish Triffids doc achieved this) - but I am not sure it manages any wider resonance beyond this specific story (which ie I think the recent Crimson doco managed to do)

Haven’t seen the movie yet, but what always fascinated me about the BP’s development is that they’re the rare band got rawer and more unhinged and less subtle as they moved towards that final implosion.

The Birthday Party doc is on Tubi in the US

https://tubitv.com/movies/100022176/mutiny-in-heaven-the-birthday-party

yaaaaay

This was good but pretty standard for a contemporary doc about a cult band. I did like how it ends abruptly - captures their trajectory of blowing up— sonically, popularly, interpersonally. Without Pew, that menacing swing was never going to be recaptured, by the remaining guys or by those who continued building on their harsh innovations.

otm
hated the animations but whatever, I guess!

I’ll take animations over a talking head of effusive Bono, but seems like you have to pick your poison these days.

oof yeah. agree that Pew was the absolute bedrock of this band, the key to it all.

It did good job of showing that if the ambition was to combine intellect and thuggishness, Pew was the mostly thuggishly intellectual.

it was definitely much more standard than i had expected - hated the animation section but wasn’t too much of that

a lot of the interview footage with Cave or Harvey seemed to be from older footage which was a bit disappointing … seemed like 1 or 2 old interviews w Howard but they used a lot from him & it is nice to see all that … nothing from Pew but i wasn’t so surprised idk that he talked on camera much? still he didn’t seem to figure in the narrative of the doc - it was really only seeing him on stage that told you how important he was

i think a better doc might have tried to bring in family or ppl who knew him so that he’s less like a ghost haunting the movie idk

what i did like was the extent of the live footage, and how much it was used - lots of great long sections of various performances that really gave you the visceral feeling & power of their shows

so i guess overall it was fine for what it was and good for casual fams but i think most oldheads would be left wanting more

not much insight, just vibes
is how i would sum it up to an extent

Maybe I don’t want this band demystified too much. Cave is doing a job of that in his dotage.

that’s true

BTW, the Rowland S. Howard documentary (Autoluminscent) is also rentable on Amazon. That one is an absolute must see. (I'd see that one first actually)

I still need to see this one

Autoluminescent has a rental discount right now for $.74, no time to watch soon but I'll have to see if rentals expire on Prime

oh 30 days to start watching, not bad

i heard it’s on tubi maybe?

are you thinking of when milo said the Birthday Party doco is on tubi, in this thread, last week

no! i swear i thought someone else *not* itt told me Autoluminescence was on Tubi? but maybe i was thinking of Prime

the documentary DVD is finally on its way I guess? it's been with Belgian customs for almost a Month now. :-/

also: well done on the AI cover and the wrong spelling of Sydney, Apple Music: https://www.discogs.com/release/27806013-The-Birthday-Party-Live-In-Sidney-1980

Maybe Nick Cave was inside Sidney in Sydney