Birthday Party - Classic or Dud

Solo Cave, not that anyone asked, is something I would walk on daggers to avoid hearing ever again. ANY solo Cave. Again, it's so obvious and painfully one dimensional.

Search: "Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)" (most of Junkyard in fact); "Release the Bats" and "Blast Off"; "Deep In The Woods"; the live disc; the peel sessions cd.

Totally agree with everyone on the solo Cave. How did a man so talented grow so suddenly dull?

The Party itself, o' course = wonderful. "She's HIT, she's HIT, she's HIIIIIIIIT..."

I'm not with you all on the solo stuff, I like it all to varying degrees but esp. First Born is Dead, Kicking against The Pricks, Murder Ballads & Boatman's Call. The new one is growing on me - especially that last song (except he uses the word "closure", yechhh) - but I was disappointed by it initially.

Cave solo - I dunno. "From Her To Eternity" (the 1st solo album) is an absolute masterpiece (but then recorded pretty well concurrently with the Mutiny! EP with Bargeld on board so does it strictly count as a "Bad Seeds" record?). "Tender Prey" OK but really "Mercy Seat" plus supporting acts (much preferred "Tender Pervert" to be honest) and then - we're into Uncut territory: wracked, harrowing ballads of despair etc. tce. zzz.

If cash-strapped the "Hits" compilation on 4AD collects pretty well all the essential Party tunes.

Mercy Seat is the enduring stand-out on Tender Prey, but I initially loved hearing Cave do his version of La Bamba-bubblegum on Deanna.

The folks here that know me will know I'm about to mention 1982 BP / Laughing Clowns gig at Coasters in Edinburgh.

1982 BP / Laughing Clowns gig at Coasters in Edinburgh felt like I had taken way too much of the best drugs ever (I hadn't).

I was actually scared at some point how out of control I felt in my enjoyment of it. The best/worst bit was the sudden lurch near the end of 'deep in the woods' where Howards guitar roars out of nowhere.

If you don't like the Birthday Party you don't get to be my friend.

Cave with the Bad Seeds? Also classic (although his last, NO MORE SHALL WE PART was a dire, humorless phone-in. Skip it completely.)

I haven't really followed Cave solo enough to comment, except that I heard that they were trying to rip off "Oh Happy Day" when they came up with "Deanna".

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

sarah OTM re bauhaus. though zeno does have a point about humor and goth: it's too often (though not always) absent. helps if you include black humor, natch. plus the inherent comedy value of self-seriousness and extremity.

on that note, khanate as goth

humour is not meant to be diggen deep and hard to find.

i dunno - i thought the lyric "o classic gentlemen with your ... fish" was pretty blatantly hilarious

xp sez you! lots of things seem serious on first viewing/reading and reveal their humor only to people willing to dig deeper

cf. the entire careers of david lynch & stanley kubrick

and faulkner

kubrick isn't the best choice - see Dr. Strangelove (which i'm sure you have)

david lynch is sometimes funny - no need to dig deeper to find that.

about goth - in the end it's a matter of taste and subjective pov i guess.

no way is it subjective, goths rulin everything all day, everybody gotta realize

it's sexy, thats for sure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAM6I1DGPAI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcSZTa_5PRM&feature=related

goth is like one of the few genres that people feel 100% comfortable describing (and dismissing) monolithically, ascribing outliers some not-of-the-genre-because-they're-good status

I was just writing about this a few days ago, trying to figure out why. A band can follow 100% of the tropes and cliches of Nuggets-style garage or 77 punk, adding nothing more, and be totally adored. But if you moan over a Roland with some phased arpeggios, everyone goes, "ugh, Goth."

I think comes down to the whole notion of "gothic". I really depends on weirdness. And you conjure any weirdness if you're following a predictable blueprint- so if a band does nothing but follow the templete, it sounds throwaway. Like slasher film set at a summer camp. The band that builds on goth gets accolades by being "goth, but then they add _____". And you could insert almost anything in that blank spot- metal, punk, techno, avant, folk.

I think it's because straights know goths are totes sexing it up all day everyday & it makes them jealous

i guess the thing that bother me the most about Goth is the lack of humour

It is crazy that this shows up on a thread about what is one of the world's funniest bands, imo.

I remember my first roomie I had was a goth and we would just get the giggles at every fucking thing we listened to. Like I remember her putting on "Hour of the Wolf" by Christian Death and it just fucking slaying us for hours. I know this is what happens when you give 19-year-old girls marijuana but OTOH I think a lot of gothics music is secretly winking at you, is secretly-humor inducing in that it brings me a lot of giddy pleasure. Like I don't dig that it is only 0-3% funny maximum.

A band can follow 100% of the tropes and cliches of Nuggets-style garage or 77 punk, adding nothing more, and be totally adored. But if you moan over a Roland with some phased arpeggios, everyone goes, "ugh, Goth."

this is true and not true. i mean, recycled nuggets garage & 77 punk appeal almost exclusively to an audience of people specifically and often fanatically dedicated to those things (barring the circa 00's "real rock" blip). everybody else just rolls their eyes and goes "ugh, that again. snooze." same with goth. by-the-number gothmusik (of this or that stripe, as there are many subgenres) appeals to die-hards and bores everyone else.

...if a band does nothing but follow the templete, it sounds throwaway. Like slasher film set at a summer camp. The band that builds on goth gets accolades by being "goth, but then they add _____".

honestly, i think this is likewise true of most genres. you can appeal to the faithful by replicating a beloved formula, and sometimes these conservative, flame-maintaining "true cult" aesthetics briefly break out into the mainstream, but for the most part you have to do something novel with the received formula in order to appeal to a broad/non-cult audience.

abbbottt OTM. plus like not-so-secretly funny shit like alien sex fiend.

cramps may not be goth, but goths love 'em, and they're funny as hell

I saw them on a double bill with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds on the From Her to Eternity tour

another thing about goths is they've often been around for a minute or two

no way is it subjective, goths rulin everything all day, everybody gotta realize

raggett

lol, was supposed to be [/raggett] joek fail

This conversation is responsible me for me putting my Alien Sex Fiend CDs on my compy, so it's been worth it.

you know what goth band deserves more love than they currently get is sex gang children. "mauritia mayer" is awesome.

otm about Alien Sex Fiend

http://retromaniafootnotes.blogspot.co.il/2012/05/800x600-normal-0-false-false-false-en_5119.html

http://retromaniafootnotes.blogspot.co.il/2012/05/800x600-normal-0-false-false-false-en_5119.html

poll anyone?

nick cave and rowland howard - portrait of the artist as a consumes

Classic...absolutely...but definitely not an easy listen!

http://devonrecordclub.com/2014/04/05/the-birthday-party-junkyard-round-64-toms-selection/

Classic. Deep in the woods, six inch gold blade, "hands up who wants to die", heck, there's no BP track I don't like.

Classic, but I have reservations of the Boys Next Door era

Not that the music is bad or anything, I just prefer to think of them coming out of nowhere and fully formed with Prayers On Fire

Howard and Pew by some distance the best part of this band

there aren't many records with a sleeve as good as junkyard's.

If you go straight to Prayers on Fire you miss the acidic scatterfunk of the s/t/Hee Haw lp which I have always loved. THat seems more in line with what became POF anyway.
& from what I recall they were saddled with a non sympathetic producer when they cut Door Dor which was outof step with where they were when it was released anyway. Not solely because half of it was from a much earlier point in their career prior to Rowland joining if I'm remembering right.

I did start with Prayers on Fire and only heard scattered songs from before that. Should try to check out the earlier stuff.

yeah I love the first lp. Pretty psychedelic with the screeing guitar and stuff. It was released on the Hee Haw cd which contains most o fthe material recorded around that point but I don't think has been remastered in decades.

WEird middle eastern riffs over skittering funk beats or whateveyr Calvert is playing & RSH with a tone that's half feedback and very trebly. Must have music methinks.

yeah there are plenty of tracks on the hee haw cd that are as essential as anything on prayers on fire.

this surfaced today, p great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM6mr_MGITw

God can you even imagine

this is great, i saw them four weeks after this in nz

classic

Incredible!!

gonna share the shit outta this

!

But... how, who, why?

Right was just coming over to post that the whole concert had been upped as video and an upgraded audio
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=580228&viewcomm=7434115#comm7434115
video

and audio
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=580292

here's their versionof 6 Strings from teh concert, song only got released as a Bad Seeds bside and a n uncompleted Birthday party track on the '83 e.ps after somebdy had left the finsihed mixes on a tube train at the time they had been completed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr13LCoWOec

!

But... how, who, why?

― StanM, Thursday, December 29, 2016 11:44 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Talking to the people in the know, First Ave had a pretty pro video/sound recording set up at time and filmed/recorded most of the gigs in the big room for closed circuit big screen projection (you can see it for a second in the BP clip). The person I know was surprised more complete shows from that era haven't turned up yet.

This show is totally awesome.

That is a great show.
Love Nick's Seinfeld puffy shirt.
Love Mick's brute drumming.
Rowland is, of course, on fire and unfairly beautiful.

Talking to the people in the know, First Ave had a pretty pro video/sound recording set up at time and filmed/recorded most of the gigs in the big room for closed circuit big screen projection (you can see it for a second in the BP clip).

― chr1sb3singer, Thursday, January 5, 2017 2:16 PM (five days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
>

I don't quite get the set up on this, when I first read what you said I thought it was for showing in parts of the venue taht you can't see the stage from fully or something. I think the venue in Croydon that Sonic YOuth played at in the early 80s had a similar set up. But that was broadcasting what was happening on the stage at teh time it was happenning
But watching the thing through you can see that there have been some post production effects added. There is footage overlaying footage etc. So i would assume that that meant some editing of the tapes after teh fact wouldn't it?
So was there any plan ever to do anything with this footage?

I don't remember seeing much being done by the ex-memebers of teh band since I thought they got their rights backk. There was teh Live 81-82 lp and I think vinyl with free cd versions fo at least junkyard. Not sure if taht was actually from the band though.
Somebody said to me that it was a shame that the full length footage from the Brixton Ace hadn't been compiled somewhere. The 3 tracks that were on channel 4 originally and are now on the Pleasure Heads Must Burn dvd are awesome enough in themselves, if there is another half hour or whatever of taht stuff it would be great if they would officially release it.
Would be good if they did taht with this and any other footage too.

This show illustrates why not to lend Nick a jacket. I think he goes onstage with the suit jacket intact, within the first few tracks it's split at the armpit seam.
I think Ian Johnson says something in Bad Seed along the lines of people getting misshapen jackets back after lending them to him.

& Cave doesn't seem to have the greatest sense of balance. Can't get through a song without falling over tehn writhing around on the stage. & squatting in a near foetal position probably isn't the greatest position to sing from either is it? Don't think Tona De Brett would encourage it.

The Clinton Walker book Stranded which cover s teh Birthday Party, Moodists , Scientists etc etc i.e. the Australian turn of the 80s is reissued next week on February 26th according to Book Depository.
Been hoping to get to read that for the last decade possibly 2. & probably longer since I don't think I was actually aware of it per se but would have loved a book covering that area for another couple decades before that.

Revised and expanded I see .

https://rhythms.com.au/clinton-walkers-stranded-gets-reboot/