Birthday Party [Live]

1. Ebb Tide

2. Birthday Party Blues

3. Shadow of Your Smile

4. On the Beach

5. Polka Dots and Moonbeams

Birthday Party,Illinois Jacquet,Groove Note Records,Bop,Jazz,Jump Blues,Pop,Swing

Jazz

Music

jazz

Tracks:

Don't Cry
Chicken Wolf
Lovely Meter
Round And Down
It's Never Too Late
Sleeping Dreaming
Jupiter Child
She'll Be Better
Cat Killer
Rock Me
God Fearing Man
Mango Juice
Happy Birthday

Customer Reviews:

Rock Me Baby All Night Long.......2007-06-15

Another killer effort from one of the seminal rock bands of the late 60's. There are some real nuggets here like Don't Cry, It's Never Too Late, Jupiter Child, She'll Be Better, Rock Me and God Fearing Man. There is some filler here, thus the four stars. A pretty good slice of what hard rock was in 1969.

underrated Steppenwolf album.......2007-04-10

«At You Birthday Party» was the third and - in my opinion - the last of the classic Steppenwolf albums. After those two groundbreaking blues rock albums «Steppenwolf» and ««Second» this (underrated) Gabriel Mekler produced set also contained all the power and inspiration you liked on those two albums. There are great rock tunes like «Rock Me» or the sublime «It's Never Too Late» (both were released as singles) , even heavier tracks like «Jupiter Child» or «Don't Cry», ballads like «She'll Be Better», piano/organ boogie («Cat Killer»), funny jams and the most beautiful birthday song you'll ever hear («Happy Birthday»). Charismatic singer, strong lyrics, superb playing. What more can you hope for? «At You Birthday Party» is a work of true genius and a classic rock album of the late Sixties.

My Favorite Steppenwolf Album.......2007-02-01

It's good. In '76 when I was at Cornell, we were doing a deal and I put this record (which was old then) on to help test the stuff. Everyone asked, "What is this GREAT album?". We had a GREAT time, in the spirit of 1969 to boot.

So, if you want to get wasted a la 1969, try it with this album. You won't regret it. It invokes the feeling.

Favorite cuts: Don't Cry, It's Never Too Late; Rock Me; Happy Birthday. Kay's voice is at its prime.

SteppenwolfRocks.......2007-01-10

I find this album very inventive and most
of all its classic steppenwolf...
which was very much apart of my commune life back
in the 60's and early 70's.

Pure Classic.......2006-06-11

Of course you can never call this their best album, for it's placed between 'Steppenwolf The Second' and 'Monster'. But in my opinion, it is the middle one of their three greatest outings, and it also shows this by blending the early, light mood and born-to-be-wild-rock with 'Monster's more somber, dark spirit, which would dominate the next recording completely. This way, it possesses some of the lightness, that 'Monster' arguably needed, while appearing as more serious & more mature than their first two albums. Then why don't I say it's better than them... well, because I just love psychedelia, and then, how should I criticize 'Magic Carpet Ride'? :)

'Don't Cry' is quite simply THE BEST STEPPENWOLF SONG NEVER TO BE A SINGLE - or at least a hit, I mean, I don't think it was a single anyway... but it certainly wasn't a hit, though I think it's even better than 'Rock Me', though that one deserved its Top Ten placing.
'Chicken Wolf' and 'Lovely Meter' are standard, above-the-rest-of-the-pack Steppenwolf songs, but the band really approaches the heights of their opening track with 'Round And Down', which could be said to be their second greatest not-single, though this time, I'm not so sure...
'It's Never Too Late' is a wonderful anthem. At first it seems a bit bombastic, but hear it a couple of times, and you'll also start loving it.
'Sleeping Dreaming' is funny, and as chaotic as the stranger outings of Jefferson Airplane (like 'A Small Package Of Value Will Come To You, Shortly') and The Beatles ('Dig It')! A kind of "song", that only could have been made in the 60's...
'Jupiter Child', the next highlight, is a great rock song with a powerful riff, while 'She'll Be Better' and 'Cat Killer' arguably beats it. Then 'Rock Me' arrives, their third greatest hit, and, though many other songs surpasses it, still a marvellous gem of rock'n'roll. Even if it's an attempt to capture the spirit of 'Born To Be Wild' once again, then at least it's a great attempt!!!
'God Fearing Man' is a more serious creation, but one which completely dwarfs the otherwise finely crafted 'Mango Juice'. 'Happy Birthday' closes the album with a mystic & brilliant invocation, childhood, the unknown, simply magic, perhaps the only track on this record to rival the splendour of 'Don't Cry', but doing it with completely other means than those that Steppenwolf have become known for!

Average customer rating:

A musical junkyard crammed with ups and downs
abrasive, not that there's anything wrong with that
UPSY DAISY.
Truly Extreme Music
Very urgent, frantic

Junkyard
The Birthday Party
Manufacturer: Buddha
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Prayers on Fire
Mutiny/The Bad Seed
Hee-Haw
From Her to Eternity
Tender Prey

ASIN: B00004T0NA
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Tracks:

Blast Off!
She's Hit
Dead Joe
Dim Locator
Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)
Several Sins
Big-Jesus-Trash-Can
Kiss Me Black
6" Gold Blade
Kewpie Doll
Junkyard
Dead Joe
Release the Bats

Customer Reviews:

A musical junkyard crammed with ups and downs.......2006-07-03

This Birthday Party's third and most notoir album literaly "Blasts off" with total noise, psychotic drums and screaming guitar terror; but then again, it's an LP that is made by a no-holds-barred punk act that's more of a crazed, insane lost-in-the-jungle war ensemble on the loose.

The songs TBP produces can be described best as "well structured chaos". It's fullblown punky mess, but with a mind behind it. Songs like "Six inch gold blade" and "Kwepie doll" are thunder without much point and probably will do nice on stage during cheap, messy, smokey, claustrophobic late night gigs.

"Dead Joe" and "Dead Joe (2nd version)" tell about a car crash and the songs sound just like one. "Hamlet (Pow pow pow)" takes on the graveyard scene from Shakespeare's legendary theatre play and "Several sins" stands out as a kind of eerie but beautiful "punk ballad".

The title track "Junkyard" is maybe the best song TBP ever cried out, with sneering guitars, up and down tempo, and singer Cave's dark voice, sometimes lowkey, sometimes highpitched screaming, perfectly in place. "Release the bats" is more of the same well-formulated chaos but with a catchy base drum by Mick Harvey that's really on a role.

I confess that TBP's first to albums "Hee-haw" and "Prayers on fire" didn't really got to me. Fifty percent of "Junkyard" did in a main way, just as the following (and last) TBP album "Mutiny / The Bad Seed" did.

In some ways, even more. TBP was really growing and maturing (which is really some kind of paradox: I always felt that punk music was mainly created to rage against maturity and the world of oppressing adults) and one would be curious what should have become of this nasty little Party had they not fall apart soon after release of "Mutiny / The Bad Seed".

abrasive, not that there's anything wrong with that.......2005-04-20

Anti 80's pop, nasty sounding, find out who your friends are
rock n roll. My favourite songs are Dead Joe (a classic), Pow
Pow Pow and The Dim Locator. Comparing The Birthday Party to
Midnight Oil is like comparing The Eagles to The Fugs. Not all
American Bands sound the same, ditto in Oz. (I think Midnight Oil are great by the way) This record is a bit
of a time capsule for me, having bought it on vinyl when it was
new. Different to Nick Cave's later stuff, but you don't need me
to tell you that. Junk sculpture turning back to junk junk junk
junk junk unk unk ughh ughh ohh ohh ohh Deaaadddd Joe...etc...
As some Aussies might say "It's a pearler".

UPSY DAISY. .......2004-07-26

this is what rock n roll should sound like. hip-shakin, gasoline sweatin, blood lettin grooviness. channeling the voodoo engergy of the carter family, the delta blues, rockabilly, the stooges, and james brown; bringing the love in the middle of the firefight and then kicking everyone in the county's teeth in.

fans should also check the hair police, xiu-xiu, the pop group, albert ayler, mississippi fred mcdowell, t. rex, and arthur doyle.

Truly Extreme Music.......2003-12-03

The Birthday party, to put it vulgarly, could rip off anyone's face and chew on their brains then, now and tomorrow as well. The Party emerged from the post punk movement that also spawned Joy Division, Bauhaus, The Cure and Christian Death, and which would later be called Goth. (Deathrock in the states) The Birthday Party, however would prove to be one of the most extreme and "hardcore" of lot. While Joy Division and The Cure prefered melancholy and gloom, and Bauhaus and Christian Death - boho artsiness, Nick Cave and his fellow loons gave us a bastard hybrid of garage rock, punk, rockabilly, blues and a bit of lounge as well. The thing that really set them apart was the all out fury and abandon found in their music. Even the fastest and loudest Thrash Metal and Hardcore Punk bands could never dream of creating the atmosphere of raw, unadulterated anger, rage, and tension found on this album. It's almost murderous. Very fitting for songs like Six Inch Gold Blade and Dead Joe. (Probably the greatest Death Rock song ever recorded) One has to wonder what Nick Cave was doing while recording the vocals. Torturing himself with a branding iron maybe? The production values on this recording are almost non-exsistant. The sound is hollow. Low bass end, and ear piercing high end. No middle tone. The vocals sound like they were recorded in a bathroom, the guitar sounds out of tune, and the drums sound... well... broken! But all of these shortcomings add to the experimental nature of this album. And the lyrics... anyone familiar with Nick Cave can expect only some of his best here. Strange characters in ridiculous situations, tons of poetic metaphors and of course Death and Murder. A bit of b-movie horror with the Goth Anthem Release The Bats as well. Essential listening to anyone who thinks today's popular poseur artists are "extreme."

Very urgent, frantic.......2003-05-09

I saw Nick Cave and the Birthday Party twice - once at the Hammersmith Odeon and about six months later at St Albans. The first time I was amazed by the contrast between the performer and the man himself. I spoke to him briefly after the performance and he was cool, rational, and quite generous in his speech. Whatever you might object to, no-one who is a complete 'duh' can either write the songs, perform half so well, or even commission the cover art-

Nick was possibly doing quite a few things during those complicated days, I remember that we were simply being students, we thought "release the bats" was an ideal replacement for the national anthem... When we saw Nick at St Albans later, in spite of the fact that we had talked before, he gave me one of his wild man "better dial for a coffin" look... But that was Nick the performer, I guess, and it was worth the price of the ticket alone...!

Tracks:

Mr. Clarinet
Happy Birthday
Hats on Wrong
Guilt Parade
Friend Catcher
Waving My Arms
Catman
Riddle House
Catholic Skin
Red Clock
Faint Heart
Death by Drowning
Hair Shirt

Customer Reviews:

Great Stuff.......2006-04-21

This album is a collection of songs from from the very early days of the Birthday Party, many of which were recorded as the band "The Boys Next Door," (circa 1979) but this is definitely some good stuff. Songs like "the Friend Catcher" and "The Hair Shirt" definitely reflect the band's later darker direction. It doesn't end there; "A Catholic Skin," is a pounding rhythm-based jam, (read: deep, bass centered groove) as is the final track "The Hair Shirt,". For those looking for some great Post-Punk music this is an exceptional beginning. The Birthday Party were an intense group by design, and as an introduction into later, more chaotic works this re-release functions extremely well. Death rock owes much to these guys and I, for one, love them. Those who appreciate Nick Cave should get a lot out of this. Follow this album with the Mutiny/Bad Seed EP. The Birthday Party were immensely important, whether or not you like their insane songs. Listen. Learn and judge for yourself, no one else can say anymore than that.

Wow.......2006-04-03

I must admit; I do not own all of The Birthday Party's Cd's but from the one's that I do own (Mutiny, Prayers On Fire, and Hee-haw) this one is probley my favorite. It feels so raw and outlandish...if you really like to hear a band "give it their all" I'd say you should deffintly think about picking up this album if you get the chance.

dark, evil and catchy.......2002-03-05

i love this album for it's raw simplicity(i find i've been saying that a lot on here...i think it's my style...anywho ;-)...). the songs on Hew Haw(culled partly from when the Party was the Boys Next Door, and the rest from the first Party album) are very catchy, very...uh...gothic, indeed, and very punk. it's like the Banshees and Bauhaus' first albums...very jaggedly, staggering dark dirges and full-on Stooges-type jams set to a gloomy minor key. Cave's vocals and lyricism is(was at the time) abstract and benign, but most of the songs are metaphoric: clarinets, birthday parties, clocks, hats, etc. the names and content may seem forced and somewhat silly, but they grow on you quickly as a whole, creating a very cryptic pop sound. there is lots of atmosphere on this album...achingly sustained distortion painting scenes that linger, creep, rattle and ramble. my favs are probably "The Friend Catcher", "Death By Drowning", "The Red Clock" and "Riddle House", but i usually listen to the album as a whole, so i guess everything is pretty great. don't get this album if you are looking for a "Nick Cave album"...this was before Nick Cave found Nick Cave; just think of it as a great debut for a great post punk group.

Early Nick May Not Be Much of a Party to Some.......2001-04-24

And so here it is, (minus the Boys Next Door's 1978 'Door Door' album) for all practical purposes the beginning of Nick Cave's enigmatic, three decade long career. It's hard to imagine, listening to this 40 some odd minutes of noise and vile, that the very same person would be, twenty-two odd years later, mentioned in the same breath as Bob Dylan and easily considered the "Dark Laureate" successor to Leonard Cohen. As you may gather, just because it is first does NOT make it the place most will want to start. Once you're more familiar with Cave, however, it puts many puzzle pieces into place.

Not really an album proper, this release (originally co-credited to the Boys Next Door AND the Birthday Party) gathers a Boys Next Door ep and single, and two Birthday Party singles recorded in late 1979 and early 1980. What's the difference between the two bands you might ask? Almost nothing. The band personnel (and it is one of the great post-punk lineups) is the same, though the biggest difference is the move in early 1980 to London where the name change occurs and the latter singles are released. It's those last singles that you encounter first on the cd, and that's fair enough. Here the band collects its messy Swell Maps/Fall/No Wave inspired clatter into a genuinely catchy sound. "The Friend Catcher" and "Mr. Clarinet" (both as lyrically obtuse as they sound) are bonafied art-punk classics. The final Boys Next Door single ("Happy Birthday"/"Riddle House" not credited in the liner notes!)is just behind these two, finding our Aussie expatriates learning their craft well. At the end of it all, we are, uh, "graced" with the 'Hee-Haw' ep in its chaotic entirety. A good history lesson I suppose, but mostly lots of Rowland S. Howard's feedback with little of the hooks he'd soon have down, and Cave taking that shriek of his just a little too far, too often. Not bad,necessarily and perhaps best served as the soundtrack to late night car repossessing.

Tracks:

Sonnys Burning
Wildworld
Fears of Gun
Deep in the Woods
Jennifers Veil
Six Strings That Drew Blood
Say a Spell
Swampland
Pleasure Avalanche
Mutiny in Heaven

Customer Reviews:

Last of the Birthday party is a collection of aftershocks.......2006-07-03

If "Junkyard", the quintessential Bithday party album was the great earthquake in the punkscene, the songs on the following two E.P.'s (and the last of The BP) can at least be called some severe aftershocks.

The opening scream-out on "Sonny's burning" says it all: "Hands up who wants to die!" howlers singer Nick Cave in pain. And the deconstructive podium-busting of "Junkyard" goes on.
Then "Wildworld" follows, with its slow pacing drums and howling guitar; the song trashes the mind and soul and causes many lonely abandoned off spring to dance with their own shadows in the dark.
There seems to be more echoing effects in the guitars, and more contemplation and sanity in Cave's voice - not that the man is cured of whatever demons are troubeling him, thank God not, but the tight ensembling-work of The Bad Seeds come more and more into vision here.

"Jennifer's veil", a stiring emotional statement, hints at future Bad Seeds output; more singing tendencies than just spoken word or screaming, this track solely is worth a finger.
"Six strings that drew blood" is an early punk version of one of the best songs on "The firstborn is dead" album, the second Bad Seeds release. Although very rarely mentioned, is "The six strings..." version on the "First born..." album still one of Nick Cave's best pereformances, and here on the Birthday Party E.P. we have its original blueprint.
"Swampland" still has the chaos of "Release the bats" from the "Junkyard"album, as have the multi-vocals on "Mutiny in heaven".

Call it aftershocks, call it more matured and pollished, call it a musical testament, it's still all classic TBP.
This last release doesn't show any signs of decline or perishing of the band. It's just "Junkyard" little successor, and a good reason to to ponder on the question where Nick and the mates would have gone to, if The Bitrthday Party hadn't crashed that early in its own personal dark history.

One of the best cd's...........2004-09-11

If you don't love this cd (and many people won't), then you must have a very different taste in music then me. Yes, it's different. Yes, it's offensive. Yes, it's incredibly powerful. Mutiny in Heaven is insanity on a disc, Six strings that drew the blood is awesome, as is everything on this disc. Simply brilliant, and best disc to start a birthday party obsession with.

Tonight We Sleep in Separate Ditches.......2003-11-12

To categorize this CD as "goth" or "blues influenced" or "Stooges-like" is a gross oversimplification. Nick Cave is at his best bible infused morbid-ism. The addition of Einsturzende Neubauten's (and future Bad Seed) Blixa Bargeld on `Mutiny in Heaven' is pure genius. The CD in its entirety is pure genius. A timeless classic, for sure.

An excerpt from `Deep in the Woods':

Now the killed waits for the killer
And the trees all nod their heads, they are agreed
This knife feels like a knife feels like a knife that feels like it's feed.
Yeah I recognize that girl
I took her from rags right through to stitches (pray for me now)
Oh baby, tonight we sleep in separate ditches.

Wow! Postmodernism can be interesting!!!!!!!!.......2003-05-26

Every song on this compilation of two EP's is a highlight of goth, and rock and blues. Opening with the wierd "hands up who wants to die" Sonny's Burning will make you feel just like youre at a lynching - of someone who listens to commercial FM radio ( so they're not advocating anything bad ). The songs on the Bad Seed tend to be particularly percussive with a basic blues structure. Mutiny is more of a layered, introspective sound, like the earlier B.P. recordings like Prayers on Fire, although they are raucous and designed to grind. The ending of this cd is an ode to the herion addiction that the band loved to hate.

oh my lord!.......2002-02-24

This is one of those albums, that at first listen, i gasp, jump up and down, shake my hands wildly and start chanting "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!!!" IT ROCKS!!!! Nick Cave and his cohorts create such believably dark and menacing atmospheres that you can feel the fear. it's sooooo raw. all the tracks have this sleazy evil mood...like a strip joint in the swamp at night. all the tracks are perfect; it's one of those perfect cd's that can be listened from start to finish. it's just so coherent. if you want a goth cd...i mean real dark goth...get this cd. it basically screams "Hands up! Who wants to die?"...well actually Nick does. ;-) you can hear all the Stooges influence...It's like "Nightclubbing" meets "Search and Destroy"...super charged doom and gloom. God Bless You, Birthday Party!

Average customer rating:

The Real Deal
they'll never reunite so buy their albums and own some history
Truly brave and wild
Perfection at a Bargain Price
Fantastic album

Prayers on Fire
The Birthday Party
Manufacturer: Buddha
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Junkyard
Mutiny/The Bad Seed
Hee-Haw
From Her to Eternity
Tender Prey

ASIN: B00004T0N7
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Tracks:

Zoo-Music Girl
Cry
Capers
Nick the Stripper
Ho-Ho
Figure of Fun
King Ink
Dead Song
Yard
Dull Day
Just You and Me
Blundertown
Kathy's Kisses

Customer Reviews:

The Real Deal.......2006-09-26

An epochal No-Wave masterpiece, transcended only by its successor, Junkyard. One can see this album as the turning point upon which Nick Cave's sardonic dementia truly began to shine through in his songwriting. Features such indispensable classics as "Dull Day" and "Nick The Stripper", the latter of which is an unflinching take on self-loathing that Kurt Cobain could have learned a lot from. A must-have for all Nick Cave/Birthday Party/No-Wave enthusiasts.

they'll never reunite so buy their albums and own some history.......2006-03-15

rating 4.7/5
ok. what you need to know. Nick cave was originally the lead singer from birthday party. he later went on to solo stardom, as well as acclaim with his band the bad seeds. this is one of the coolest albums of all time. nick and the rest of the party slam through songs with psychotic abandon while nicky boy shouts poetic maniacal stream of consciousness lyrics describing venomous acts of spite and mayhem. this is one of the best "art punk" albums of all time. if you think you might like it then you will. get it.

Truly brave and wild.......2004-09-10

This early Nick Cave, truly but endearingly demented and willing to shred your brain with that dementia, won me with this album. The band is also much more interesting even musically than, say, Pere Ubu, to whom I'd feel comfortable comparing them. More artistic...dare I say more progressive? That still counts! A perfect blend of craziness going on, and on the strength of this one I got all four remasters. And of COURSE I'm over 13...!

Perfection at a Bargain Price.......2003-11-12

Like an aural nightmare. Guitars imbed themselves into your brain. The vocals imbed themselves into your soul. There is nothing like this Australian band of the personification of anxiety and terror. That it was released in the early 1980s is just amazing, isn't it? Nick Cave and his cohort Mick Harvey of the Bad Seed's training ground. Not to be confused with their current output, though. Absolutely not.

The lyrics to `Just You and Me' says plenty:

First: I tried to kill it with a hammer
thought that I could lose
the head
sure! We've eaten off the silver
when even the food was against us
and then I tried to kill it in the bed

Second: I gagged it with a pillow
but awoke the nuns inside my head
they pound their goody-goody fists
from the inside-so from the outside
I got good: I stuck it. Dead
Thirdly: I put my lips upon it
And blew a frost across
its flat
I wrote upon its outside-surface
"Tonight we're on the outside surface"
Just you and me girl: You and me and the fat

Fantastic album.......2003-10-16

Any Nick Cave album is hard to review. You honest opinion will seem slight and insignificant towards somebody like him. Because in these days he has become something of a legend. All I can say is that this album is brilliant from start to finish and is worth every last cent. That's all I can say really other than this album far outweighs it's successor, Junkyard, which was, in all honesty a complete drug addled mess. Still had some good songs though

Average customer rating:

So yeah...
Put The Birthday Party on a stage, where they belong!
Set to fry your brain
Are you listening, sonny?
It's still living...

Live, 1981-1982
The Birthday Party
Manufacturer: 4ad / Ada
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Hee-Haw
Junkyard
Mutiny/The Bad Seed
Prayers on Fire
From Her to Eternity

ASIN: B00000IAGC
Release Date: 1999-11-16

Tracks:

Junkyard
Dead Song
Dim Locator
Zoo Music Girl
Nick the Stripper
Blast Off!
Release the Bats
Bully Bones
King Ink
(Sometimes) Pleasure Heads Must Burn
Big Jesus Trash Can
Dead Joe
Friend Catcher
6" Gold Blade
Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)
She's Hit
Fun House

Amazon.com's Best of 1999

Angular art punk fronted by a dagger-wielding madman with literary pretensions? The Birthday Party didn't simply flirt with chaos, they inhaled it; chaos flowed through their veins and ignited the spark for every firing synapse of this exquisitely dark band. Led by caterwauling vocalist Nick Cave, Live 1981-82 captures this dangerous bunch at the height of their powers. Not for the squeamish or those sensitive to abrasive noises, but a spectacular car wreck nonetheless. --S. Duda

Amazon.com

Few bands were as cataclysmic, chaotic, and iconoclastic as Australia's Birthday Party. And while they spawned a few imitators (most notably Bogshead, Scratch Acid, and the short-lived "batcave" movement), their fractured sound and aura of wickedness were so far removed from the norm of early-'80s rock music that no group even came close to duplicating their murderous persona and manic, driving racket. Live 1981-82 collects 17 tracks from concerts in London, Germany, and Greece, and for a band whose music seemed to cling to sanity by the most delicate of threads, these recordings are surprisingly coherent and faithful to the album versions. Taking into account the barrage of feedback, the pile-driving bass, and singer Nick Cave's howling, the sound is also quite good (the only exception being the single cut from Greece, a cover of the Stooges "Funhouse"). As for the performances, the band is in excellent form. Cave delivers the songs with conviction and energy, punctuating them with his startling vocabulary of shiver-inducing screams, grunts, snorts, groans, and growls. Considering the schizophrenia that was so much a part of the band's music, Cave's ability to convincingly deliver his gut-wrenching angst is nothing short of remarkable. While Cave's Manson-meets-Morrison persona drew most of the attention, it was the Birthday Party's ability to swing--hard--that put them over the top. Drummer Phil Calvert is a beacon in the sea of chaos as guitarists Mick Harvey and Roland S. Howard disembowel their guitars, blasting shards of jazz and blues across the horizon. The late bassist Tracy Pew is the real revelation. Rock solid and never missing a beat, Pew emerges as the constant amidst the wreckage, providing the rich base from which these bad seeds sprung. Live 1981-81 is a near-perfect document of one of rock's most extreme, creative, and dangerous forces.--S. Duda

Album Description

1999 compilation of live tracks recorded 1982 in England, Germany and Greece by Nick Cave's post-punk/pre-Bad Seeds outfit. 17 tracks total. Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews:

So yeah..........2007-03-24

This is it. This is quite possibly the best band that ever existed doing what they did best- killing us bluntly with their songs (and fists.) The madness of this record makes all the punk-jive, past and present, seem moot. For those uninitiated into the genius of The Birthday Party, this would be a great place to start. And oh yeah- be sure to turn up the last track, a cover of The Stooges "Funhouse", nice and loud. Your speakers will hate you, as will your neighbors/friends, but there you'll be in distorted, deafened bliss.

Put The Birthday Party on a stage, where they belong!.......2006-07-03

Nick Cave has always been one of these artists who is more than just a singer: he is a performer. He belongs on stage, in recent years with his Bad Seeds ensemble, and in the early years with The Birthday Party.
More punk rock orientated and with lyrics that seemd to be written more to be of a musical "guiding" function than to have any real literary pretentions, TBP is a live act al the way.

"The Birthday Party Live 81-82" offers two gigs, the first one in "The Venue" in London, the second one in Bremen, Germany. A nice but not all to memerable bonus track is included here, called "Funhouse", performed in Athens, Greece.

The first concerts gives you all the classic stuff: from the mind bending opener "Junkyard" which sets the tone for a "slambang-in-your-face evening", to "A dead song", and from the self-mockery of "Nick the Stripper", all the way to the blasting "Blast off!" and the biting "Release the bats".

The German gig has "Big-Jesus-trash-can", the hymn-for-a-car-wreck "Dead Joe", the theatrical spoof "Hamlet (Pow pow pow)" and a good performance of the hypnotic "She's hit".

So over fifty percent of the songs come from the quintessential "Junkyard", and, unfortunately, no songs from the last TBP output "Mutiny / The Bad Seeds", which is really a shame.

The live dvd "Pleasure heads must burn" however does contain live footages of songs from the last two E.P's like "Sonny's Burning", "The Six strings that drew blood", "Wild world" and "Pleasure avalanche".
Both CD and DVD are a must-have for everyone who still cherishes some nostalghia for the years with the maniacle and insane Caveman-with-the-blood-shed-eyes.

Set to fry your brain.......2006-04-02

If you are brave enough to buy this CD, be prepared for this CD to scour your brain inside and out. It's fiendishly noisy. There was an old review I read on the internet with the band and Nick Cave had said that he was unimpressed with some of the recordings of that time because they did not capture the intensity of their live performances. After listening to this, I can see what he means. This is obnoxiously ferocious. The sort of take-no-prisoners live album that shreds it's instruments for an all-out aural assault. Some of the songs are virtually unrecognizable from their studio counterparts. While I've never gone to a Birthday Party concert, this CD would pretty much give me a clear indication about how it would be like. You could probably end up empty headed, sore and in desperate need of paraceteamol to cure that thumping headache. If you are brave enough to listen to this, make sure you have aspirin at the ready....because your headache could get nasty!

Are you listening, sonny?.......2005-12-21

Every track here is a classic. Better than the studio versions. The bass and drums are set to pulverize, every note sounds like a punch in the stomach. The guitars are chaotic and Nick Cave is brilliant. I first heard the Birthday Party when I picked up the hits album when I was 16. I had never heard anything like it and was hooked immediately and spent the next few years tracking down all the studio releases. I was completed saturated and sated with the Birthday Party albums I had and eventually moved on to other bands. This album again has just blown me away. I'm hooked again. Great stuff.

It's still living..........2005-01-16

Someone once said that you could tell the smart people at a Birthday Party concert, because they were the ones standing at the back. There were two advantages to being toward the back of the crowd at a BP performance - for one, you were less likely to sacrifice an eardrum to the squealing amps being pumped full of Rowland S. Howard's unique style of guitar playing. The other, more obvious advantage was that you were far less likely to get kicked in the face or hit on the head by Nick Cave.

The Birthday Party represent a style of music much missed in today's society. I'm not speaking so much of their genre, which is still present in this day and age (but is nowhere near as good), but rather the fact that their music was largely written for stage before studio, rather than the other way around. I bought "Hits" as my first taste of the BP a few months ago, and was impressed. The songs were intense. But then I got this, and realised that the studio recordings, despite Tony Cohen's best efforts, paled next to the work the BP did on stage.

The entire album is recorded in the wake of "Junkyard", and the classic hit (much to Nick Cave's endless puzzlement and frustration) "Release the Bats". It contains material ranging from 1979's "Hee-Haw" through to "Junkyard", including a few tracks which never made it to the studio. The quality varies - the London material is brilliant, but the Bremen concert has been quite noticably sourced from cassette. The Athens track is the worst quality, and I'm pretty sure it and the Bremen material are bootlegs which the band have bought. None of it's unlistenable, however, provided that you have a taste for the Birthday Party's style of music.

The Birthday Party, it must be said, never quite got the idea of rhythm. Oh sure, there are a lot of drums, but that doesn't mean that they keep the time or anything. Tracey Pew (bass) is the only member of the group who could or would keep the beat. Mick Harvey and Rowland S. Howard (guitars) just kind of seem to play thunderous riffs at will and Phil Calvert is in blistering form on his drums, but he plays them more as a lead than the rhythm section.

And as for Nick Cave...well - it seems a bit like he's decided how he's going to sing the lyrics, and no-one better try stop him. Doesn't matter to him that the music and lyrics are completely out of time. But that's what the BP so great. Take "A Dead Song" for example. It's heavy, thunderous, and nightmarish...in both lyrics and music. But neither really seem to influence the other. It's...well, wierd. Better descriptions escape me.

Not all the songs are like that, of course. "The Dim Locator" was a pleasant surprise, with Cave and the musicians almost seeming to have come to an agreement on how to perform together. The band even manage to sound almost rhythmic, with the primal drum and bass lines of tracks like "Zoo-Music-Girl" (one of the truly oddest songs about love ever written) and "Release the Bats".

"King Ink" was a song that I never really appreciated on the studio record, but here I've discovered a new fondness for it. "Pleasure Heads" is a track that is worth the purchase of this CD alone, with the BP in rare form with this stage only track.

For me, though, the highlight is the stunning rendition of "The Friend Catcher" from the Bremen concert. This track, one of the group's first, spanning back to their days as the Boys Next Door, is given a new dimension on stage that it was sorely lacking on record. It's truly stunning. It's so easy to picture Cave flinging his head back and forth as he screams "Hee-haw-hee-haw" and Mick Harvey and Rowland S. Howard on either side of him nailing a dual-guitar riff throughout the whole song. This CD - this song in particular - brings the experience of a Birthday Party concert to life.

If I had to make one complaint about this album, then it would have to be that it's too early in the band's career. If some of the 1981 material - maybe "Bully Bones", or "Blast Off" - had been traded out for something from "Wild World" and/or "Sonny's Burning"...that would really have been something. The material was there on the "Pleasure Heads Must Burn" live video, and it would have just made this album a bit better.

But other than that, there's just nothing bad to say about this album - provided you like the music, of course. The BP are something of an acquired taste, but if Nick Cave screaming and Rowland S. Howard inducing orgasmic screams from his six strings doesn't give you a headache...then this album is a must have.

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Mr. Clarification
Something for everybody!
Blast Off!
Cutting
happy birthday.

Hits
The Birthday Party
Manufacturer: 4ad / Ada
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Grinderman
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ASIN: B000007SPX
Release Date: 1998-07-07

Tracks:

The Friend Catcher
Happy Birthday
Mr. Clarinet
Nick The Stripper
Zoo Music Girl
King Ink
Release The Bats
Blast Off
She's Hit
Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)
Dead Joe
Junkyard
Big-Jesus-Trash-Can
Wild World
Sonny's Burning
Deep In The Woods
Swampland
Jennifer's Veil
Mutiny In Heaven
Bonus Track

Customer Reviews:

Mr. Clarification.......2006-07-18

I'm not sure if Damascus "Damn" was being facetious or dead-serious with regard to his review--and I'm guessing I won't be the only one confused--so hopefully this will clear things up:

the Birthday Party is Nick CAVE's first band, originally called the Boys Next Door. They started up around 1977 and lasted until 1983, when Nick, Mick Harvey and others (including Einsturzende Neubauten's Blixa Bargeld) joined Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

The sound of the Birthday Party is challenging stuff: abrasive, menacing, sleazy post-punk noise, with lyrics full of dark, absurd imagery. Certainly not for everyone, though fans of Pere Ubu, Einsturzende, the Swans, and other "No Wave" acts should definitely check them out.

This compilation offers a pretty comprehensive collection of BP classics, though of course the original albums and EPs are available and highly recommended.

"Hee Haw" gathers everything from their early days as a proto-goth band, their two proper albums "Prayers on Fire" and "Junkyard" find them at the peak of their powers, and their final EPs "the Bad Seed" and Mutiny!" demonstrates their increasing interest in slow murky dirges. If you want to hear the roots of Nick's output with the Bad Seeds, these EPS prove to be quite fascinating blueprints for the early stages of his better known band.

Basically, take Damascus Damn's compliments and apply them to a band that's been gone for almost 20 years; their originality and influence becomes that much greater.

Something for everybody!.......2005-12-15

Hearing that this was Nick Lowe's other band, I knew I was in for a treat! Boy was I ever. Having abandoned the cold suit-and-tie affair for a sound that may appeal to the younger generation a bit more, he takes on a much scarier approach here. The kids that listen to Marilyn Manson...beware! The Antichrist Superstar is like a particle board pedestal compared to the die-cast monolith of this artistic atavistic animal.

Now the songs. Oh my, the songs. I'll talk about my favorite songs, but all of them are good, really.

"The Friend Catcher" begins with a hellmouth puckering up to whistle...a prison of sound, indeed! It's actually guitarist Roland Howard (related to Clint and Ron...what a talented family) doing some cRaZy feedback on his guitar. This song is also an update of Green Jelly's "Three Little Pigs" that must be heard to be believed.

The next song is also a more relevant update of another universal song, the "Happy Birthday" song. Only their version has some obvious references to Quentin Tarantino movies and Cujo, complete with Nick doing his so-so impression of the rabid dog. Trivia: This song and the name of the band are about their publically expressed anger towards the original Happy Birthday song being copyrighted and no longer public domain, so you know these are performers for the people. FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT AND KEEP PLAYING, BOYS!

"Mr. Clarinet" is a Cyrano De Bergerac kind of story where Nick wants to learn the clarinet from a sort-of friend (you get the feeling he's actually mocking him behind his back, just like in Cyrano's story) to help him serenade a girl. Very touching, nonetheless.

The next song is a bit of a sleazy striptease song, obviously meant to get his female fans in the mood, and it's called "Nick the Stripper." It doesn't really do anything for me, but the music is really cool. I don't know, but it sounds like he says "incest" every once in a while. Hello, Dr. Freud? Nick, it's for you!

"Zoo Music Girl" is about a girl that listens to a lot of animal zoo sounds weirdo music that is driving him up the wall, like one of those girls that work at Pier 1 Imports or the Nature Shop in the mall. The only song I know of that's an ode to girlfriends playing music just to drive their boyfriends insane! Finally boys, we have an anthem. Be sure to thank The Birthday Party!

The next song about weird girlfriends is "Release the Bats." You know those girls that think they're vampires and try to sneak in a "love bite" or two and you end up missing a nipple, if you're lucky. We all do. Nick does too, I think.

Later on, following The Birthday Party tradition of updating old things anew yet again, they take on Shakespeare's "Hamlet." HAMLET! And just like Romeo and Juliet got a facelift in the 1996 movie with guns, the story of the Prince of Denmark and betrayal and DEATH DEATH DEATH get a gun facelift, too. Hamlet was a badass mf, kids. Very educational song.

Not to remain all hoighty-toighty and high-falutin with the Shakespeare homages, The Birthday Party throw us all a HUGE (no, not PARTY, lol) curve with "Dead Joe." "Dead Joe" is about the underground Sylvester Stallone movie "Driven" where he plays a washed-up driver named Joe Tanto that meets a tragic end in a race. It's an emotionally devastating movie that unfortunatly isn't carried in a lot of video stores (There's a petition out there to get it released to dvd).

On "Big Jesus Trash Can" Nick Lowe references his "Jesus of Cool" days from way back in the 70's. Except in our post-911 world, Nick's prophetic eye draws down upon a Jesus will not ascend from the heavens as most may expect, but rather barreling down the streets in a big, stinky garbage truck ala GTA San Andreas. SCARY.

Let me just say that bassist Tracy "Pew" can sure lay down the "funk" (get it?)! He adds that much needed spaghetti western flair to "Wildworld," or should I say, "Wildwest"! Clint Eastwood would be proud.

And I could just go on and on, but I will not. LOWLIGHTS: Even though they mess up really bad on what could have been a really good song, "King Ink," and sound like they lost all control of their instruments and stumble around the studio like raving lunatics, Nick's scream of frustration sets everything straight again, eventually. These boys just don't give up. It has considerable edutainment value for the Hamlet song, too, so it's a great studying aid for your homeschooled children!

Buy this cd if you like guns, ninja swords, fast cars, and cowboys.

My vote for album of the year. Thank you.

Blast Off!.......2005-02-23

This compilation distills all the fury, depravity, and fun of The Birthday Party perfectly. If you can only afford one thing by The Birthday Party, make it this record (though after hearing it you'll probably want to buy or steal all their original albums...well, either that or you'll throw the disc out the window and run to the nearest church). The Birthday Party is known now as "Nick Cave's old band" and while it's true that the Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds share similar lyrical themes and influences, not to mention Mr. Cave's utterly unique vocals, the two bands are very different. The organ and piano that typify The Bad Seeds' sound are mostly absent here. Instead, there's dank, dirty, noisy guitars, heavily improvisational and rather brutal drumming, and on a few songs, twisted cabaret-like horns. The younger Cave on display here is also different from his more recent work. Cave is at once more frighteningly intense (that's a gross understatement, by the way) and more tongue-in-cheek. The Birthday Party might sing about lust, death, disfigurement, depression, death, self-loathing, and even more death, but there's always an apparent sense of theatre to it all. That said, "Hits" is not just one noisy rave-up after another. "Happy Birthday" grooves like a gothic Gang Of Four, "Mr. Clarinet" dances along quite beautifully, "King Ink" is a lumbering beast of a song, "She's Hit" and "Wild World" are both slow and undeniably sexy, "Junkyard" builds slowly, and "Deep In The Woods" is practically spoken-word. I could go on, as every song on this compilation is great, but I don't want to ruin all the surprises. Good old fashioned, evil fun all the way.

Cutting.......2003-06-14

I must admit that even though I've known of Nick Cave's music for quite some time through film soundtracks and duets with Shane McGowan and Kylie Minogue, this is actually the first Cave featured album I've managed to acquire. Even though they were from Austraila, the Birthday Party's darkly Gothic music conveys the atmosphere of early 80's London, where I believe they settled for a while. They seemed to have developed feedback as a sonic aid to song construction a couple of years before Mary Chain's 'Psychocandy'. Great post-punk guitar piecies, 'Mr. Clarinet' reminds me of Keith Levine's guitar riff on 'Death Disco'. 'Zoo Music Girl' seems like a parody of early 80's British chart music's fascination with all things jungle-like ('The Lion Sleeps Tonight' anyone?). 'Release The Bats' like Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' could have been a standard for Elvis. In fact Goth music at its best crystallizes the images and themes of the early 19th century literary form from which it gets its name and the hip-swivelling rhythm of 50's rock 'n' roll. Goth is a 50's parent's nightmare taken to its logical extreme. A fact not lost on Marilyn Manson. The clash of eastern style guitar sounds on 'Wildworld', the punk rock vibes of 'Swampland' and the driving bass of 'Mutiny in Heavan' would soon be left behind by Cave. Mary Shelley would have been proud of the poetics to come, in which 'Deep In The Woods' and 'Jennifer's Veil' are classical examples of his future career.

happy birthday........2002-02-10

Hmm, my first and only Birthday Party release so-far. so good also. This album is split into FOUR QUARTERS. these i shall review.
Hee-Haw period: friend-catcher is symphonic, but nicky doesn't have his vocals perfect yet. birthday sounds gang-of-4-ish, but the real gem here is Mr Clarinet.
The next kiddies here are from Prayers on fire, slightly more impressive. Nick the stripper makes me wonder what kind of stripper nick is, paint maybe? zoo music, king ink, bat releaser and Blast Off! hit the spot like some sort of meshed stooges zombie elvis visigoth spectacular.
Ah, but the Junkyard tracks are spectacular, and rightly so.
I don't feel significant enough to talk about them, but you need them in your life, truly.
Mutiny/bad seed tracks are notibly heavier, slower and bluesier.
My favourite are jennifer's veil and swampland, just for the sheer brutality, deep in the woods slowly crawls no-where for three sour minutes before burning itself alive!. All in all, genuinely scary, unlike that misfits/slipknot [stuff].
...
This Album is good, but bu JUNKYARD, PRAYERS ON FIRE AND MUTINY themselves, you get more pure evil. sorry.

Birthday Songs: Games & Fun for Your Party!

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Birthday Songs: Games & Fun for Your Party!
Disney World Sings

Birthday Songs: Games & Fun for Your Party!
Disney
Manufacturer: Disney
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Birthday Party Songs
100 Toddler Favorites (20th Birthday Collection)
Baby's First: Birthday Songs

ASIN: B000001M2K
Release Date: 1997-03-11

Tracks:

Happy, Happy Birthday To You - Michael Silversher/Patricia Silversher
The Unbirthday Song - Mack David/Al Hoffman/Jerry Livingston
Musical Chairs Medley/Following The Leader/It's A Sunny, Sunny Day!... - Ted Sears/Winston Hibler/Oliver Wallace/Debbie Gates
The Hokey Pokey - Larry La Prise/Charles P. Macak/Taftt Baker
If You're Happy And You Know It - Larry La Prise/Charles P. Macak/Taftt Baker
Head, Shoulders, Knees, And Toes - Larry La Prise/Charles P. Macak/Taftt Baker
London Bridge Is Falling Down - Larry La Prise/Charles P. Macak/Taftt Baker
Pooh, Pooh, The Birthday Bear - Will Robinson
Pin The Tail On The Donkey - Gary Powell
Happy Birthday To You - Mildred J. Hill/Patty S. Hill

Customer Reviews:

Birthday Songs: Games & Fun for Your Party!.......2006-04-20

I bought this when my son turned 4. The first song, "Happy, Happy Birthday to You", I play every year on his birthday to wake him up. Tomorrow he turns 13, and as tradition carries on, I'll be carrying in the player to wake him up, with that special song along with me singing.

The entire tape has cute songs for birthday parties, or just for little ones to enjoy while playing by themselves.

Disney World Sings.......2004-04-20

The songs are cute! Although I recommend Captain Zoom

Vol. 4: The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party

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One of the greatest of all records of guitar music
One of the all time greatest recordings
Fahey's First Symphony for solo guitar

Vol. 4: The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party
John Fahey
Manufacturer: Takoma
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Blues | Styles | Music

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Days Have Gone By, Vol. 6
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Voice of the Turtle
The Legend of Blind Joe Death
The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death

ASIN: B00004Z3ZR
Release Date: 2000-10-24

Tracks:

The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party
Knott's Berry Farm Molly
Will The Circle Be Unbroken - John Fahey/Flea
Guitar Excursions Into The Unknown
900 Miles - John Fahey/Nancy McLean
Sail Away Ladies - John Fahey/Mysterious Al Wilson
Oh Come, Oh Come Emanuel

Customer Reviews:

One of the greatest of all records of guitar music.......2001-01-24

At last this magnificent recording appears on C.D. It is quite simply one of the greatest records of guitar music ever put together. The title track is a 19 minute tour de force, a tone poem, a saga of huge emotional range. Of all Fahey's extended compositions this is perhaps the most complete, the most satisfying and perfectly structured. There are moments of joyful optimism, gentle nostalgia, troubled uncertainty and sheer nightmare ( courtesy of some superb, haunting bottleneck). The piece draws to a close in the calm resignation of a simple, beautiful theme......but then the nightmare bottleneck returns right at the end, just when we think the darkness has lost its power. Incredible! The recording also features KNOTT'S BERRY FARM MOLLY, a gorgeous piece of Fahey nostalgia with some backwards guitar sounds thrown in. Also there is a memorable guitar/veena version of SAIL AWAY LADIES. Other highlights include a delightfully rambling GUITAR EXCURSIONS INTO THE UNKNOWN (if Charles Ives had played guitar it might have sounded like this) and Fahey's finest version of OH COME EMANUEL. On this kind of form Fahey is awesome and speaks with absolute authority. He extends the vocabulary of the guitar, and in so doing creates music of unforgettable beauty and originality.Here is a unique and gifted performer at his most inspired. Don't miss it!

One of the all time greatest recordings.......2001-01-13

I am so glad to be able to finally listen to this without the crackles and pops on my vinyl to tape recording.

This is the album that sets Fahey on a pinnacle of guitar virtuosity and creative genius. It is as much an exporation of sound as it is an emotional tour de force as Fahey zigs, zags, and pirouettes from the still center into hypersonic overdrive across a moody and melodic soundscape.

I first heard this on an old Tom Donahue radio show on KMPX in SF in 1967. I was sitting in a parlor in Oakland and was just blown away completely and still am.

I even like what some call "filler."

When "Days Have Gone By" finally gets rereleased my Fahey void will be filled.

Fahey's First Symphony for solo guitar.......2000-11-04

This music IS the Old South. Dusty country roads, cotton and tobacco fields. I am amazed this has not been used as a soundtrack!

The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party (GSBBP) stands as Fahey's towering achievement, a Symphony for Solo Guitar (sonata sounds too confining). It is the first, most approachable and most coherent of his long works. I am not exaggerating when I say it is so good, it should be covered by other artists - John Williams? If complex blues works by Winton Marsallis can be called "Classical", certainly this can.

It starts with a major key sunny Ragtime Gallop, and then descends into mysterious minor key in a musings and inventions sounding alternatively Spanish, Bluesy, Native American and even Raga-esque. It holds ones interest for the entire 20 some minutes (not like many of the other over-long jamming pieces of the 60's). His other two long masterpieces on America are somewhat more dissonant and take longer to develop. Fahey once said he trying to create a symphony for the solo guitar and he certainly succeded here!

Guitar fanatics NOTE: all the sounds you here were created with one acoustic guitar, 4 microphones, a tape loop (echoplex) and a tape recorder. None of the zillions of gismos that today's guitarists use!

Knott's Barry Farm Molly uses tape editing and backward tape (two years before the Beatles "Sgt Pepper's"). Fahey's Guitar turns to rubber and then back to a guitar!

The liner notes state Fahey doesn't like this record.

He played the Birchmere a decade ago, I sat in front of him (I tuned his guitar for him!) I asked him when this was going to be on CD. He also told me that night that he didn't like this recording. I guess it's because of the personal events happening to him when he recorded it. I guess Tacoma Park, MD, where Fahey grew up, was once a pretty wild place.

However I must add, the rest of the album is filler. From amaturish to awful. That's why I can only give it fours stars. Maybe that's what he didn't like it. But GSBBP and Molly, are brilliant. There is 25 minutes of the best most musically satisfying stuff he ever did. Not short 4 minutes blues and ragtime, coherent exposition in a classical idiom.

And you get Fahey's zany album notes written by one of his many alter-egos.

And those parts definately worth having!

The Birthday Party
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On with the show

A sonic mess...

The Birthday Party
The Idle Race
Manufacturer: Retro Disco Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Idle Race/Time Is

Memory Almost Full [Deluxe Limited Edition]

Back to the Story

ASIN: B000MP32TY
Release Date: 1996-05-21

Tracks:

Skeleton and the Roundabout
Happy Birthday
Birthday
I Like My Toys
Morning Sunshine
Follow Me Follow
Sitting in My Tree
On With the Show
Lucky Man
Mrs. Ward
Pie in the Sky
Lady Who Said She Could Fly
End of the Road
Lucky Man [Alternative Version][*]
Follow Me Follow [Alternative Version][*]
Days of the Broken Arrows [Alternative Lyric Version][*]
It's Only the Dog [*]
Your Friend [*]
(Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree [*]
My Father's Son [*]
Impostors of Life's Magazine [*]
Knocking Nails into My House [*]
Days of the Broken Arrows [*]
Worn Red Carpet [*]
In the Summertime [*]
Told You Twice [*]
Neanderthal Man [*]
Victim of Circumstance [*]

Album Details

Originally Released in 1968.

Album Description

Retro Disc 8432987330047 Genre: Pop Recorded: 1968 Released: 2006 + 15 bonustracks.

Customer Reviews:

On with the show.......2007-06-03

It's 1968, and a british band named Idle Race (with future ELO star Jeff Lynne) comes out with an album titled "Birthday Party."

Almost 40 years later, it's been re-released, it's just as amazing as it was back then. If you like the Beatles or ELO, you should like this.

Every charming pop song on here has Jeff Lynnes seal of approval.
All with his witty talent.

If you haven't heard this yet, you're in for a sweet Idle Race treat.

Buy it.

A sonic mess..........2007-05-12

What an amazing album! Unfortunately, the sound on this release is horribly mastered. Too much digital hiss removal and heavy handed EQ spoils some brilliant music. I highly suggest the recently re-released Idle Race EMI CD set. It has problems of its own but is enjoyable nonetheless.

Jazz Music:

Jazz Music

jazz music