The Birthday Party

Well this is a band I truly like a lot.. One of my favorite early 80s band.
I own Prayers on fire and Junkyard 4AD CDs and they sound fine to me ... Does it worth searching for the LPs?

 

Not The Birthday Party I was thinking of! Oops

 

The one and only Birthday Party is Nick Cave's!!

 

If you like the studio stuff, you really need to hear this live album, it's deliriously unhinged.

 

If you really like Prayers On Fire and Junkyard, I reckon It's worth seeking out
The Birthday Party

Mutiny (combination of The Bad Seed and Mutiny sessions)

and also, even though it is a little different
The Boys Next Door - Door Door. Just before they changed their name

 

CD or vinyl versions?

 

I have the cd's, I am not really one that gets too messed up about which I get

 

What is your favorite birthday party album?

 

Get the John Peel sessions



The version of Loose in it is priceless

 

The Drastic Plastic vinyl reissues of Hee Haw, Junkyard and Prayers on Fire are all mastered by Kevin Grey. Highly recommended.

 

First time I heard them was in the parking lot of the Stanford Mall in Palo Alto, CA circa 1982 or 83.
The student FM radio station at Foothills College was playing the "Release The Bats" 45. Memorable.

 

Prayers On Fire is my favourite

 

Mine too

Junkyard is too harsh maybe

 

Yup, Can't go wrong with that one, But they all are worthy in some way or another.

I saw them when they were still known as the boys next door... Great gig

 

Junkyard and the other albums are a little more harsh.
In the mutiny album you can hear the early feel of The Bad Seeds coming through, particularly on Deep In The Woods.

I think it is essential to youtube the song Shivers. That song is from the Boys Next Door album and is a, somewhat unknown, classic. It is devastatingly beautiful and has more in common with post Tender Prey Cave stuff. A Remarkable out of the box single. An Aussie band called the Screaming Jets did a good cover of it in the late eighties? I think it was.

Prayers On Fire is probably the most focused Birthday Party album. I think the songs and performances are strong, and I think we get the best of the band before the typical divisions and drugs started the breakdown.

 

Anyway Junkyard is an essential post punk album

 

Amazing band, quite possibly my favourite band. But also quite a few groups in that scene at the time of equal quality around Melbourne that never got the recognition they deserved. Admittedly Nick Cave had the appeal to let them stand out and just make their whole sound work really well.

 

Definitely. The Birthday Party are a little underground, in terms of popularity, but they were a very important band.
If you like the Rowland S Howard stuff on the Birthday Party albums, I have been told the These Immortal Souls are worth checking out, but I haven't gotten around to them yet

 

Door Door really sucks, it's actually a step down from the live covers they were doing as teens. Then they somehow gelled into a weird jazz rock groove and developed a completely different aesthetic in the span of a few months.

One of the most singular and fascinating bands of the rock era. Criminally under-appreciated in the age of Nick Cave's NPR celebrity.

 

Yea the album was a disappointment, but worth it just for the single, to me at least

 

I used to love Junkyard, the sleeve too. I saw those boys in a tiny club back in 1982-ish, what a mental night that was.

 

I'd like to think there's a bit more to this band than just Nick Cave!

"Get Lost (Don't Lie!)" and "I'm Never Gonna Die Again" are both really good albums. The problem is that neither has a ever seen a reissue and (1987 and 1992) originals can be pricey. Especially if it's vinyl you're after. Two more titles Mute need to add to their "To reissue immediately" list.... now!

 

Post punk is my favorite musical genre. Not "after punk" (the goth thing, Bauhaus, Sisters of mercy, Alien Sex fiend etc), that's another thing Im not interested. Post punk I mean Birthday party, Sonic Youth Violent Femmes, Hüsker du, Mission of Burma, REM, Swell Maps, Feelies, The Smiths, The Cure, Replacements..

 

Mine too. This 45 is also pretty essential.

 

Much more. All excellent but Rowland is the first person I think of when The Birthday Party is mentioned.