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

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/

https://www.birthdaypartymovie.com/

Mutiny in Heaven-The Birthday Party doc, directed by Ian White is now out in the US a few theatres at a time. It's a warts and all doc with lots of live footage, behind the scenes clips, and voiceovers about their drug issues and differences as well as the music, books, art that brought them together and kept them inspired as the Boys Next Door and the Birthday Party from the late 70s to 1983.

Here's the trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhmSg9zUgFo

looking forward to seeing this!

Looks great, aside from the animations (all due respect to the animators, I just hate documentaries which think cartoons make it more interesting).

Saw an advance screener and they don't rely too much on the animation

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