release date: Nov. 1980
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: The Boys Next Door, Tony Cohen, Keith Glass
label: Missing Link Records - nationality: Australia
Track highlights: 1. "Mr. Clarinet" - 3. "The Hair Shirt" - 4. "Guilt Parade" - 6. "The Friend Catcher" - 10. "Happy Birthday"
2nd and final studio album following Door, Door (1979) by Australian The Boys Next Door - or: the debut album by The Birthday Party... Yes, seen from a music historical perspective, it's unfortunately common practice to tamper with the facts, and the album here is most often mentioned as the starting point and the debut for The Birthday Party. And in a way, it most certainly is - it was just released by The Boys Next Door BEFORE they made a decisive name change. The album was recorded in Australia in the Summer of '79 and completed Feb. '80, and only then did all five members of the band: Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard, Mick Harvey, Tracy Pew, and Phill Calvert choose together to move to London, UK and here pursue the dream of making a living from making music, and at the same time they changed the band name to The Birthday Party - without changing the band's line-up. So in that way, yes, it is their first album together, only they still went by a different name.
Stylistically, The Birthday Party is a different and more raw release than Door, Door by the same band. The band was early inspired by The Stooges and the raw proto-punk style, and here they show both inspiration from the flourishing post-punk, art rock, new wave, as well as a much earlier experimental expression, as exemplified by Captain Beefheart of the late sixties. It's not yet art punk or no wave, which The Birthday Party later becomes an exponent of, and the compositions here still have traditional harmony structures.
The Birthday Party is a fine example of the creative scene that emerged from punk rock around 1980, and both album and band have been source of inspiration for countless artists since.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, Rolling Stone Album Guide 3,5 / 5 stars ]
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| Reissue debut by The Birthday Party |
