The Birthday Party "Prayers on Fire" (1981)

Prayers on Fire [debut]
release date: Mar. 30, 1981
format: digital (2000 remaster)
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,72]
producer: Tony Cohen, The Birthday Party
label: 4AD Records - nationality: Australia

Studio album debut, or: second album by Australian post-punk and no-wave band The Birthday Party... Fact is, it's officially the first under the name of The Birthday Party; however, the same band with the same line-up - under the name of The Boys Next Door - released the album The Birthday Party in 1980, and in retrospect that album has been re-released as the debut by The Birthday Party.

Anyway, this album follows the 1980-album, and the earlier debut album Door, Door (1979) by the same members but under the name of The Boys Next Door, with some of its members who had played together since 1973, and in the current line-up since '76.

Compared to the 1980-album The Birthday Party this takes another step in an experimental direction focusing on art punk and no wave with less harmony structure.

I never really liked this album nor the music of this band all that much, and it's quite evident that this is a different version of post-punk looking at how it was probably less harmonic and melodic compared to its British counterparts, which was overshadowed by gothic rock. This is closer to a clone of American proto-punk (The Stooges), contemporary no wave (Contortions) and German industrial and experimental post-punk (e.g. Einstürzende Neubauten) at the time looking for new ways of musical expression.

After this, the band released Junkyard in '82 before they finally dissolved in '83 and split into the bands Crime & the City Sollution, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, Rolling Stone Album Guide 3 / 5 stars ]

The Boys Next Door "The Birthday Party" (1980)

The Birthday Party

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 ]

Reissue debut by The Birthday Party