Artist: The Birthday Party
Title: The Birthday Party E.P.
Format: 12" Single
Label: 4AD
Catalogue Number: BAD307
Year of Release: 1983
Tracklisting
A1 Release The Bats (2:32)
A2 Blast Off (2:19)
B1 The Friend Catcher (4:22)
B2 Mr. Clarinet (3:44)
B3 Happy Birthday (4:01)
The A-side tracks are reviewed by me here, as I unfathomably own them on a separate 7" single.
The three B-side tracks all featured on the Australian-only debut album, but this 12" is listed on 4AD's 1987 Lonely Is An Eyesore compilation as a "compilation of 7" releases" licensed from Missing Link records.
The Friend Catcher stands out for its opening feedback squall, but otherwise the tracks seem to follow the same pattern of repeated phrases building in intensity over rough rockabilly backing. I'm sure it was innovative at the time, and they were meant to be a phenomenal live act, but it sounds a bit dated now to my ears.
| guess I don't listen to The Birthday Party much because Nick Cave has put out so many more records since. The recent Grinderman project being a case in point, where Nick has revisited the ideas behind The Birthday Party and made something altogether better. We'll come on to Grinderman in the next few months.
The Birthday Party releases are interesting records though, in the same way that the early, formative works of any artist are interesting, even if you don't think said early works are actually all that good.
The sleeve stands out nicely from other releases, with the band members in Nick Cave's extravagantly coiffured silhouette. This sparse graphic style is carried over into early Bad Seeds releases, as we shall see.
