Search - Birthday Party :: Hits

Mr. Clarification

s.t. | Philadelphia | 07/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not sure if Damascus "Damn" was being facetious or dead-serious with regard to his review--and I'm guessing I won't be the only one confused--so hopefully this will clear things up:



the Birthday Party is Nick CAVE's first band, originally called the Boys Next Door. They started up around 1977 and lasted until 1983, when Nick, Mick Harvey and others (including Einsturzende Neubauten's Blixa Bargeld) joined Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.



The sound of the Birthday Party is challenging stuff: abrasive, menacing, sleazy post-punk noise, with lyrics full of dark, absurd imagery. Certainly not for everyone, though fans of Pere Ubu, Einsturzende, the Swans, and Scratch Acid should definitely check them out.



This compilation offers a pretty comprehensive collection of BP classics, though of course the original albums and EPs are available and highly recommended.



"Hee Haw" gathers everything from their early days as a proto-goth band, their two proper albums "Prayers on Fire" and "Junkyard" find them at the peak of their powers, and their final EPs "the Bad Seed" and Mutiny!" demonstrates their increasing interest in slow murky dirges. If you want to hear the roots of Nick's output with the Bad Seeds, these EPS prove to be quite fascinating blueprints for the early stages of his better known band.



Basically, take Damascus Damn's compliments and apply them to a band that's been gone for almost 20 years; their originality and influence becomes that much greater."

Blast Off!

Chester | 02/23/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This compilation distills all the fury, depravity, and fun of The Birthday Party perfectly. If you can only afford one thing by The Birthday Party, make it this record (though after hearing it you'll probably want to buy or steal all their original albums...well, either that or you'll throw the disc out the window and run to the nearest church). The Birthday Party is known now as "Nick Cave's old band" and while it's true that the Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds share similar lyrical themes and influences, not to mention Mr. Cave's utterly unique vocals, the two bands are very different. The organ and piano that typify The Bad Seeds' sound are mostly absent here. Instead, there's dank, dirty, noisy guitars, heavily improvisational and rather brutal drumming, and on a few songs, twisted cabaret-like horns. The younger Cave on display here is also different from his more recent work. Cave is at once more frighteningly intense (that's a gross understatement, by the way) and more tongue-in-cheek. The Birthday Party might sing about lust, death, disfigurement, depression, death, self-loathing, and even more death, but there's always an apparent sense of theatre to it all. That said, "Hits" is not just one noisy rave-up after another. "Happy Birthday" grooves like a gothic Gang Of Four, "Mr. Clarinet" dances along quite beautifully, "King Ink" is a lumbering beast of a song, "She's Hit" and "Wild World" are both slow and undeniably sexy, "Junkyard" builds slowly, and "Deep In The Woods" is practically spoken-word. I could go on, as every song on this compilation is great, but I don't want to ruin all the surprises. Good old fashioned, evil fun all the way."