Zack: I fucking hated this album. Absolutely despised
it. The first two tracks had this edgy hardness to them, and I thought I was in
for a post-punk album that was heavier on the punk. And that was true, from a
certain point of view. Unfortunately, it was a pretty shitty punkishness.
Honestly, I think Wikipedia sums it up pretty well: Despite limited commercial success, The Birthday Party's
influence has been far-reaching, and they have been called ‘one of the darkest
and most challenging post-punk groups to emerge in the early '80s.’ The group's
‘bleak and noisy soundscapes’… provided the setting for vocalist Nick
Cave’s disturbing tales of
violence and perversion.” The Birthday Party are certainly…challenging. They
seemed to be trying to create a sound where every element sounds like that
moment where a motorcycle goes screeching past your window right at the moment
where you’re getting frustrated that you are still awake and doing work at 2
a.m. It’s noise for the sake of being noise. What’s disappointing is that the
vocalist Nick Cave mentioned above is that Nick Cave, whose album Henry’s Dream
is one of the gems we’ve encountered and an album that I return to frequently.
That album is also dark, but at least the music is, well, musical. From start
to finish, this album was just the parts of Sonic Youth I dislike the most,
amplified, and I am just glad it’s over.
Favorite Tracks: Blast Off; Dead Joe [2nd
Version]; She’s Hit
Emily: Birthday parties are supposed to be fun and festive. Friends gathered together, balloons and streamers, snacks and drinks. There should be cake! The Birthday Party, sadly, doesn't have any cake. It doesn't even have fake "birthday cake" flavor (which I don't like but would be appropriate). It's loud and mostly unpleasant, not even close to festive. So I guess it's more Junkyard than Birthday Party, and not exactly how I wanted to spend 45 minutes of my day off.
Favorite Tracks: Blast Off; Several Sins; She's Hit
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