Radio Birdman: c or d

I don't think they're that great overall. They had a great name, great image, great song titles, but they never exceeded the sum of their parts.

Their sound is quite thin really, especially considering there was six of them. I'd like to like them, but overall they're a bit dud.

I was reading the section about them in Clinton Heylin's Babylon Is Burning, and pulled out the CD. It had been a few years and it sounded pretty great. It's no Stooges, but what is? By the way, I always assumed the book was just a rehash of From the Velvets to the Voidoids with UK punk and 80s indie and grunge tacked on, which is why it merited the persnickety reviews. But at least up through the 70s, it's pretty great, giving a more well-rounded picture, with more of everything.

bummed by all the "they're no [x]" and "they're okay i guess" talk on this thread. you disappoint me, ILM. though there might be a bit of chaff here or there, the songwriting & performances on radios appear are rock solid, keeping respectable company with the saints, stooges & MC5. the surrounding EP tracks & singles measure up just fine, supporting the album without eclipsing it.

i have to admit that living eyes probably did do something to dilute their rep. it's a fine record and compellingly dark, but nowhere near as immediately ingratiating as the debut, and the original mix was incredibly poor, rendering everything down into a flat gray mush. (btw, i don't know that i've ever heard an album so spectacularly redeemed by a remix - if you haven't heard it since back in the day, you owe yourself some time with the remix/master.) still, whatever's done for the sound, it's a mite draggy overall, and a few remarkable exceptions noted ("crying sun"! "time to fall"!) the hooks are few and far between. worth remembering that it was a posthumous release, though. in the long run, this is a band that lives or dies by one near-flawless album, along with a manageable apocrypha.

listen to Younger blow his fucking larynx on "new race" ("kids are gonna eeject / cuz now it's time to PUNCH OUT!"). he's doing that for your benefit. listen to him wallow in post-exile despair on "love kills", as lovely and memorable a song as a supposedly punk band ever managed, in or out of australia. and Tek's just one of the best goddam guitar players of his day. every bit as versatile, passionate and inventive as the heavy-hitting proto-punk riff lords in whose favor he's now ignored. furious & ecstatic without sacrificing precision and melody, always in perfect control of his tone, working every sideways shimmer and bleed for maximum stun. check his raging bumblebee buzz on "do the pop", and shit the "descent into the maelstrom" solos rank among the most satisfyingly maniacal gtr blowouts anyone's ever welded to a fistful of stolen surf & berry riffs.

in part, i suppose it's a question of tastes and times. they aren't a particularly heavy band. their groove is practically nonexistent, which cost them when they loosened up on the BOC-indebted living eyes. they snap and twitch more than swing, and their best riffs ("hand of law", "do the pop") jump up and down in place like sugar-buzzed schoolkids.

in his liner notes for the sub-pop compilation, David Fricke says, "we never had a rock and roll band as complete and certain in its sound, mind and agenda as Radio Birdman." and i love his writing, but i don't know about that. one of the things that makes RB so satisfying for me, and perhaps part of what keeps others on the fence, is their lack of cohesion. they want to kick ass and blow doors like the stooges and the MC5, but they're torn by their devotion to sunny melodic pop, bleary comedown blues, and wiry punk. they live & die by showy glam guitar heroics that went out of fashion at least 20 years ago, and even at their best, they're working through (and okay sometimes recycling) a very small handful of fine ideas.

still, this is some of the best damn rock and roll anybody's ever cut to wax. i fucking love em just for "snake", one of my favorite songs of all time - so sweet & sexy & fast, like summertime forever top down no brakes no cares just GO. great tunes, a distinctive vision & sound, and a hell of a lot of fun to listen to. easily deserving a place of honor alongside the other, now more celebrated bands mentioned in this thread.

I dunno if I've got the remixed version or not but Living Eyes is totally great.

i'd agree now, maybe without the totally?, but for years i rated it more interesting than successful. think if it'd had just a couple more tracks like "455 sd" (another of my all-time favorite songs) & "burn my eye" i'd have forgiven all sins. always been a sucker for the crocodile rock.

These guys were fucking awesome. I agree with the above post about "Snake" another great one is "I-94" partially because I grew up right off I-94.

Love this bit from Deniz Tek's blog today

This video clip of "Aloha Steve and Danno" is from the show at the Irving Plaza, New York City, in 2006. The thing I remember about that show is this. We were sitting around the dressing room having a few drinks, and no one was allowed in. We were watching the opening band on the video monitors. The crew is keeping us safe. So there's a guy banging on the door. A crew guy says "do you want to let some guy named "Al Bouchard" in?

We jump to our feet What?? Al Bouchard from the Blue Oyster Cult!! Of course, get him in here and give him a drink! He wants to know if we are going to play "Dominance and Submission", a song we covered back in the Funhouse days. No we are not. But ... so great to meet this amazing songwriter and living legend. I went out there thinking "we gotta play really great because Al is here!"

Radio Birdman archives discovered

Radio Birdman management has located dozens of boxes of 24 track tape recorded by the band in the mid 70's. These tapes had long been thought to have been destroyed. The tapes were found at AC/DC's famed Albert's Studios in North Sydney. They had been kept in a climate controlled archive, and are in pristine condition.

The band will be sorting through all of the many hours of this material in the next month, to prioritise material for a box set that will include outtakes, unreleased songs, and alternate versions. In addition to studio material, there is a complete multitrack recording of a concert at Paddington Town Hall, from 12/12/77. With a production session scheduled for April, fans can expect a release by years end.

Nice!

Uhh.. uhhhhhh.... wow. WOW.

Too bad it's not the Paddo show where they played that great cover of Kraftwerk's Radioactivity I had on tape a long time ago and have been looking for ever since (that show was on Nov. 20th 1977), but fab newz nevertheless!

Four years later:

http://www.deniztek.com/#!news/c1ror

MARCH 2014

Radio Birdman 1976-78 Box Set and Vinyl Releases Planned

Here is an update on new Radio Birdman releases.

These releases are completely independent, funded and managed by the band, with full artistic control and freedom from any industry influence. Doing it this way has resulted in long delays and personal expense, but the end result will be the best possible quality records for you, and no unwanted compromises for us.

VINYL LP REISSUES : The band will reissue the three classic albums in their original LP format. These have been recently remastered under the supervision of myself and Rob Younger: Radios Appear (original Australian version), Radios Appear (world release version) and Living Eyes.

PADDINGTON TOWN HALL 12/12/77 : The third and last Paddington Town Hall concert of 1977 is widely regarded as one of the greatest shows the band ever played. The full house crowd went berserk, essentially destroying the venue and part of the surrounding neighborhood in the process. After this show, it was considered that further Sydney appearances, for the time being, were just too volatile and dangerous. The band split for the UK soon after.Fortunately the event was captured by Trafalgar Records engineers on multitrack tape, resulting in a studio-quality recording. I recently mixed the concert with engineer/ producer Wayne Connally, for a double vinyl gatefold LP release. This is scheduled for release before the end of July.

BOX SET : The long awaited Box Set is nearing completion. This project began almost 4 years ago when a number of 2 inch 24 track tape reels were found at Albert Studios in their archives. These tapes contained the original tracks of nearly all of the studio recordings that Radio Birdman made at Trafalgar Studios during 1976-77. This treasure trove of sound included many outtakes, interesting alternate versions of known songs, and a few songs that have never been released in any format. After sorting through literally hundreds of tracks, I selected some of the best and most interesting cuts for release. These have been mixed and mastered, and are now ready to go. Our plan is to have remastered CD's of the original albums and ep, and each will come along with an "alternate universe" bonus disc from the same sessions, made from the previously unheard tapes described above. The Box will also contain a 64 page book of photos and memorabilia. Final work on the book and artwork is in process now. Release is anticipated at the end of July.

Deniz

yay

Got this weird album recently, the Radio Birdman story, it has a bunch of their tracks in with MC5, stooges and so on.

It's an LP.

Bootleg? Or a vinyl pressing of some radio show?

Got this weird album recently, the Radio Birdman story, it has a bunch of their tracks in with MC5, stooges and so on.

It's an LP.

― Mark G, Thursday, May 15, 2014 6:23 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If there is no BOC you are not getting the full picture of RB's influences.

Birdman's "greatest hits" or whatever its called that came out on SubPop about a decade ago is spectacular workout music. And drinking music.

Love this band.

I can confirm it's great drinking music, that Sub Pop thing was the first "new" vinyl I ever bought, back when it first came out.

Tek was a true master of his craft

yay, i get to spend more money

StanM, its a documentary, on WEA Aus.

BOC isn't on it, don't know if they are mentioned I've not played it all but the script is on the back.

Produced at budget price, AU$6.95 or so.

Box set just arrived, 7 CDs and a DVD. It's going to be a fun week immersing myself.

Open question: which tracks were re-recorded for the Sire version of "Radios Appear" and which are the same?

I think there were only a couple - New Race and Love Kills maybe? But I just got the box myself and haven't immersed myself enough to say for sure. I didn't even know the CD I had of Radios Appear was a combination of the Sire and Trafalgar versions until recently.

Thanks for the revive, forgot all about this & luckily not sold out yet.

Details here
http://www.musicfarmers.com/product/radio-birdman_radio-birdman-box-set_cd/

Where is "If I Wanted To" from the 1995 "Living Eyes" reissue? Does it have a different name in the box?

Man With The Golden Helmet and Love Kills maybe? Sorry I don't know for certain either.

"If I Wanted To is a notable absence" - maybe because it was a cover song, licensing issues perhaps?

http://www.i94bar.com/news/first-sighting-radio-birdman-box-set-tracklisting

Ok, not a cover song apparently. No idea then.

Which of the post-Birdman albums are the cream of the crop?

^^^ This is a really good question, actually! I've always wondered that myself.

i think the visitors s/t is great, new christs distemper is supposed to be p good though i haven't heard it in full

New Race - "The First And The Last" is classic and scorchio.

This box set looks awesome

I once played in a band that did a cover of a Deniz Tek song: Breaking My Heart, Breaks My Heart, something like that? I think that was a New Race song rather than R. Birdman.

Birdman did Breaks My Heart

Ah right, good song!

Do check out the New Race version of Breaks My Heart as well, though.

... yeah, I think that's where I first heard it!

I'm expecting the box set tomorrow.
However, dear Radio Birdman, with all due respect, I don't think I'll be needing too many re-remastered versions of the same 30-odd songs again in the near future.

1988 2CD Under The Ashes (WEA/Trafalgar)
2001 The Essential Collection (Sub Pop)
2002 Europe 2003 4CD Tour Pack (Trafalgar/Citadel)
2014 this box set

(Don't tell me the 1988 book has been rewritten after the reunion too - the old one's pages are yellowing a bit by now)

Twelve years in the 2000s might as well be a century!

they're doing at least one show next march at the golden plains festival in victoria - no chris masuak though, "due to personal differences with Rob Younger"

http://2015.goldenplains.com.au/whos-playing/radio-birdman/

I'm totally not sure yet which remaster I prefer to be honest - the CITCD550/CITCD551 4CD Euro Tour set or this new one.
Think I'm even going to re-rip that Under The Ashes 2CD and the SubPop compilation just to have them all next to each other.

"due to personal differences with Rob Younger"

who doesnt have personal differences with Rob Younger?

Just ordered the box; got an email saying that Citadel is closed until November 5. Some kind of weird Australian holiday? Oh, well. I can wait.

lol

The box set is great. Some genuinely surprising alternate arrangements, various different versions, mixes and demos, a tantalising but very short glimpse of their live performances on the DVD, but the real gem for me is the Paddington concert. Yeah hup!

closed until November 5. Some kind of weird Australian holiday? Oh, well. I can wait.

hitch-hiking to Melbourne for the Cup obv

I think I have a problem with the box set I got.

To anyone who has the new box set: do you have a ticking sound in the intro of some of the remastered tracks too? Murder City Nights, for instance - both the Sire and the Trafalgar versions have it, but the 2001/2002/earlier versions didn't. It's not a hi-hat, since it's not in the same place. It's not my CD player, it happens on more than two.

The first five seconds of Murder City Nights. I mean those vertical lines in the 2014 ones:

citcd550, 2002 : http://i61.tinypic.com/5u4dqa.jpg
citcd579, 2014 : http://i58.tinypic.com/25zij4i.jpg
citcd580, 2014 : http://i57.tinypic.com/2u4rclg.jpg

I don't hear any ticking on mine.

ooh thanks. A new solo album with Fleshtones drummer and a European tour

Album might have been out in 2022 but I forgot that

Keith Streng is actually the Fleshtones' guitarist. Maybe he can play drums too?

Apparently Streng can if the Bandcamp listing for the latest solo album is correct, but an earlier Bandcamp item for a prior Tek release says Streng is on guitar

November 7, 2022 release

Deniz Tek - Guitars, vocals, harmonica
Anne Tek - Guitars
Keith Streng - Drums, percussion, backing vocals
Bob Brown - bass

2018 release
Deniz Tek - guitars
Ric Parnell - drums
Bob Brown -bass
Ron Sanchez - keyboards

with special guests :
Keith Streng (Fleshtones) - guitar

https://www.twintonedigital.com/full-time-men

"Keith Streng - Drums, Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Vocals, Percussion"

he plays strengs and stecks for deniz tek.