“Prayers On Fire” by The Birthday Party - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1981Album Chart of the Decade: 1980s

TJR says

Hark! Some intelligent company for The Fall and Public Image Ltd., as the new “post-punk adventurers” movement gathers pace (whether they knew it or not) via these Melbourners relocated to London. Arriving in April, 1981, was their first LP to be free of their Boys Next Door moniker, on which they lined-up: Nick Cave (23, vocals, piano, saxophone, drums), Rowland S. Howard (21, guitar, vocals, saxophone), Mick Harvey (22, organ, piano, guitar, snare drum), Tracy Pew (23, bass guitar, clarinet, double bass) and Phill Calvert (23, drums). The album's sole single, “**Nick The Stripper” was bolstered by the brass section of Melbourne jazz rock band, Equal Local. The set was best described by Sound Stage Direct as “a creepy carnival of tribal rhythms, wonky dischordance and garbled surrealism”. The wayward filth and the fury of the record wasn’t always pretty, but it was a necessary sonic challenge to musical life after Punk, and one which kicked open new doors. Let the adventures begin…

The Jukebox Rebel
13–Apr–2008

Tracklist
A1 [02:37] 7.2.png The Birthday Party - Zoo Music Girl (Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard) Post-Punk
A2 [02:42] 7.5.png The Birthday Party - Cry (Nick Cave) Post-Punk
A3 [02:39] 6.4.png The Birthday Party - Capers (Rowland S. Howard, Genevieve McGuckin) Post-Punk
A4 [03:52] 6.6.png The Birthday Party - Nick The Stripper (Nick Cave) New Wave
A5 [03:07] 6.5.png The Birthday Party - Ho Ho (Rowland S. Howard, Genevieve McGuckin) Post-Punk
A6 [02:48] 7.0.png The Birthday Party - Figure Of Fun (Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard) Post-Punk
B1 [04:41] 6.3.png The Birthday Party - King Ink (Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard) Post-Punk
B2 [02:13] 7.3.png The Birthday Party - A Dead Song (Nick Cave, Anita Lane) Post-Punk
B3 [05:04] 7.2.png The Birthday Party - Yard (Nick Cave) Post-Punk
B4 [03:04] 6.7.png The Birthday Party - Dull Day (Rowland S. Howard) New Wave
B5 [02:03] 5.9.png The Birthday Party - Just You And Me (Nick Cave, Mick Harvey) Post-Punk

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