How To Get Your Head Around Eight Discs Of Radio Birdman

RADIO BIRDMAN (1974-1978) CD BOXSET
Label: Citadel
Release Date: 10 October 2014

It’s an indisputable fact that Sydney outfit Radio Birdman are one of the most important rock bands in the history of Australian music. They carved a swathe through the plodding mid-‘70s scene with their fearsome brand of no-holds-barred, Detroit-inspired rock’n’roll and in the process – along with their northern compatriots The Saints – set the template for our country’s fertile underground guitar scene. In hindsight it’s absolutely incredible what the band created in the all-too-brief span of just under four years which was their initial tenure together, and now the bulk of that era’s recorded legacy has collated for the first time and being released as Radio Birdman (1974-8) CD Boxset, cramming seven CDs and a DVD with their pioneering catalogue.

According to Birdman guitarist Deniz Tek’s website, the project began four years ago when some 2-inch 24-track tape reels surfaced in the archives of Albert Studios, containing original tracks of nearly all of the studio recordings made by Radio Birdman at their own Trafalgar Studios during 1976-1977. There were apparently hundreds of outtakes, alternative versions and completely unreleased songs contained in the tapes, the cream of which are included in the new boxset which marries re-mastered versions of the original releases (including both versions of their debut long-player Radios Appear) with an “alternate universe” bonus disc for each release. Let’s have a look...

DISC 1. RADIOS APPEAR (TRAFALGAR VERSION)

Radio Birdman took their name from a (misheard) lyric in The Stooges’ seminal track 1970, and their debut album is named after a lyric from Blüe Oyster Cult’s Dominance And Submission, so they were wearing their hearts on their sleeves from the get-go – accordingly, the album opens with a prolonged scream and then an incendiary cover of The Stooges’ TV Eye, which served as both a reference point and a mission statement. Yet it’s the brilliant originals like Murder City Nights, Do The Pop, Hand Of Law and anthemic closer New Race that make this original statement so special, as well as the fact that it’s one of the first truly independently-released albums in our country’s history (in keeping with Birdman’s fierce DIY ethic, which found them not only putting on their own shows but opening their own venues). It got five stars in Rolling Stone at the time and was listed as #13 in the 2010 tome 100 Best Australian Albums.

DISC TWO. RADIOS APPEAR (TRAFALGAR VERSION) BONUS DISC 1

This bonus disc kicks off with the band’s first release, 1976’s four track Burn My Eye EP (Trafalgar). Also released on their own Trafalgar label due to a basic disinterest in their sound from established entities, it’s rough and ragged but contains early versions of I-94, Burn My Eye and Smith And Wesson Blues which would all surface later on the Living Eyes album. Then there are eight previously-unreleased outtakes from the original masters including cool takes on Love Kills, Descent Into The Maelstrom and Hand Of Law plus the track Insane Alive, which was until now only found on live bootlegs.

DISC THREE. RADIOS APPEAR (SIRE VERSION)

In 1977, Seymour Stein was president of US-based Sire Records – then home to cool bands like the Ramones, Talking Heads, The Dead Boys and The Undertones – and he came out to Australia on a mission to sign The Saints, only to become besotted with Radio Birdman after witnessing them in the flesh and signing them instead. The terms of the deal included the right to redo the already-released debut Radios Appear for overseas markets, so the band took the opportunity to substantially update the album – some songs were new recordings entirely, others were remixed and other tracks were replaced entirely. Tek (the band’s main songwriter) had been in the States hanging with Sonics’ Rendezvous Band and came back brimming with ideas, hence the inclusion of new tracks What Gives?, Non Stop Girls, Aloha Steve & Danno, Hit Them Again (co-written with The Stooges’ Ron Asheton) and a rollicking rendition of 13th Floor Elevators’ You’re Going To Miss Me (effectively replacing TV Eye as the lone cover). Furthermore, original keyboardist Pip Hoyle had returned to the ranks full-time, making the band a six-piece (Chris Masuak, who had replaced him, thus beefing up the band’s sound with his second guitar, remained in the ranks). This version of the Radios Appear arguably sounds better, but ultimately deciding which of the Trafalgar version (black cover) and Sire version (white cover) is best is like choosing favourites amongst your children. Both are great and are different enough to be basically considered different albums despite the obvious overlap.

DISC FOUR. RADIOS APPEAR (SIRE VERSION) BONUS DISC 2

This disc contains previously-unreleased demos and outtakes (including a previously unavailable version of MC5’s Shakin’ Street), plus early Trafalgar demos of Living Eyes tracks Breaks My Heart, Crying Sun and More Fun, plus alternate arrangements of Aloha Steve & Danno and Love Kills (which was inexplicably omitted from the Sire version of Radios Appear).

DISC FIVE. LIVING EYES

Not long after Birdman were signed to Sire, the label began to hit financial hardship – the band were unceremoniously dumped from the roster and began to disintegrate, but, before they split asunder in 1978, they managed to decamp to Rockfield Studios in Wales for three weeks (amidst their tour of Britain and Europe) to record their second album Living Eyes (which wouldn’t see the light of day until 1981). Given that six of the album’s thirteen songs appear earlier in the boxset (albeit in different incarnations), it’s clear that they were struggling somewhat creatively, yet new tracks like T.S.P.R. Combo, Do The Movin’ Change, Alone In The Endzone, Iskender Time and Hanging On remain vital components of the Birdman catalogue.

DISC SIX. LIVING EYES BONUS DISC 3

When Sire Records exited stage left prior to the Living Eyes sessions this led to confusion over who owned the Rockfield master tapes – originally Birdman ended up with no access to them so the original album release was taken from a tape dub of trial mixes (much to the band’s chagrin). In 1995, John Foy from Sydney indie Red Eye retrieved the original tapes and the album was finally remixed and re-mastered to the band’s contentment and released on Red Eye (through Polygram) that same year (interestingly, it was the band members reconvening to work on this project that eventually drove the first Radio Birdman reunion in 1996). This reissue sounds far crisper, and apparently several technical faults in the original version which had been riling the band were corrected, and this new version of Living Eyes (which also includes the Pip Hoyle-penned instrumental Alien Skies) is included here, plus previously-officially-unreleased numbers Dark Surprise and Didn’t Tell The Man (a predominantly-acoustic pop song of Masuak’s which was later re-done by The Hitmen) plus the three-track More Fun! EP which came out as part of a vinyl boxset in 1989 and contains rollicking live renditions of Dark Surprise, Breaks My Heart and More Fun from one of the three Paddington Town Hall shows from December 1977 (which we’re about to discuss).

DISC SEVEN. LIVE AT PADDINGTON TOWN HALL, DEC 12 1977

Given that Radio Birdman didn’t play all that often back in the day, their gigs took on an extra sense of occasion, and the three shows they played at Paddington Town Hall in December, 1977, took on even more significance given that they’d be the last time hometown fans would see them before Birdman took off to spread their message overseas. This final show of the three – which unbeknownst to anyone at the time would be their final Aussie show for many years – was recorded on multi-track tape, so the sound is great for a recording of a 1977 pub gig, and apparently the only glitch was a portion of Aloha Steve & Danno being audibly compromised thus leading to the cherished track’s omission from the tracklist. This show is famous for being one of their best-ever gigs and this is a great document to showcase how potent Birdman were in their live element. It interestingly contains three covers; Blüe Oyster Cult’s Transmaniacon MC, Bo Diddley’s Let The Kids Dance and MC5’s cover of old R&B song Ramblin’ Rose (making it a cover of a cover). You obviously can’t hear it on the recording but supposedly the packed crowd went ballistic on the night in question, mirroring the chaos of their earlier legendary co-headlining show with The Saints at the same venue in April of that year.

DISC eight. LAPTH BONUS DVD

This brief-but-interesting visual document of the era contains three tracks for the aforementioned Paddington Town Hall shows (Aloha Steve & Danno, What Gives? and New Race) – the crowd is huge and reverent with kids dancing pretty much everywhere in the venue (including perched atop ledges overlooking the throng). It’s awesome to see vintage Birdman in full flight: frontman Rob Younger in his youthful glory delivering with such conviction, the stoic Tek destroying all before him on guitar and deftly interacting with the guitar lines of the younger Masuak, the clear rhythm connection between drummer Ron Keeley and bassist Warwick Gilbert, plus the oft-overlooked contributions of Hoyle on keys are all fascinating to watch rather than imagine. There’s also a promo video for Aloha Steve & Danno and some grainy black-and-white footage of Monday Morning Gunk and Ramblin’ Rose from Macquarie University in 1976 – the quality is pretty crap due to degraded tape stock but, again, it’s great to see this early incarnation of the band in action.

UNREVIEWED: The boxset further includes a substantial book of rare and unreleased photos, liner notes and memorabilia that we haven’t accessed at this stage.

FURTHER RELEASES: The re-mastered albums will also receive staggered vinyl release between now and Christmas, with the Paddington Town Hall live set scoring a 2-LP release.

So, there you have it. Even all these years later, it’s impossible to overplay the impact that Radio Birdman made on Australia’s underground rock’n’roll scene in that incredibly brief period of time. The music they played influenced generations of guitar bands to come and can still be heard filtering down through the ranks to this day, but it was also their disdain for mainstream acceptance and the self-belief that they could start their own scene and release their own music that helped forge the way for the fertile Aussie independent scene which still flourishes today. The boxset is so thorough and just by dint of its size – along with the improved sonics due to the re-mastering – must now be considered the definitive collection of this treasured body of Australian rock’n’roll. Yeah hup indeed.