Reviews (page 7 of 8)
Listened to most on YouTube, full album wasn't on streaming but this sucks. 0 stars
Getting used to it.
Easily the worst music I've heard
Terrible album cover and the contents wasn't great either. Shambling and noisy with no real substance. Feels like a 1 star album.
There are only two reasons this album is on the list: 1) Nick Cave 2) Ed Roth's cover art Add 1 and 2 together to equal the smug-critic-highbrow-self-effacing-ego that justifies its placement on this list. 2/5
This is pretty nuch unlistenable, but I listened to it anyway, as a challenge to prove I could. It's unpleasant and unmusical - a kinder person might say avant garde, the sort of thing John Peel would probably have liked - but I'm not John Peel, so I hated it.
Not that interesting for early thrash.
i didn’t really understand what the hell i was listening to but i dug it. then i saw that this was Nick Cave’s band and it all made sense. hell yeah.
Man it wasn't the day for this album! I appreciated it, the artistic vision especially. But I did not vibe with it. Needs the right environment. Will revisit, but more of a bad seeds fan I think.
Not for me
I'm glad I didn't go to this birthday party. Only a 2 by virtue of not being as atonal as some of the other albums.
This cacophony of noise sounds like some neighborhood kids received instruments for Christmas. The dads confiscated them on Dec 26th because they were too loud. Those same dads started playing the confiscated instruments and recorded this album on Jan 1!
Noisy.
Not the worst thing that I've heard, but still not a fan. Though it did grow on me a bit throughout the record, still a 2.
I love Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, but never really like The Birthday Party. Too much noise and not enough melody for me.
So, this book/project is called "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die." Well, I heard Junkyard by the Birthday Party and now I want to die. I had high hopes for this album since it features Nick Cave, but wow - not good. This is another one of those albums that must be so good that my feeble brain can't comprehend its greatness. The songs were all kind of the same; noisy, out of tune guitars, no discernable melodies, nonsensical lyrics. Obviously this album didn't hold back Nick Cave from moving on to bigger and better things. I guess every musician has to start somewhere.
wasn’t my thing, sounded pretty weird
a really vicious, feral, ragged punk album. this album reeks. like a well-used towel in a locker room. literally, if there was a word to describe this collection, it would be wet. alas between the reverberated drums, ringing guitar twangs and really... really peculiar vocal qualities, it doesn't really do much for a guy like me.
I appreciate weirdness of experimental "post-punk" and Nick Cave in particular. But, I can't say that I "like" it or that it necessarily had any positive impact on future genres of music.
A better example for nick cave. Too druggy and pretentious for me but not awful.
I was never really a Cave fan (although his performance of The Pogues Rainy Night In Soho at Shane MacGowan’s recent funeral was breathtakingly good). And at the time I thought The Birthday Party were just unjustifiably noisy. I remember their first gigs back in Sydney after this album was released, in May 1983. The vibe surrounding them was huge among punters who avoided the mainstream musical route. To this day the only Birthday Party vinyl I own is the 4-track E.P. The Bad Seed, because it includes the only track of theirs that I’ve always enjoyed, Deep In The Woods, released in March 1983, before they returned here. Anyway, I’ve been flogging Junkyard for the last few daze. I really like Hamlet (Pow Pow Pow), which includes some lines from Gloria by Them (Van Morrison); The Dim Locator, which features some mesmeric guitar by Roland; & Several Sins - all three of these were either written or co-written by Howard, which points to how important he was to the band. They still sound like a noisy bunch, but I seem to deal with it better than I did at the time. Old age, I guess?
I was aware of Nick Cave and the Birthday Party in the early to mid 80s, but it was 'Deanna' that really clicked for me, and I started listening to his late 80s/early 90s records a lot. The Birthday Party were a noisy and genuinely dangerous band, which I like. And this is an ugly sounding record, but you can't deny its power and weird groove. It's not a dumb record, but the preoccupation with sex and violence (largely as a metaphor for heroin use, as far as I can tell) wears a little thin. I'm sure they were a-maaaaaa-zing live, but that was a little before my time. I am going to quote from Mr Cave himself, from his Red Hand Files blog (https://www.theredhandfiles.com/why-are-you-going-to-kings-coronation/), reflecting on his younger self: "And as for what the young Nick Cave would have thought – well, the young Nick Cave was, in all due respect to the young Nick Cave, young, and like many young people, mostly demented, so I’m a little cautious around using him as a benchmark for what I should or should not do. He was cute though, I’ll give him that. Deranged, but cute." I think that is a pretty good summary of this record; deranged, but cute. There is a dangerous sex appeal to the record, which is just a little bit exhausting from the viewpoint of my middle-aged self. But I think it was always supposed to be a bit funny. I don't listen to this record often, but it is still fresh and compelling after all these years. Tony Cohen did a bang-up job of getting it all on tape. Side note: the terrible industrial punk band I played in during the early 90s were a bunch of pretentious smart arses, and we used to play a medley of Deep in the Woods (from the next Birthday Party record), along with the Teddy Bears' Picnic and the theme from Playschool. I like to think that Nick would have laughed.
meh
Yuk! No no no. 80s production and snarly punk
I didn't care for this at all
terrible noisy rock wanna be
Where’s the Country Music? 😂
1/5 I got about 3 seconds into the first song and 5 seconds into the next two, so I think I'll pass on this one.
Lousy
Brilliant
I imagine bands like the Jesus Lizard, Nomeansno, Drive Like Jehu, even the Pixies listened to this. My favorite bands' favorite band. Favorite song: kiss me black
De lo peor que he escuchado en mi vida!
Pretty wacky not many redeeming parts
Holy Post Punk Junkman. Nick Cave as a manic trashman with hypnotic drums, feedback, percussive macho bass lines... Dirty, steamy, swamp fever. This album is one psychotic madness, but a genius one. It sound like Bauhaus who had a mental breakdown. People who have read The Ass Saw The Angel will also recognize elements of Cave's Faulknerian novel characters in this album. This came off the back of yesterdays Dark Side Of The Moon and the contrast almost couldn't be higher. The album version ends with the hallucinatory Junkyard, in which Cave really gives *everything*, his voice almost to pieces, and just about to At the end you hear him coughing his lungs out during the fade-out after that effort. Sublime.
Excelente
Less annoying than expected. However, one can peacefully die without having listened to this record.
Closest match ///birthday.party.unheard Just imagine if there were such a spot you could cry alone after having heard this utter excruciating nonsense.
this really grew on me as I kept listening
This flirts with territory I enjoy, but never quite enters it.
I can't tell what genre this is supposed to be, but it's terrible. Stopped after a few songs.
Holy crap this was terrible.
I'm glad that's over now, the strange sounds shall haunt me, under the floor boards they beat with a rhythmic drumming of my torment.
Nope. Not for me. A few riffs in there somewhere but not enough to hook me in
If you are like, "That cover looks bad ass" then you'll love this album, it evokes that vibe.
Terrible. Not sure what's worse. The album cover or the music.
too much noise for me.
Only heard Hee Haw before and liked that. Huge fan of NC (some stuff anyway). I dug this one, more consistent that Hee Haw.
Had absolutely no idea what to expect based on that album cover, then I heard the opening track and went "Oh, of course." I've heard music like this primarily live, played in someone's basement or garage in Dinkytown by a band I've never heard of and will not hear of again. I could appreciate the vibe this would bring when shoulder to shoulder in a houseshow environment. It made for strange listening at the office. This music didn't bother me or anything, and there were some moments of greatness, but the massive sound of it all started to sound the same. My favorite thing about this album is the bass. Highlights: The Dim Locator, Several Sins, Kewpie Doll
Lots of noise. I understand why people would either love or hate this. I'm thoroughly in the middle.
How was this recorded? Did they put two microphones in the cellar where the band happened to be playing, and called it a day?!? Apart from the questionable production value, there is nothing here. Even though this is Nick Cave's first band, I would not recommend this album to anyone. It's more noise than anything else. I have no time for this. 1/5
Was that a good or bad day
This album has The Birthday Party as they lift their game substantially. I've been playing this since release and it's a favourite album.
Yikes
good post-punk if you like it
алкоальбом: балтика девятка (хуй знает зачем была тут)
Я не понял. Звучит ну вроде модно, но иногда невыносимо ужасно. Качественно проседает: почему-то играет будто из жопы, где-то там далеко на сцене в лесу, а не в наушниках. Зато "ххехехехехех" от солиста слышно прям отлично, да, ага.
в этот раз было сложно и в этом не чувствуется капли искусства
bit of a mess really
Bloody awful.
Very weird album by Nick Cave and the gang. You can hear some similarities to his later work, but at this time it wasn't anywhere near as good as, for example, his collaboration with The Bad Seeds. Just an average album at best.
Perhaps perversely I get why an album this shit is on the list, for it being very early Nick Cave. But it is terrible...!!
Not really my cup of tea
Not my thing. Loud, abrasive and those are the redeeming qualities of this one. I know it’s Nick Cave, but it’s just too chaotic and incoherent to even be considered something as a jumping off point for me.
Dus dit is postpunk. Ik snap het, ik moet grijnzen, er zit veel Captain Beefheart in, 't is non-conformistisch en schopt tegen alles, 't is trash, 't is gevaarlijk, 't is ook wel iets te gothic naar m'n smaak, bizarre mix met country-invloeden ook, weirde mix. Ik zal dit zelden of nooit opzetten om naar te luisteren. Maar in 1982 was dit wssch behoorlijk crazy en z'n tijd (ver) vooruit. Wel goed om af en toe naar te luisteren als inspiratie. Wat wel leuk is, is dat Nick Cave hier nog écht gevaarlijk is in plaats van gespeeld gevaarlijk zoals nu. Several Sins is tof, 6" Gold Blade ook.
This album is incredibly polarizing. While I could see the appeal of this album to fans of the post-punk, noise rock, and even horrorcore and emo fans, the unrelenting noise, dark lyricism, and general dysfunctional nature of the album just didn't do it for me.
meh
OK, nothing stands out.
hullu albumcoveri, aivan kreisejä tapahtumia. mieletön kieli läpättää ilmassa, kun hot rod auto eteen päin kulkee (tulenlieskat kuvaavat matkaa). järjetöntä, peripateettinen aksiooma kakofonia anakronismi limerenssi oduraatti muutama sana listalle heh 60k sanoja ehkäpä..... nyt pari 20k suopea karpaasi seikkaperäinen minuskeli gemena kihti läntti maaninen haaksirikkoutua rispaantua .... ja musiikki oli tänään huonoa shes hit
I looked at the album cover and thought, “I’m gonna hate this.” But someone once told me “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” and I’m a good boy. So I went in with an open mind. I hated this. The drums were erratic, the vocals were insane, the bass was exhausting, the guitar was whiny, the mix was terrible. It sounds like someone had just shot a gun in the studio, fucking up the mics, the mood, and everyone’s hearing. This is my introduction to Nick Cave. I’m worried about his other 5 (!) albums on the list, but hopefully they benefit from being a different project.
This album is too challenging for me to enjoy. Of course, by 'challenging' I mean 'awful' and by 'me' I mean 'anyone'. An absolute catastrophe of music. Rating: 1/5 Playlist track: Blast Off Date listened: 31/12/23
Noisy, raw and borderline unbearable, yet there are glimpses of something interesting hidden beneath the sludge. Nick Cave's early band doesn't begin to showcase his talent, but you have to give him credit for trying, but really that's about all...
Nick Cave has been screaming in a demonic voice for over 40yrs, as this album clearly demonstrates. I found the incessant and barbaric percussion gripping; I felt disturbed by the lyrical content. I’m sure that’s exactly what the antipodean Tom Waits wanted. Punky Bluester? Possibly not for the content.
No. 80/1001 Blast Off 2/5 She's Hit 3/5 Dead Joe 1/5 The Dim Locator 1/5 Hamlet 1/5 Several Sins 2/5 Big Jesus Trash Can 1/5 Kiss Me Black 1/5 6'' Gold Blade 1/5 Kewpie Doll 2/5 Junkyard 1/5 Dead Joe - 2nd Version 1/5 Release the Bat 1/5 Average: 1,38 Uff, this one I didn't like at all. Most songs just felt like someone screaming over repetitve guitar riffs and drumming. This is now my worst rated album so far. Taking over from Kilimanjaro - The Teardrop Explodes (1,88)
Nick Cave had a long way to go before becoming a unique vocalist and this album was far from getting there. Had to stop after 3 songs from the guttural groans
Unable to hear the album
This is just a little too chaotic for me. I look forward to seeing more Nike Cave once his sound developes some more.
A little too “challenging” for me to get into with only 1 or 2 listens
“Junk” is certainly an apt descriptor for this one. Only people in their 20s who have done enough drugs to think they’re profound or talented would write garbage like “Dead Joe” or “Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)”. Happy to duck out of this birthday party early.
10!
Pré Bad Seeds, post Boys Next Door; the guitars from RS Howard are great.
Just not really my cup of blood. It's a bit raw, but I understand some people love their punk to be metal-fied.
Pretty interesting. Never knew the Nick Cave origin story until coming across this. Its a tortured sleezy aggressive Nick Cave that is pretty challenging. Several Sins stands out the most for me, though I also liked Kewpie Doll and the craziness of Hamlet. Engaging enough to appreciate.
Holy Shit is this bad.
As if one iteration of Nick Cave is bad enough, they’re subjecting us to two, and this one is considerably worse. I’m not into noise rock and hated almost every second of this. I did actually like Several Sins though, which is saving this from being rated a 1.
Groupe post-punk Australien. Ça crie et ça se lamente. Ça aurait du potentiel, mais c'est pas top.
I don't see why this is so praised
Schrammeliger Post-Punk.
Really not doing anything for me. Slog to get through.
Oh man this a challenging album. I like trashy sound and dissonant guitars sometimes but I found his vocals really hard to listen to. These vocals are the worst and the lyrics are terrible.
Like 1.4, it could’ve been worse but not by much
This was horrible…maybe on purpose?
No way the same guy sings this and "Abattoir Blues" Update: I sampled all of Nick Cave's albums and it's fascinating how he gradually transitions from this vibe to chill and good
They should be ashamed to put Ed Roth’s work on this album. This album feels like there was no effort put forth from anyone present. Getting through was a pain and I sincerely hated the sound of the all of it. 1/5
Suena como a una mezcla de los smiths con the cure con suicide… no soy particularmente fan. Se me hace muy oscuro para el mood que tengo sobre todo hoy dia. También me awuito que no esta en spotify.
So incredibly rough around the edges, but you can feel Cave's whole shtick coming through. The musical equivalent of Max Max 1.
Too much noise
Very little redeemable value. I do not want to be associated with anyone who created or who enjoys this album one star.
Till slut fick jag äntligen Nick Cave. Nu var det väl inte så här jag tänkte honom men alla är vi barn i början. Vänta bara, den senare delen av 80-talet börjar det hända grejer.
Did some record label owe someone's parents a favor? Get it off the list. Forever. Get it off the Internet. Erase it from my memory. Give me back my precious minutes wasted on trying to listen to whatever this was.
Not very good only song kind of liked was release the bats
Was this supposed to be a carbon copy of DK or The Cramps? Jello’s voice with the cramps evil rockabilly. Only listen to this in October 😅
Für ein Punk Album sehr gut, kreativ und nicht langweilig. Nur nicht meine Musik - 3.5
NO! -Cat
Holy fucking shitballs! This album is awful! I’ve been really giving this album a day thing a good chance and listening all the way through even if the recommended album is from an artist I know I don’t like already (despise Jack White’s music, but still have his album a chance) or if I’m not really enjoying something new to me. This was the first album that came up on this list I just couldn’t even listen all the way through and had to turn it off. Fucking terrible. Everything about it is just awful.
Still a bit rough, but an indication of things to come
I am the k-i-i -i - i ng I am the k-i-i -i - i ng I AM THE K-I-I -I NG 1984 brittiläinen post-punk new wave klassikko Release the bats hyvä kappale..
Insoportable
Truly Junk.
Fine. Kinda full on
Woof that was hard going
Interesting, but nothing I would listen to. Singer is a crazy man, and the band sound terrible but in a good way.
So many better things came out of Australia, why this one? Oh, I see, it’s a way for the curators here to sneak another Nick Cave album in.
Fine, I'd listen again in the right mood. Kinda grating. Also the singer is kinda cringe
I really did not like this
Terrible
I love the idea of Nick Cave, and the fact of him. I love that he exists, and that he made the music he made, and it had the influences it had. I’m very glad he writes his blog and I’m looking forward to the interview with Rick Rubin, on Tetragrammaton, which, coincidentally also dropped yestersay. But I do not enjoy listening to Nick cave’s music. This was rocking and they rock, for sure, but it’s not for me.
Maybe this just happened to synch perfectly with my inner aggression, but I had a blast listening to this. It’s probably not one I’ll have in the regular rotation, but it’s honest energy that I can get behind!
This abum probably means a lot to a certain scene but i cant get down with it. Listenable at the very least
1/5 - The instrumental components were okay, but the vocals make this almost unlistenable
Jesus Christ. This is the hardest time I've had getting through an album. If I had to say something about it I guess technically it is music. I can't think of a single redeeming quality of this album except that it came out in the 80s so by a happy accident I wasn't around to listen to it when it came out. I feel the worse for listening to this and hope I never hear it again.
Prácticamente ruido
Tavallaan ihan mielenkiintoista. Vaikka tää onkin taas tämmöistä aika noise punkki taide paskaa, niin kappaleissa tuntu kuitenkin olevan vähän ees järkeä ja tietty tunnelma.
Wow nick cave in the early days is a great shift from Ghosteen. I read he was quite wild in the younger days and these punk beginnings fit well. Did I want to enjoy it? Did I actually? No. I found it inaccessible and didn't know what to think soz Nick
So this is one of the lowest rated albums on here and I've been prepared for it. As a massive Nick Cave fan I've known of this album for a long time and I think I did listen to it after reading a biography of Nick Cave a long time ago. I was prepared to hate it but I actually found it really interesting. It's chaotic, it's jarring but you can see the basis of what Nick Cave became from this. I think his voice is excellent and the chaos mixed with the musical side is really cool. I can't say I'd ever pop this on on a Sunday afternoon listen or maybe ever again but it's certainly got merit musically.
Ikke lige noget der kommer i rotation herhjemme tror jeg
Totalt meget mig! Kæft noget kaotisk larm. Tit egentlig ret langsomt. Det er den Birthday Party plade der lyder mest som The Bad Seeds.
Smæk på! Det gad man godt have hørt live 😄 Men tror ikke at jeg nogensinde sætter det her på igen.
Yeah, I'll join the club in not getting this album
Wasn’t expecting this
It might be the worst record I've ever listened to. Hated every second.
Interesting. Had some cool moments. Could dive into Nick cave a bit more.
Nah
Prefer other Nick Cave stuff, this is meh
I'm having trouble understanding why this is on the list. I don't think it was super influential/defining a genre. Its only claim to fame seems to be that Nick Cave was in this band before the Bad Seeds. This list definitely seems biased towards his music. This was not very good. The production was a horrible reverb-drenched mess. Lots of the songs were very chaotic as well.
November 3rd, 2023 Now this is a Halloween record Straight from the 1001 Albums Generator Hall of Shame, it's the Birthday Party! And I honestly can't tell at this point if I liked it. I didn't NOT like it, if that's any consolation. Though it has some common ground with my personal least favourite albums, in particular the abrasiveness (Public Image Ltd.), the wailing (Now We Got Worry) and the grisly lyrics (Antichrist Superstar), I just can't hate it. Maybe it's because I know Junkyard already gets its fair share of hate, and I must try harder to appreciate it! Or the simpler answer, is that the scuzzy blues and intense, theatrical performance from Cave strikes an uneasy balance that's oddly fun. Probably won't go around recommending it, but I bought it on Bandcamp HL: “6" Gold Blade”, “She’s Hit”, “Big-Jesus-Trash-Can” Finally, shout out to the biggest statistical anomalies of this website. The Who & Nick Cave have some of the most albums of any artist on this list, yet it took me almost 600 albums to see either one of them. Guess I needed to complete all the Sonic Youths and Leonard Cohens to “unlock” them 🔓
My kind of terrible
It was not that great. Nick Cave has better music out there.
I went into this album cold and holy hell was it a treat. Made sense when I learned it was Nick Caves first band. Do I think it's for everyone? No. But this kind of sloppy, we know the rules of music but refuse to use them kind of music is my jam. She's Hit was the highlight track for me but I'm looking forward to listening through this one a few more times. Loved it.
She's Hit is the first song to surprise me in ages, with a Tom Waits-style vocal performance! OMG It's Nick Cave.
Decent; didn't love it but I enjoyed it well enough. I heard some very Daughters reminiscent guitar sounds on at least one track of this album, that's pretty cool.
I love Birthday Party 4.25/5
Nick Cave never really went as weird or heavy on his solo/Bad Seeds material as he did with his old band and it’s kind of a shame, I like this sound. Still, I’m grateful to live in a world with Murder Ballads and Skeleton Tree, so I’m not too sad that he changed course. B
this is really really really bad
Was this on this list by mistake. My god that was awful. About turned it off after the 500th “pow” on Hamlet and after hearing the rest of the album it would have been a good choice.
Loud noises.
Nick Cave doing his thing, over noisy fast punk noise. This is a good thing! Not quite he "all time classic" I would give 5 stars, but not all that far short. A wonderful insight into one of the great artists as he was figuring it al out.
Credit where it's due: this is the most fitting album title in this entire book
Terrible. Just terrible.
Well, this is true alternative. Most of the time, I have no idea what's going on. For all the weirdness, the songs are just incredibly aesthetically pleasing, though. And pretty hilarious.
Tvær hræðilegar í röð. Sorrý, þetta er hávaði og þetta er leiðinlegt. Ég vona að Nick Cave líði betur í hjartanu í dag en þarna.
Terrible horible sound and you could not understand the words
This album is a wild mess. really chaotic but musically fascinating. Rough and frightening and beautiful.
Well, I know where Lake of Dracula got their sound from.
Bluesy, reverb-drenched primal rage. Anchored by solid bass lines and a relentless beat, it reminds me of Ministry and Jesus Lizard. "Several Sins" and "Release the Bats" are the ones I liked the best, but "Big Jesus Trash Can" gets an honorable mention. I can see where this has an influence on Industrial and Grunge.
it’s a problem: in terms of raw energy and pure creativity the birthday party were one of the greatest bands of all time; they were also full-time denizens of Hell; so do you want to pay a visit to Hell? well, punk, do ya?
Meh
Måske ikke ligeså slemt som frygtet - men stadig pænt skidt
Nope.
This was... really something. It gets two stars for being vaguely musical. Loved the creepy/weird album artwork.
This one’s interesting. Kind of a gateway from punk to metal.
Perfect description
No.
Zu hart für mich
3. Solid punk record. A little too repetitive for my tastes.
This slams; deliriously noisy and strangely funky. Giving it the full 5 to counteract the philistine 1*s
¿Por qué nos habéis hecho escuchar esto? Es tan malo que da la risa, aunque sea de Nick Cave.
Going back for this and it was fine. Didn’t do a ton, but it did teach me about another Nick Cave project so that’s neat (2.5/5)
"Junkyard" is the third and final long play studio album by Austalian post-punk band The Birthday Party. Post punk and punk blues. If chaos was a musical genre, I'd add that too. The lyrics were inspired by American Southern Gothic imagery and deal with extreme subjects such as murder and heroin. The Birthday Party bandmembers are Nick Cave (lead vocals), Mick Harvey (guitar, sax, bass, drums, organ), Rowland S. Howard (guitar, sax), Tracy Pew (bass) and Phil Calvert (drums). A slow drum and percussion and an eerie guitar open "She's Hit." A plodding pace. Random percussion sounding like gunshots. Cave moaning/screaming. She's hit, a woman dead. The bass drives "Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow). A pounding beat. More chaotic and high-pitched guitar. Cave growling and yelling pow, pow, pow. "Kiss Me Black" actually starts out like a normal rock-punk song. Bass and tin-can drums. It starts and stops. Cave mumbling throughout. I made out something about a murdered daughter. ""6" Gold Blade" has a plodding bass, random guitar noises. This time it's about killing a girl. The album ends with "Junkyard." The instruments are seemingly on their own. The guitar sounds like it's getting tuned. The drums are making random noises. Cave becoming increasingly more intense as the song progresses. Yeah, it's about heroin. This album took me awhile to get into. On paper, I should love this but it took some time. I did gain an appreciation. This is unique and has a scary atmosphere. Nick Cave growls, howls, talks, mumbles, screams and is mostly unintelligible. At times the instruments sound like their being played randomly. It took my second listen to grasp the melodies. If you like Suicide or experimental music, this might be for you.
Couldn't finish it. Not for me
I always underestimate the extent to which shit albums like this can really ruin my mood for the night that I listen to them. Not that I was in a crazy good mood before starting this but my god by halfway through I realized I was physically uncomfortable and felt angry and irritated even though I was just casually playing stardew valley. It's a god awful post-punk album but I have to commend it for how quickly it elicited a visceral reaction from me; at least it got a reaction I guess. Also, reading though the other reviews I found out that this was Nick Cave's first band, which as soon as I found that out I instantly heard it in the vocals unfortunately. He's so much better than this.
Totally awful to listen to. There was nothing appealing to me whatsoever about the experience.
I liked it more than I would’ve liked it back when I started this challenge. Dark and abrasive post punk. It’s a very unusual, outrageous musical statement; it’s in a similar category in my mind to Trout Mask Replica. I was interested the whole album, it definitely wasn’t boring, it just kinda hurt my ears a little bit
Based on the album art I was hoping this would be rad. I also kind of like Nick Cave. But this didn't really do it for me.
Gave up. Hardcore, top level shite
Meh, the Doors from Wish?
Half of this was really good, other half was unlistenable noise
A bit crap! I really don't like Nick Cave and this is just a dismal juvenile effort. It brings to mind a bunch of unwashed teenagers in their mom's basement
Heard before: no One thing for sure, Nick Cave commits to the bit. Second time through, I get the noise-blues, rambling wreck of a garage band aesthetic. Proto-Bad Seeds, even younger and scuzzier. Maybe I'll revisit after my next Beefheart binge. Top tracks: Big-Jesus-Trash-Can, Release The Bats, Dead Joe
Meh, I guess this is cool if you enjoy listening to Nick Cave moaning and screaming like the devil over a layer of dissonance. Or Now That's What I Call Post-Punk Vol. 2
Nick Cave has two modes: wildly erratic or deeply emotional. With the Birthday Party he does a bit of both … But mainly he screams and roars as if possessed. What a treat! Also; find me a better song title than “Big Jesus Trash Can”. I dare you.
I think part of me respects that they’re just doing what they want to do, but it sure ain’t pleasant on the ear holes.
I mean, I tried. I thought that I shouldn't listen to all the reviews and try to hear this album with no judgement. I thought the first song ('She's Hit') was alright but definitely not really my kind of music. Then, Nick Cave started GROWLING like some kind of rabid dog at the start of 'Dead Joe' and I decided this wasn't really for me.
DNF. I hated this.
Bad. Just bad. Not captain beefheart bad, but bad.
not my jam, sorry nick
Nick Cave and his band of merry post punks bring the house down with this. It’s loud, brash and shows that Australia can BRING IT. What an aggressive and sexy piece.
just terrible and noisy
Þetta var ekkert sérstaklega að heilla. Vantar einhvern sjarma í þetta post-paunk.
The album art is an accurate representation of the music - a total mess. 3/10
Nick Cave's first band made a punk record that was basically punk when it was already dead. It's a corpse of punk. Dark stories straight out of horror films or weird fiction instead of political protest songs. "She's hit" is one of those masterpieces. Still, I prefer the Bad Seeds. Nick evolved to be a great songwriter and lyricist with the help of those talented musicians. If he and Mick Harvey would've continued with this band they might have not become the talented chaps they are still in the 2020s. The music just sounds too similar in the end.
Inspired early Cave. The rawness adds a chaotic energy that is refined in The Bad Seeds LPs that followed, but there is something in the nascent finding and striving in this LP that makes it stand up in its own right rather than seeming like Cave juvenalia.
Best Song: Dead Joe. Marginally better than the rest of what's on offer. Worst Song: Big Jesus Trash Can. Talentless shouting. Overall: The music is shit. The album art is shit. The name of both the band and the album are shit. Why am I listening to this?
I added six songs to my library. The rest was rather unpleasant. But hey, gotta give it to The Birthday Party for giving energy. Even if it wasn't an energy I really liked.
Chaos. There's something fascinating about it.
I love Nick Cave but there is a reason to why I mostly listen to his later music
This one is hard to rate. Some songs can be enjoyable but it is hard because of all mad chaos going around. Sometimes it is unbearable. I don't belive this belong on this list. It is more like abstract piece of art of painter who was wondering how much abstract can he get. 2,4/5
Life is too short to have to go through this.
Is this still music?
Sounds just about as bad as the album cover looks. Dude sounds like the villain in a muppet movie. ... After finishing the album, found out it's Nick Cave. I had his 1997 solo album already. Liked that way more than this. This was a struggle to listen through
its rock but also hardly music 1.5
There is a lot to take in here. This music is kind of confrontational, but it’s always interesting. One thing I noticed was that Nick Cave’s later Grinderman albums seem to harken back to this frenetic and aggressive style.
The album just seemed lazy and slapped together. Nothing redeeming
It's awful. I like Nick Cave but this is really bad juvenile stuff. I just don't see anything in it.
Ear assault. Trash
Well, that sure was something. I didn't hate it, but it felt like it lacked direction in an off-putting way. At least the album cover is pretty accurate.
Yeah, pretty bad. I didn't like a single song, and it was just full of boring.
As a Nick Cave fan I was intrigued to dive into this, and I respect the chaos of it all, naturally. But with my Cave-tinted glasses off I can't say I enjoyed it that much. There are some good tunes (Several Sins is my favourite), but the band generally seemed more intent on making an unholy racket.
Un Nick Cave jove i descarriat, sense trobar encara el seu espai, buscant la inspiració a través de l'experimentació. Sense gaire éxit
Why even 1 point. Garbage for the ears.
The crashing of axes and drums in the post punk era was a mix of of music attempted by many spaced out wannabees who couldn't sing, but could pull something together that might be a backing track to a violent video game. I think Nick Cove made a wise move into acting. Thanks 1001 albums for introducing me to yet another album I would never have considered listening to, nor will I ever again, pure shite.
A piss-take
A very poor album, with the exception of two tracks that I actually really like. The vocals on this are either between terrible or somewhat decent, no in between. Most of the songs sound like unintelligible nonsense, for genuine songs that sound good you can play Russian roulette on shuffle. This barely scrapes a two. Favourites: She’s Hit / Several Sins
Awkward and a tough listen
What did Joe do to deserve this
Ugh. I wish I could appreciate the satire underneath this album. I wish I could appreciate Nick Cave leaning so hard into post-punk. But... no amount of Kustom Kulture or self-awareness can save this. This really sucks. The production's terrible to the point where every song sounds like it was recorded through a wall-- besides the vocals, which are by far the worst aspect of the entire album. Nick Cave was not fit for growling, good lord. An ultra-compressed jpeg of Rat Fink. 2/5.
this is pretty awful.
This is a very odd album. Junkyard very much in that post punk lane, but it has a unique combination of two different sub-genres, no wave and goth punk. This album in my opinion is very noisy. The best example of this is Blast Off, a song that is almost entirely no wave. The next song though, She’s Hit, cements the album in its gothic roots. It’s very dark and heavy but also containing that punk flair we know punk to be. This gothic no wave continues through most of the album and it’s pretty enjoyable. No tracks particularly stand out other than the first two, so take that as you will. This was an enjoyable little post punk record though. I’d give it a 7/10.
2/5 stars. I never "got" nick cave. Still don't
Damn that horror bat sex horror sex vampire. It's silly but brilliant fun. The sort of stupid album you need to be deceptively clever to make. Does it get a little bit repetitive as it goes on? Yea. Does it sound like nothing else.on this list and brings the fun? Also yes.
Genres: Post-punk, punk blues Formed: Australia in 1977 Run time: 13 songs, 47 min, 16 sec The group were originally known as The Boys Next Door. The band moved to London, England, where they were championed by John Peel but only achieved limited success. Probably due in part to the dark nature of their lyrics and stage shows. After they split in 1983 many of the members went on to have acclaimed careers: Nick Cave (singer and songwriter), Mick Harvey (multi-instrumentalist and songwriter), and Rowland S. Howard (singer, songwriter and guitarist). Spotify: Least popular song: less than 65k Most popular song: over 2M I partially listened to the album but couldn’t find any aspect to enjoy. There is a lot of screaming and screeching that is just unpleasant to listen to. They achieved cult status with an avid fan base, but it is so niche, that commercial success was never going to happen. Listen Again?: No My Rating: **
Ok
Jesus wept.
I listened to half the album and thought “this sounds like a more jagged Nick Cave” and lo and behold.
PREFS : Blast Off, Dead Joe, The Dim Locator, Several Sins, Kiss Me Black, Dead Joe - 2nd Version, Release the Bats MOINS PREF : Junkyard
It was better than 3 stars but I would need more time with it to figure that out, so 4 stars it is.
Almost becomes bearable when they stumble their way into something resembling a melody which I'm sure was an accident.
As much as I wanted to be an 80’s punk fan, I don’t think so.
This album is just junk and belongs in the trash can. 0 stars if I could.
This belongs in a junkyard. Sounded like it was recorded in someone's unfinished basement by guys that just got instruments for the first time. Maybe this is for somebody, but definitely not me
Well, you can't say it's not energetically performed. It just happens to go off the rails very easily, and turns from music to just... background noise that might have a groove somewhere underneath it. Favorite track: "Dead Joe"
Alle ingrediënten zijn er, werd er wel erg nerveus van. Dit luister ik nog wel een keer op mijn gemak
Een slechte Shellac coverband op halve snelheid met Nick Cave op zang. Hoe vaak zouden deze gasten van het podium afgegooid zijn en zonder betaling naar huis zijn gestuurd? Dit is niet om aan te horen.
Wat is dit voor chaotische bagger? En dat met Nick Cave...
Niet om aan te horen! Gelukkig is Nick Cave later tot bedaren gekomen en heeft ie het licht gezien in hoe je wel toffe muziek kunt maken. Dit is echt ronduit kut.
Verschrikkelijk!
Just punk, nothing special. It's a great album but I don't know if it deserves to be at the top
Barely listenable. Had some ok ideas but was generally pretty grating.
Helt deec
Great violent post-punk, often bordering on noise rock. As much as this album appeals to me though, there are a few clear failings that keep it from true greatness: Firstly, I think the album should lean even harder into the angular, noisy angle than it already does. Secondly, the lo-fi production does the sound a disservice. I don’t mean that in a audiophile purist sense, but the muddy sound of all the instruments really take away from their attack and makes for a much less striking experience overall. Still, it’s a very worthwhile album. I also really like the album cover
Fick int så mycke ur dehä tbh! Men de va helt kova i guess
Pretty good. The sound is a bit too dirty for my tastes, but very solid stuff.
i can’t say that i liked it but i definitely liked it more than i thought i would. every once in a while a little primus would shine through, especially on 6” Gold Blade, which was cool
Different, it set a certain atmosphere and I really liked it
I get it, but it’s not really something I’m going to come back and listen to again
No esta en spotify :(
Looked like shit, sounded like shit. I don't understand how some of these albums get on this list
I watched a moving called The Anniversary Party the other night, then listened to The Birthday Party the following morning. They're entirely unrelated however the movie was better.
I’ll admit it started to grow on me. Torn between Dead Joe versions 1 and 2.
Really not my thing
Fascinating listening. Only a few that I actively "like". But most are good. Very interesting to listen to this in the musical context of what came after these guys.
I'm all about art as expression, and therefore that all expressions must and should exist. That said, I can't even recognize the music in this. To me it's no different than a room of children going apeshit on cheap toy imitations of instruments. I know that this isn't true, but it's all I can hear.
not super familiar with post punk outside the UK but i was fairly surprised that i hadnt heard of this before since i thought it was great. i liked the sketchy tone and lyricism
Oh man, would you look at that? A huge pile of dogshit and I just stepped right in it! And I'm wearing my brand new chucks too. That sucks. Maybe there's a Ryan Adams album nearby I can wipe my feet on.
ej l'ai trouvé sur youtube... J'aurais pu m'en passer c'est weird et pas tr`s bon. 2.75
A fucked piece of shit. A consensual curb stomping. More proof that the "Lowest Rated Albums" on this site are generally more exciting and fun than the "Highest Rated Albums". This was awesome. Haters will be turned into molten slag in the molten slag machine that comes free with every junkyard.
I normally like post-punk, but this just does not do it for me. There are way worse albums out there, but this is just terrible. Why Rob, just fucking why?
Nick Cave gets better. Waaay better. This is just noise.
No this was bad
This album is SO funny. It's so out there!! And it's a Nick Cave early glimpse. WOW. So over-the-top unpleasant to listen to. Just an album full of turn-offs. Great execution on a disgusting idea, 3/5
Is it strange how I like this better than Nick Cave's solo work? It's eery, raw, and wild and influential on both gothic rock and noise rock. Reminds me of Bauhaus if they listened to too much Pere Ubu or Public Image Ltd's Metal Box. It didn't have to be 47 minutes, and there were a few tracks I didn't feel were too special, but I found something cool out of most of them. And there were surprisingly good tracks, most notably "She's Hit" and "Release the Bats." Favorites: Blast Off, She's Hit, Dim Locator, Several Sins, Junkyard, Release the Bats
Terrible punk album. Once again, just a bunch of noise and I didn’t connect with a single song.
Album 26 of 1001 Junkyard - Birthday Party Favorite Track : Release the Bats Rating : 1 / 5 One day you get Dire Straits, the next day you get this...and so it goes. At times I thought I was listening to some parody with Jack Black. Can't take this seriously. I know that any album is likely the favorite album of somebody. That is a sad thought. Pass this one by unless British post punk is your thing.
I had never heard of this record and that wasn't a bad thing. Too much punk / raw noise for me to really enjoy.
Certainly not boring. Loud, abrasive, dark, slightly frightening. I can see why people don't like it. I didn't mind it. It's not perfect but it is a very interesting listen. Did not know this was Nick Cave's first band. Not the worst thing I've heard on here that's for sure.
Distilled chaos dipped in blood and poetry
Gritty AF. Glad to learn about Nick Cave’s roots. Boy he got A LOT better with age. The gem on this one was “Several Sins” but most was hard to endure.
God, what a chore to get through. These guys don't give a damn about anything, even their music, and why should I? I'll admit that the end of Hamlet (Pow Pow Pow), which repeats the same line about fifty times, achieved a sort of kaleidoscopic beauty in its repetition... but that's all I got. Mike Patton does this schtick 20x better. I was going to write that this sounds uncannily like Nick Cave without any skill whatsoever, and then I looked it up... That's EXACTLY what it is! Good thing he got better with age and practice.
No ! Life’s too short to be subjected to this racket. 1*
Didn't work for me.
this has elements of so much music i like but with absolutely no flow whatsoever.
I spent most of my teens hiding out in a junkyard. I would catch and eat pigeons for sustenance and suck on the tits of stray cats just for fun and to fuel my beastiality kink. I once fucked a crocodile for 11 hours straight and listening to this record reminded me of that wonderful day. A perfect moment in an otherwise deeply depressing existence. Cum on my tits.
Birthday
As bad as the album cover. I already dislike Nick Cave quite a lot (three 2 star albums and 1 three star album) and this didn't win any favours. Very hard to listen to and will never listen to it again.
Two tracks and I'm done. Too metal.
No good
Taking the worst things about post punk and amplifying it in this mess.
Rubbish
Loud, dissonant and weird. Probably not surprising I like it. A missing link in Nick Cave for me. He definitely had something going already. Will probably grow on me
Meh
The guy on the album cover reminds me of this record store that used to be maybe half an hour from me. It closed about two years ago but the style is really similar. I did have to keep the lyrics up while listening to the songs because it was super hard to tell what was being said. At least I really liked the instrumental!
Love the wildness o this...nick at his most unhinged and chaotic.
Cannot find another way to describe what raw energy and unleashed creativity… well, maybe The Stooges. This album is a gem. It demands your entire attention and will not leave you free until it finishes. Even then, the silence will be distressing.
Had a tough time getting in to this. It's got it's own vibe for sure, and I'm sure more listens would bring more appreciation to it. Scuzzy is a great word to describe it.
The classic Nick Cave's DNA, but with even more edge.
Really liked a few songs and really disliked other. Min/max for me.
Nope!
Interesting sounds and Nick Cave’s voice makes this album standout. 3/5
Not what I was expecting
Deranged and awesome
Mest så ruffig repetetivt bös. Som en fattigmans the cramps
Hm. This was rough. Some ok sounding stuff but this is well beyond post punk if you ask me.
Seeing the album cover and the low average score I expected to hate this. I didn’t found it interesting and atmospheric but very angry. Will I listen again probably not, but I’m glad I gave it a chance and I do believe there is a place for albums like this on the list.
Loud and shouty. Couldn't find a tune. Gave up it half way through.
I feel like this is one album I should not like as much as I do. I think I just like this kind of punk. Production wasn’t really that good. But there were some catchy songs. Really enjoyed “She’s Hit.”
Noise for noise sake. I know that Nick Cave is a great songwriter and a hell of an interpreter of song. Maybe those talents are on display here, but it is all hidden by what appears to just be a cacophony of poorly played instruments. This is punk at its most unleashed and decidedly, not for me.
Oooh, why is it so shouty, and why are they so angry, you can barely make out the lyrics, there isn't even a melody to most of them. Nick Cave was obviously very unhappy when he was younger.
Interesting little album, I really enjoyed the first song because it was fast-paced and energetic, but every song afterwards was quite more thoughtful while still keeping the grungy-ness. I can't say it made much of an impression on me but I feel like this might be one of those albums that grows on me the more I listen to it.
I’d never heard of The Birthday Party before today. My assumption based on the album art is that it’s likely punk. My worry is that the album art is a lot better than the music. Let’s find out! Songs I already knew: none Favourites: Dead Joe (2nd Version) There was a time in my life when I might have really liked this music, but it just didn’t do anything for me this time. Perhaps it needs a Tony Hawk game to be played to get the most out of it. Honestly, I didn’t really like any of the songs off this. I just picked Dead Joe (Second Version) as it’s the only one the made me look at what the title was. I can’t remember why I looked, maybe I was just curious if the time so turned my phone screen on.
Hahaha, s ovim albumom smo, ili koji je već bio...drugi treći? Krenuli sa ocjenjivanjem. Prije ove aplikacije, Sven, Ivan i ja. Sjećam ga se kad sam ga slušao u SPS, na poslu. Čudno je sve to bilo, kasnije mi se više svidio, pogotovo uživo izvedba, 3.5/5 bi dao, ali naravno ovdje nema takvo šta.
I had this and thought it was shit