Home » Shop » Radio Birdman Euro Blue Wax Limited Edition – 201/500

Radio Birdman Euro Blue Wax Limited Edition – 201/500

$149.95 AUD

Availability: 1 in stock

SKU: MUS3BIRDMANEURO-6T Category:
Compare

Radio Birdman Euro Import – Murder City Nights

Limited Edition No. 201/500 – Blue Wax – Extremely Rare

Ultra rare Radio Birdman album from Europe. Limited to 500 copies, this is number 201.

The cover is full colour gloss, the wax is clear blue. The tracks were recorded at Double Jay Studios in Sydney 1976; featuring a killer version of Iggy’s TV Eye; absolutely thunderous!

As the rear cover states, “Over 60 minutes of great totenkopf rock n roll”. Mint condition album.

Side 1 Route 66  Murder City Nights  Don’t Look Back  Anglo Girl Desire  Man With The Golden Helme  tLove Kills  TV Eye  Surf City

Side 2 Hand Of Law  New Race  Transmaniacon MC  Burned My Eye  Descent Into Maelstrom  Time Won’t Let Me  I 94  Do The Pop

SKU

Design

Size 12 inch – LP

Pressed clear wax vinyl

Side 1

Route 66

Murder City Nights

Don’t Look Back

Anglo Girl Desire

Man With The Golden Helmet

Love Kills

TV Eye

Surf City

Side 2

Hand Of Law

New Race

Transmaniacon MC

Burned My Eye

Descent Into Maelstrom

Time Won’t Let Me

I 94

Do The Pop

 

History

Radio Birdman was one of the first punk bands in Australia to wave the punk rock flag along with The Saints. Deniz Tek and Rob Younger formed the group in Sydney, Australia in 1974. The group influenced the work of many successful, mainstream bands, and is now considered to be one of the most crucial bands to Australia’s musical growth, but their main legacy was their towering influence over Australian indie rock in the 1980’s.

Deniz Tek and Rob Younger formed Radio Birdman in mid-1974 in Sydney, having recently left their bands ‘TV Jones’ and ‘The Rats’ respectively. The pair sought to begin a band that would have no commercial interest and break the norm at the time, so they recruited classical keyboard player Phillip ‘Pip’ Hoyle, drummer Ron Keeley and bassist Carl Rorke . The band took their name from the mondegreen “Radio birdman up above” in the Stooges song “1970”. After being rejected many times from various venues, Radio Birdman found a pub in Taylor Square, Sydney and eventually took over its management, naming it The Oxford Funhouse. Under their management, the Funhouse became a home to any and all groups with musical tastes similar to the band. Not long after the opening of this venue, Carl Rorke left the band and was replaced by long time friend of Rob Younger, Warwick Gilbert (also a former ‘Rats’ member). Also to temporarily leave the band would be Phillip Hoyle, and though his departure was short lived, this was how Radio Birdman came across guitarist Chris Masuak. Soon, a culture of Radio Birdman was developing in the underground, people started to dress differently, followed the Birdman symbol and the Oxford Funhouse was their home. This was the beginnings of the Sydney punk scene.

Using the Funhouse as a base of operations, Radio Birdman recorded an EP, Burn My Eye. and their first album Radios Appear produced by John L Sayers and Charles Fisher at Trafalgar Studios in Annandale Trafalgar Studios financed the recordings. Radios Appear was critically acclaimed, getting 5 stars in the Australian Rolling Stone edition.. The album owed much of its style to Detroit bands of the late 1960s, such as The MC5 and The Stooges. Though the album was totally ignored by commercial radio, it was championed by Sydney station 2JJ (Double Jay). Sales of this album were initially limited because they were recording using a private label Trafalgar Records . . Shortly after initial release, Trafalgar Records leased the recordings to WEA who took on the album and gave it a wider release however sales remained limited due to a lack of commercial support. Promotion could have been also somewhat inhibited as some fans felt the recordings lacked the ferocity and immediacy of the live shows and did not represent their experience of the band. The band remained underground, but began to travel far from Sydney to perform their shows, it was at this time that keyboard player Pip Hoyle returned to the band.

When Sire Records president Seymour Stein came to Australia to sign up fellow punk band The Saints, he saw Radio Birdman play and immediately invited them to join his label. Under this new label, Radio Birdman released a new version of Radios Appear featuring a mixture of re-mixed, re-recorded and some new material. Comparisons between the two versions of the album are disputed with some feeling that the second version is a more accurate reflection of the band’s sound. Most fans however own both versions and simply treat them as two separate and different recordings. With the commercial release of this new album, the underground punk scene, that Radio Birdman was a part of, began to attract some groups with negative agendas; namely biker gang, Hells Angels. With this new, more violent and rowdy crowd, the Funhouse was at the point of overflowing. The band was blamed for violent incidents occurring at the Funhouse, so in mid-1977, they left Sydney and took a break from music, instead pursuing educational goals.

The band returned half a year later and performed their most famous show to date at Paddington Town Hall alongside The Saints. Two thousand people supposedly packed into the venue (in fact film of the event suggests a few hundred at most) and tracks recorded from the show would later be included on numerous other Radio Birdman recordings. After this show, the band began their European tour, but their overseas success was short lived as Sire Records began having financial difficulties and were forced to drop Radio Birdman from their label. On the other hand, Tek has apparently claimed that Stein offered to support the band if he and Hoyle would defer their medical studies for five years, but that they both refused.

*All historical information taken from Wikipedia for educational purposes.

You may also like…

Shopping Cart
X