THEMES FROM GREAT CITIES: Radios Appear

Saturday, 4 November 2017

Radios Appear

This is primal (and prime) Radio Birdman, with Deniz Tek and Rob Younger firmly ensconced in the eye of this guitar-fuelled hurricane. Tek's originals are pretty strong, especially the grimy tale of urban desolation "Murder City Nights" and the noisy freak-out "Descent into the Maelstrom." Bear witness to one of Australia's greatest rock & roll bands in all of their boisterous, confident, energetic, intense, menacing, reckless, rousing, rowdy, swaggering, volatile, aggressive, fiery, humorous glory.

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.

In 1977 Seymour Stein, president of US-based Sire Records, (then home to cool bands like the Ramones, Talking Heads, The Dead Boys, The Rezillos and The Undertones) 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 signed 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 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.