Birthday Party: Hee-Haw (red, black & white) LP

The music of seminal Australian post-punk group The Birthday Party was at turns surly and explosive, full of chaotic entropy and brilliant dark lyrics composed of teeth and the smell of brimstone. The minimal, incessant melodies laced with anarchic noise created an incomparable musical experience that heralded the careers of Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard, Mick Harvey and Tracy Pew. Their inimitable collection of records were a tour de force, and are home to some of the most influential music to come out of the post-punk renaissance of the early 1980s. Unlike a lot of careers that are often described or qualified by their influences (a cross between this and that), The Birthday Party seemed to appear out of nowhere to ensure we all remembered the devil is still very much aware, here, and participating in all the sounds we hear. A compilation of earlier recordings, 1988's Hee-Haw is composed of The Birthday Party's first two UK singles and songs previously only released in Australia. The essential 13-track affair includes all of the material from their 1979 EP of the same name and the 1980 LP The Birthday Party (originally released under their previous band name, The Boys Next Door).