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Radio Birdman
Title: Radios Appear  -  Company: Trafalgar (Aust)  -  Cat No: (trl-1001)
Format: 12" lp  -  Released: July 1977  -  Status: Deleted
radios appear cover
Radios Appear was Radio Birdman's first full length album. Recorded piecemeal over 1976 and early 1977, on weekends and nights when the studio had no paying customers, it was finally released on the Trafalgar label, created specifically to release Birdman records. In addition to mail order, the album was literally distributed by hand, out of the back of station wagons driven by band members and friends.

The band thus wrote the Australian handbook on DIY independent music. It was hailed as a breakthrough album in Australian music, a turning point after the scene's early and mid seventies stagnation. Radios Appear was given a 5 star review in Rolling Stone, and the album gave the band a needed boost to depart Sydney as a national touring entity, while still maintaining their renegade status.

Track Listing:

Side 1:logo
  1. TV Eye ( The Stooges ) (4:21 m:s)
  2. Murder City Nights ( D Tek ) (2:24 m:s)
  3. Anglo Girl Desire ( D Tek ) (3:07 m:s)
  4. Man With Golden Helmet ( D Tek / S Kambly ) (5:40 m:s)
  5. Descent into The Maelstrom ( D Tek ) (4:22 m:s)
Side 2:
  1. Monday Morning Gunk ( D Tek ) (3:05 m:s)
  2. Do The Pop ( D Tek / M Sisto ) (2:33 m:s)
  3. Love Kills ( D Tek ) (3:42 m:s)
  4. Hand Of Law ( D Tek ) (4:43 m:s)
  5. New Race ( D Tek ) (2:44 m:s)

Reissues:

CompanyCat NoFormatReleasedStatus
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WEA/Trafalgar (Australia) *(trl-1001) 12" lpOct 1977Deleted
Big Time (Australia) **(btd-906)12" lpJune 1984Deleted
WEA/Trafalgar (Australia) ***(wea 255957.1)12" lpApril 1989Deleted
WEA (Australia)(wea 229255957.2)cdSept 1992Deleted
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* This release had a different insert to the original pressing.
** This was a budget reissue with no insert.    *** There was no insert with this reissue.

The Musicians:

Rob Younger - Lead Vocals  /  Deniz Tek - Guitar & Vocals  /  Chris Masuak - Guitar, Vocals & Piano on Maelstrom
Warwick Gilbert - Bass  /  Ron Keeley - Drums  -  Pip Hoyle / Piano on Love Kills & Golden Helmet

Technical Details:

Produced and recorded by John Sayers & Charles Fisher at Trafalgar Studios, Sydney
Engineered by John Sayers

Of Interest:

The album's title was taken from the song Dominance and Submission by Blue Oyster Cult, one of the bands' most important early influences. Recording and mixing sessions were often tense, due to strong personality discordance between the band and the engineer/producer John Sayers. Sayers, who liked to work beneath pyramids, was either a holdover from hippie days, or a prescient before-the-wave New Ager, if there is a difference. In any case the friction worked to good effect, the outcome being well worth the prolonged struggle.


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