The Birthday Party (The Birthday Party album)


The Birthday Party is a 1980 album by Australian rock band The Boys Next Door. The album was produced by The Boys Next Door, Tony Cohen, and Keith Glass; it was recorded with Cohen engineering at Richmond Recorders Studios in Melbourne from July 1979 to February 1980.
The album was vastly different from the new-wave pop-punk style of their debut Door, Door, moving towards the dark and chaotic post punk style they would later become known for. This album was both the final album by The Boys Next Door and the first full-length release by The Birthday Party. In its original release, it was credited to both, but on its first reissue, it was credited to The Birthday Party.
The album in its entirety has been reissued on CD as part of the Hee Haw compilation along with the Hee Haw EP.
While recording for the song "Mr. Clarinet," bassist Tracy Pew was absent from the actual recording session, so after the band members left, Pew recorded his part alone. Two of the album's songs, "The Red Clock" and "The Hair Shirt," the former sung by Rowland S. Howard, were originally included on the Hee Haw EP, released in 1979 when the Birthday Party were still known as Boys Next Door.

Track listing