Birthday Party

Mutiny/The Bad Seed
$7.99
That Conqueror Worm, that writhing slug that was the Birthday Party came to rest here..."in separate ditches"...RIP 1983.

Just as they hit the final nail on the head, the BP crumbled to dust. No small wonder this wasn't an album at all but 2 EP's later compiled together for CD. Without a doubt Mutiny/Bad Seed towers above their previous debaucheries It all came to a fore here & where was there to go after? Of course, frontman, Nick Cave later when on to an inspired solo career but you haven't heard him till you've heard this.

"Sonny's Burning" greets you with the abandoned war cry, "Hands up! Who wants to die!" What follows is a sonic/lyrical assault, stringing up the proceedings & setting them on fire.

"Wildworld" is a love song teetering dangerously over the precipice. "Deep In The Woods" is a break up song like none other, sarcastically mocking its own willful morbidity. "Jennifer's Veil" could have come straight out of Edgar Allen Poe, while "Swampland" howls up a storm of paranoia like nothing since The Stooges' Funhouse.

Though "Pleasure Avalanche" might just be the only disposable track, "Say A Spell" is an overlooked gem penned by signature guitarist Rowland Howard. A talent oft overshadowed by Cave's antics.

Speaking of which, "Mutiny In Heaven" cannot be denied. One of Cave's best BP songs. A Season in Hell, where the protagonist manically tries to escape the clutches of self-destruction on "doctored wings". A perversely optimistic ending to all the havoc wrought herein.

Sure, the self-enamored "Goth" movement pounced on The Birthday Party like flies on carrion, but these guys had no idea what "Goth" was. They were too busy making an unholy racket. I mean how many "Goth" bands had a bass player decked out like an Urban Cowboy?

So just sweep all those cobwebs aside & take this for what really is: a ferocious, careening blast of Rock & Roll. As explosive as Funhouse or Raw Power. As DIY as the Velvet Underground. The sound of a band on fire. Leaving only ashes to haul.

The Birthday Party & The Room
$14.00
"The Room" (1957) was Harold Pinter's first play, a one act piece, and it demonstrates some of the Absurdist features we grew to know so well: the seemingly aimless conversation, the sense of menace, dread, and terror, real violence or lurking violence, the Pinterian pauses, the feeling that we are in alien territory dealing with characters who don't seem to be in control of their destinies.
Of course none of us is in control of his or her destiny, but in this play Rose doesn't know if the room is still hers, who her landlord is, and who are the strange people who enter the room and seem to be attempting to control her life. Is Mr. Kidd the landlord? If he is, he doesn't know how many floors the house has. Rose asks him questions; he evades answering them or doesn't comprehend.
The stranger Riley calls her Sal, and says she is wanted at home. She's puzzled; we're puzzled, and that's part of what Pinter is saying--we live in an existential world in which we operate and wait for we know not what.
Pinter took his cue from Samuel Beckett and brought his audience into new territory where the norms of behavior were altered, into a world of questions without answers. But Pinter the artist was able to create an alternative world in which his plots intrigue us, his dialogue has its own beauty and majesty, and his characters fascinate us.
Pinter changed the audience's expectations, shook them out of their usual theater-going habits and made them think. He made them anxious, antsy with his skittish people in his edgy plays. Rose says, "Who did bring me into the world?" Why, Pinter did, of course.
Rose Hudd talks endlessly in the beginning, and her husband Bert says nothing. It's cold and damp, and he has to take the van out. When he comes back he talks briefly about his trip and savagely confronts a stranger, and Rose ends up transformed.
Pinter often used the enclosure of a single room: human beings were caged in, caught in a claustrophobic situation. The play seems slow-moving yet a great deal happens. Great portent is conveyed quite quickly. He's a shock and awe artist.
There's always the possibility Pinter is toying with us, seeing what he can get away with, seeing if his quirky stuff will go over, conning us.
I have reviewed "The Birthday Party" elsewhere on Amazon.

Hit of the Party: The Complete Planner for Children's Theme Birthday Parties
$7.00
This book was well worth the $10 I paid for it. It has lots of fun ideas and easy recipes. The only problem is you need a copier machine to make most of the craft ideas. It also doesn't have color photos but it is still nice.

DOZEN (12) BIRTHDAY PARTY Rubber Ducks/DUCKIES
$5.99
These duckies made an especially special splash when they came out of my 2 year old's pinata. These made a perfect filler and an awesome party favor. Another great filler were the ducky whistles. Needless to say, my son had great fun on his next bath!!