RADIO BIRDMAN: ZENO BEACH (REVIEW)
January 8th 2007 13:28
RADIO BIRDMAN
ZENO BEACH
(2006; CRYING SUN/SHOCK)
RATING
TRACK LISTING: 1) We’ve Come So Far (To Be Here Today) / 2) You Just Make It Worse / 3) Remorseless / 4) Found Dead / 5) Connected / 6) Die Like April / 7) Heyday / 8) Subterfuge / 9) If You Say Please / 10) Hungry Cannibals / 11) Locked Up / 12) The Brotherhood Of Al Wazah / 13) Zeno Beach
Twenty-five years is a long-ass time to wait for anything, let alone a new album by Radio Birdman, because the weight of expectancy gets heavier with each passing year, and if you were to, say, hold your breath for that period of time in anticipation of this release, you’d not only be an idiot, you’d be dead. That’s certainly not to say Zeno Beach (2006) isn’t worth the wait, but it’s just a rock ‘n’ roll record, albeit a very fucking good one for a band who've been in the ground for a while now, rising only for sporadic touring.
But the Birdman are back with an album of new material, and it's a surprisingly less back-from-the-dead experience than one would expect. Rob Younger's voice sounds higher and (Rob) younger than the mean drawl he used to have, even though he now looks like a rapidly deteriorating ghoul. I don’t want to diss on the guy—even with his wispy white hair and balding crown, Younger’s a consummate frontman who’s been captivating whenever I’ve seen him; whether fronting the Birdman or the New Christs. But I've gotta admit, it still astounds me that a guy who looks like his limbs are gonna fall off whenever he does his little dance on stage can sound so fresh and vibrant?
But lucky for us, Younger and the entire band sound invigorated by the healin’ power of rock, and while the album isn’t as consistently keyed up and fearsome as Radios Appear (1977) and Living Eyes (1981); we shouldn’t expect it to be. Those albums are the stuff of legend, when Radio Birdman were one of the leanest and meanest bands around, inspiring fear in the hearts of men with their imposing logo, crypto-fascist imagery, and unrelenting six-piece attack. What’s remarkable is how angular and stripped-back these prodigal sons still sound: not in a jagged way like Wire or Gang Of Four, but in an incredibly pointed and acute way that still has a grip on the spirit of rock’s earliest rumblings.
“We’ve Come So Far” is as fine an announcement of the band’s return as any, swelling like the ocean with thunderous drum rolls from new stickman Russel Hopkins (You Am I), churning bass by Jim Dickson, Pip Hoyle’s crashing piano chords, and let's not forget the choppy twin-guitar attack of Denis Tek and Chris Musuak. This sense of surf-tinged menace is matched by “Remorseless” with its descending guitar line, while tracks like “Connected”, “Locked Up”, and “Zeno Beach” maintain the band’s teeming, tightly intertwined sound, which is delivered with all the precision of a stealth bomber, but much louder.
While the Birdman have still got the chops, it’s the new elements they’ve developed that make this album so vital. “Found Dead” starts off sounding a bit dull, but builds up to a sexy simmer with an unsettling jerky guitar line that really makes you sit up and pay attention during the chorus; it’s goddamn seductive. There’s also a watery psychedelic ‘60s vibe in “Die Like April”; a dubby bass groove and Spanish guitar accents in “Heyday”; and an extended, jazzy freakout in “The Brotherhood Of Al Wazah” that sounds almost Pink Floyd. These slower tunes expand upon the style established by their dark classic “Man With Golden Helmet” and use Hoyle’s alternately creepy and rockin’ piano work to create a spooky and sometimes foreboding atmosphere. They almost push it too far with the outdated art rock bullshit, but for the most part they show a restraint that brings to mind a less pretentious Blue Oyster Cult without the heavy metal. It’s only really when the band fall somewhere between the blasting rockers and the slow burning cool of their darker, artier tracks that things sound less exciting than they should, with songs like “You Just Make It Worse”, “If You Say Please” and “Hungry Cannibals” coming off as listless, boogie-rock filler.
But Zeno Beach never loses steam over its forty-five minutes. Some of this even sounds like You Am I when that band rocks out, with Younger’s vocal delivery approaching the whine of Tim Rogers in some places. I doubt the addition of Rusty Hopkins has anything to do with that, because he’s the only member who didn’t write any of the tunes, but it’s interesting to see the band consume one of it's younger followers into the throbbing whole that is Radio Birdman and come out so fresh, rockin', and flab-free. Younger still slurs, sneers, and croons better than Tim Rogers ever could anyway, and these boys are still one of the tightest and most finely-honed rock outfits around.
Who says rock ‘n’ roll is a young man’s game? Probably you, ya ageist bastard Wolfmother fan you.
***
IMAGES
Zeno Beach
(album cover used under fair dealing)
* images on this page were taken from the following Wikipedia page:
Zeno Beach
ZENO BEACH
(2006; CRYING SUN/SHOCK)
RATING
TRACK LISTING: 1) We’ve Come So Far (To Be Here Today) / 2) You Just Make It Worse / 3) Remorseless / 4) Found Dead / 5) Connected / 6) Die Like April / 7) Heyday / 8) Subterfuge / 9) If You Say Please / 10) Hungry Cannibals / 11) Locked Up / 12) The Brotherhood Of Al Wazah / 13) Zeno Beach
Zeno Beach (2006)
But the Birdman are back with an album of new material, and it's a surprisingly less back-from-the-dead experience than one would expect. Rob Younger's voice sounds higher and (Rob) younger than the mean drawl he used to have, even though he now looks like a rapidly deteriorating ghoul. I don’t want to diss on the guy—even with his wispy white hair and balding crown, Younger’s a consummate frontman who’s been captivating whenever I’ve seen him; whether fronting the Birdman or the New Christs. But I've gotta admit, it still astounds me that a guy who looks like his limbs are gonna fall off whenever he does his little dance on stage can sound so fresh and vibrant?
But lucky for us, Younger and the entire band sound invigorated by the healin’ power of rock, and while the album isn’t as consistently keyed up and fearsome as Radios Appear (1977) and Living Eyes (1981); we shouldn’t expect it to be. Those albums are the stuff of legend, when Radio Birdman were one of the leanest and meanest bands around, inspiring fear in the hearts of men with their imposing logo, crypto-fascist imagery, and unrelenting six-piece attack. What’s remarkable is how angular and stripped-back these prodigal sons still sound: not in a jagged way like Wire or Gang Of Four, but in an incredibly pointed and acute way that still has a grip on the spirit of rock’s earliest rumblings.
“We’ve Come So Far” is as fine an announcement of the band’s return as any, swelling like the ocean with thunderous drum rolls from new stickman Russel Hopkins (You Am I), churning bass by Jim Dickson, Pip Hoyle’s crashing piano chords, and let's not forget the choppy twin-guitar attack of Denis Tek and Chris Musuak. This sense of surf-tinged menace is matched by “Remorseless” with its descending guitar line, while tracks like “Connected”, “Locked Up”, and “Zeno Beach” maintain the band’s teeming, tightly intertwined sound, which is delivered with all the precision of a stealth bomber, but much louder.
While the Birdman have still got the chops, it’s the new elements they’ve developed that make this album so vital. “Found Dead” starts off sounding a bit dull, but builds up to a sexy simmer with an unsettling jerky guitar line that really makes you sit up and pay attention during the chorus; it’s goddamn seductive. There’s also a watery psychedelic ‘60s vibe in “Die Like April”; a dubby bass groove and Spanish guitar accents in “Heyday”; and an extended, jazzy freakout in “The Brotherhood Of Al Wazah” that sounds almost Pink Floyd. These slower tunes expand upon the style established by their dark classic “Man With Golden Helmet” and use Hoyle’s alternately creepy and rockin’ piano work to create a spooky and sometimes foreboding atmosphere. They almost push it too far with the outdated art rock bullshit, but for the most part they show a restraint that brings to mind a less pretentious Blue Oyster Cult without the heavy metal. It’s only really when the band fall somewhere between the blasting rockers and the slow burning cool of their darker, artier tracks that things sound less exciting than they should, with songs like “You Just Make It Worse”, “If You Say Please” and “Hungry Cannibals” coming off as listless, boogie-rock filler.
But Zeno Beach never loses steam over its forty-five minutes. Some of this even sounds like You Am I when that band rocks out, with Younger’s vocal delivery approaching the whine of Tim Rogers in some places. I doubt the addition of Rusty Hopkins has anything to do with that, because he’s the only member who didn’t write any of the tunes, but it’s interesting to see the band consume one of it's younger followers into the throbbing whole that is Radio Birdman and come out so fresh, rockin', and flab-free. Younger still slurs, sneers, and croons better than Tim Rogers ever could anyway, and these boys are still one of the tightest and most finely-honed rock outfits around.
Who says rock ‘n’ roll is a young man’s game? Probably you, ya ageist bastard Wolfmother fan you.
***
IMAGES
Zeno Beach
(album cover used under fair dealing)
* images on this page were taken from the following Wikipedia page:
Zeno Beach
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