Radio Birdman-The Essential Radio Birdman
(Sub Pop)
This sleekly produced package might appear to be an essential purchase to anyone who is a fan of Stooges/MC5 inspired rock and roll. The graphics on the cover seemed to be designed to replicate the radical militant style of the last Primal Scream cover. One gets the picture that Radio Birdman might be an important missing link from the MC5 to the pistols. No, you numbskull, that was the Ramones.
What you’ll find on this disc a several tunes cut from the same striving cloth. Back in the USA seems to be a major reference point. Yet these tunes seem to all dissolve into mindless Chuck Berryisms and self-conscious juvenilia after only a couple of cuts.(for more on Radio Birdman, go to www.subpop.com)
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