Have More Fun with Living Eyes
Sacco | here there and everywhere | 06/12/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The case can be made that Living Eyes is the best Radio Birdman album. The production is far superior to that of Radio's Appear, there's a subtle layering with the guitars, bass, drums and piano's and organs weaving around each other istead of the previous wall of sound. And while theres nothing to rival the insane catchyness of Aloha Steve & Dano the over all quality is both better and more diverse.
Opening with the bluesy Hanging On, Living Eyes goes from all out punk attack on tracks like 445 sd to the catchy pop of More Fun, and even dabbles if neo-psychaelics with Alien Skies and 50's style rock and roll on Do The Movin' Change. Still everything fells cohesive and the album holds together brilliantly as a whole.
The real treat here though is the More Fun EP. Its four perfect live tracks. The live version of Break's My Heart and More Fun two of the stand out tracks on Living Eyes are ever better here as the band lets loose with full rock and roll abandon. Greater still are the two tracks of that don't appear on either Radio Birdman studio releases. That Didn't Tell The Man was never a radio hit only shows how badly the band were served by their management and dealings with the music industry. Still the real gem is Dark Surprise with its stunning organ runs and woozy drugged up feel, it might just be the best thing that Radio Birdman ever recorded.
If you like Radio Birdman or even just Nuggest style garage rock this album and ep are very worth while aquiring in any form you can."
Buy this version of the album, with the bonus EP
A. Woodley | 04/21/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The other reviewer pretty much said everything I want to but I do want to add three quick things.
1st-- If this is your introduction to Radio Birdman buy their first album, Radio's Appear, first. These are both great albums but Radio's Appear is a little stronger.
2nd-- Buy this edition of the album with the bonus EP. It's a little bit more money but the live EP is really worth the few extra bucks. I'm not even a huge fan of live albums but this a great one, but a little too short. It's an EP though so what are you gonna do?
3rd-- This will sound like squabbling, and it is but I would not call this Nuggets era rock and roll. I think of Nuggets era garage rock as more like the Sound Machine or The Seeds. This is early punk. I know there is not really much of a difference, I am just trying to clarify what kind of album you are buying. If The Clash made a surf record, it would have sounded like Radio Birdman. Just thought I'd way in with that 2nd opinion."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1