''A Box of Birds'' is the twelfth album by the Australian psychedelic rock band The Church, released in September 1999. It consists of cover versions of tracks by artists who were influential on the group's music. The album was released after the band's decision to abandon an already-complete live album and was recorded and mixed in 10 days. Guitarist

Marty Willson-Piper Marty Willson-Piper (born 7 May 1958) is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter best known as a former long-time member of the Australian psychedelic rock band The Church. He joined in 1980 after seeing an early gig where they were perform ...

said the band had played several covers in its gigs over the years, including "The Porpoise Song", "

It's All Too Much "It's All Too Much" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album '' Yellow Submarine''. Written by George Harrison in 1967, it conveys the ideological themes of that year's Summer of Love. The Beatles recorded the track ...

" and "

Cortez the Killer "Cortez the Killer" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young from his 1975 album, '' Zuma''. It was recorded with the band Crazy Horse. It has since been ranked No. 39 on '' Guitar World's'' 100 Greatest Guitar Solos and No. 329 on '' Ro ...

" – "and we thought, why not put them on a record. So we came along with our own ideas. Tim wanted to do an Iggy Pop number, Peter wanted "Cortez", Steve wanted Kevin Ayers and I wanted to do Alex Harvey. We had to pick 10 after an initial list of about 40." Kevin Ayers' song "Decadence" has been described as 'a withering portrait of

Nico Naftiran Intertrade Company Société à responsabilité limitée#In Switzerland, limited (NICO) is a Switzerland, Swiss-based subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). NICO is a general contractor for the oil and gas industry. NIOC bu ...

Track listing

Personnel

Steve Kilbey Steven John Kilbey (born 13 September 1954) is an English Australians, English-Australian singer-songwriter and bass guitarist for the rock band The Church (band), the Church. He is also a music producer, poet, and painter. As of 2020, Kilbey h ...

– lead vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, guitar *

Peter Koppes Peter Koppes (born 21 November 1955) is an Australian guitarist, best known as a founding and almost-continuous member of the independent rock band The Church. He is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing mandolin, drums, piano, and harmonica. ...

– guitars, keyboards, bass guitar, backing vocals *

Tim Powles Timothy Guy Gerard Powles (born 21 December 1959) is a New Zealand music producer and artist. Also known as "timEbandit" Powles, his main instrument and first love was the drums and percussion in general, though over time he's become a dab han ...

– drums, percussion, backing vocals *

– guitars, bass guitar, backing vocals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Box of Birds, A The Church (band) albums 1999 albums Covers albums