''Bird Noises'' is the first extended play by

Australian rock Rock music in Australia, also known as Oz rock, Australian rock and Aussie rock, is rock music from Australia. The nation has a rich history of rock music and an appreciation of the roots of various rock genres, usually originating in the United ...

group,

Midnight Oil Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by ...

, which was released on 24 November 1980 under the band's own independent label, Powderworks Records / Sprint Music. It was produced by Leszek Karski and manufactured and distributed by CBS/Columbia. ''Bird Noises'' reached the Top 30 on the Australian

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...

Singles Chart.

Background

On 24 November 1980, Australian rock music group,

, released their first four-track extended play, ''Bird Noises''. At the time Midnight Oil consisted of Peter Garrett on lead vocals and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

; Peter Gifford on bass guitar and backing vocals; Rob Hirst on drums and backing vocals; Jim Moginie on lead guitar and keyboards; and

Martin Rotsey Martin Rotsey is an Australian guitarist and a member of the rock band Midnight Oil, which was active from 1977 to 2002 and resumed performing together in 2017. Career In 2006, he joined fellow Midnight Oil member Rob Hirst's projects Ghostwrit ...

on lead guitar. It was the first recording by the band to feature Gifford who had replaced the band's earlier bass guitarist, Andrew James. It was produced by former

Supercharge In theoretical physics, a supercharge is a generator of supersymmetry transformations. It is an example of the general notion of a charge in physics. Supercharge, denoted by the symbol Q, is an operator which transforms bosons into fermions, and v ...

band member Leszek Karski for Powderworks Records and Sprint Music label at Music Farm Studios in Byron Bay and distributed internationally by the CBS/Columbia Records. The track, "Wedding Cake Island", refers to the island of the same name off Coogee Beach, Sydney. In 1990 the EP was re-released, on CD, in the United States by Columbia Records.

Reception

''Bird Noises'' peaked at No. 28 on the Australian

Singles Chart. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974. According to Australian musicologist,

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the '' Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

, ''Bird Noises'' "continued the development heard on ''Head Injuries'', with 'No Time for Games' and 'I'm the Cure' being particularly impressive. ''Bird Noises'' also boasted the anomalous, but delightful Shadows-like instrumental 'Wedding Cake Island'". AllMusic's William Ruhlman noted the group had tried "some musical variations after two albums of hard rock ... the music in fact was restrained, and the group tried acoustic instruments and a moody instrumental for an intriguing change of pace from their usual style".

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Personnel

;Midnight Oil * Peter Garrett – lead vocals,

* Peter Gifford – bass guitar, backing vocals * Rob Hirst – drums, backing vocals * Jim Moginie – lead guitar, keyboards *

– lead guitar ;Production work * Producer – Leszek Karski (for Instant Relief) * Engineer – Ross Cockle * Mixer – Leszek Karski * Studio – Music Farm Studios, Byron Bay; mixed at

Studios 301 Studios 301 is an Australian recording studio and is both the longest-running professional recording studio in the southern hemisphere and the largest studio complex in Australia. History The studio was founded in 1926 under the Columbia Gra ...

, Sydney. Credits:

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1980 debut EPs Midnight Oil EPs Sprint Music albums