Junkyard is the third studio album by Australian

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

group The Birthday Party. It was released on 10 May 1982 by Missing Link Records in Australia and by 4AD in the UK. It was the group's last full-length studio recording. It has received critical acclaim.

Background

''Junkyard'' was inspired by American

Southern Gothic Southern Gothic is an artistic subgenre of fiction, country music, film and television that are heavily influenced by Gothic elements and the American South. Common themes of Southern Gothic include storytelling of deeply flawed, disturbing or ...

imagery, dealing with extreme subjects like an evangelist's murdered daughter. Anita Lane, then girlfriend of lead singer Nick Cave, co-wrote two songs for the album: "Dead Joe" and "Kiss Me Black". The album was a transitional record for a variety of reasons. On 16 February 1982 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Tracy Pew Tracy Franklin Pew (19 December 1957 – 7 November 1986) was an Australian musician, and bassist for The Birthday Party. He was later a member of The Saints, and worked with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. As a member of the Birthday Party, Pe ...

(the band's bass player) was arrested for drunk driving. For this and several other outstanding offences he served 2.5 months in

Pentridge Prison HM Prison Pentridge was an Australian prison that was first established in 1851 in Coburg, Victoria. The first prisoners arrived in 1851. The prison officially closed on 1 May 1997. Pentridge was often referred to as the "Bluestone College", " ...

in Australia, and so

Barry Adamson Barry Adamson (born 11 June 1958) Discography Studio Albums Compilation Albums EPs Singles Soundtracks References External links * Adamson's art-house
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adamson, Barry 1958 births Living people People from ...

played bass on at least one track. In addition to his usual guitar,

Mick Harvey Michael John Harvey (born 29 August 1958) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his long-term collaborations with Nick Cave, with whom he formed The ...

played drums on a few songs, anticipating the upcoming termination of founding member

Phill Calvert Phillip Calvert (born 11 January 1958) is an Australian rock drummer and producer best known for his playing in the post-punk band The Birthday Party with Nick Cave. History At the private boys school Caulfield Grammar in the early 1970s Cal ...

and the band's subsequent switch from quintet to quartet.

Recording and artwork

The album was recorded with

Tony Cohen Anthony Lawrence Cohen (4 June 19572 August 2017) was an Australian music record producer and sound engineer. He worked with Nick Cave's groups the Birthday Party, and then the Bad Seeds from 1979 to 2001. In mid-1986 he had followed Cave t ...

at Armstrong's Audio Visual (A.A.V.) Studios in

in December 1981 and January 1982. Additional tracks were recorded in London's Matrix Studios with producer

Richard Mazda Richard Mazda (born 5 May 1955) is a record producer, writer, musician, actor and director. Music career Mazda was one of the co-founders of Poole punk/mod band Tours, singing and playing lead guitar. They signed to Virgin Records in 1979 aft ...

in March 1982. Mazda's previous work with ATV and The Fall had brought him to their attention. The cover art is by

Ed Roth Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (March 4, 1932 – April 4, 2001) was an American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, pinstriper and custom car designer and builder who created the hot rod icon Rat Fink and other characters. Roth was a key figure in S ...

and Dave Christensen.

Release

The album was released on 10 May 1982. CD reissues added the "Release the Bats"/"Blast Off!" single recorded at London's Townhouse Studio with

Nick Launay Nicolas Launay is an English record producer, composer and recording engineer. He is one of the most sought after record producers in the world due to his success with recent albums by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Anna Calvi, IDLES, Black Reb ...

in April 1981. A second version of "Dead Joe"—originally featured on the MasterBAG August 1982 flexi-disc—also appears on the reissue.

Critical reception

Critic Ned Raggett called the album a "scuzzy masterpiece" that saw "Cave's now-demonic vocals in full roar while the rest of the players revamped rhythm & blues and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

into a blood-soaked exorcism." Julian Marszalek of ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quiet ...

'' writes that "''Junkyard'' still sounds as if it’s waiting for rock music to catch up with it," calling it "a high example of uncompromised music and art ..that exists purely on its own terms." In October 2010, ''Junkyard'' was listed at No. 17 in the book, ''

100 Best Australian Albums 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

''. The album was also included in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

''.

Track listing

Personnel

The Birthday Party

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...

– lead vocals *

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

("She's Hit"),

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

("Dead Joe", "Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)"),

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

("Big-Jesus-Trash-Can"),

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

("Kewpie Doll"), organ ("Blast Off!"), bass drum ("Release the Bats") *

Rowland S. Howard Rowland Stuart Howard (24 October 1959 – 30 December 2009) was an Australian rock musician, guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with the post-punk group The Birthday Party and his subsequent solo career. Early life Rowland Stua ...

– guitar, saxophone ("Blast Off!") *

– bass guitar *

– drums

Additional personnel

– bass guitar ("Kiss Me Black")

Chart positions

References

External links

''Junkyard''
(

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) at

Radio3Net Radio 3 net is the former ''Radio România Tineret'' (or Radio 3). More than 20,000 albums are stored on Radio 3 net. A few of the prominent features available on the website are "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Mus ...

(streamed copy where licensed) {{Authority control 1982 albums Junkyard Albums produced by Nick Launay 4AD albums Virgin Records albums Shock Records albums 2.13.61 albums Buddah Records albums Albums produced by Richard Mazda Albums produced by Tony Cohen