‘Pleasure Heads Must Burn’, a 1984 video release compiling music clips from The Birthday Party, is about to reincarnate as a DVD.
The Birthday Party were originally called The Boys Next Door. The original band featuring Nick Cave, Mick Harvey and Phil Calvert, were all students at Caulfield Grammar in Melbourne, a private school for boys. Rowland S Howard joined in 1978. The name change to The Birthday Party happened in 1982.
‘Pleasure Heads Must Burn’ was originally released on Beta and VHS in 1984 and made its way to DVD in 2003 from the ’84 VHS versions. (so, pretty shit).
The 2021 edition of ‘Pleasure Heads Must Burn’ has been completely remastered.
The footage is raw, because it was filmed on very primitive equipment under very difficult circumstances, as the footage will show. This is in fact the 40th anniversary of these performances, which started on February 2, 1981 in Melbourne.
Track 1 is a promo video shot by Evan English & Paul Goldman (a.k.a. The Rich Kids) (edited by John Hillcoat) in Melbourne-Camberwell on 2-Feb-81, tracks 2-3 recorded live at The Ace Cinema in Brixton on 25-Nov-82, track 4 recorded live at the Trade Union Club in Sydney on 14-May-83, track 5 recorded at VPRO TV studios for “Götterdämmerung 2000” TV show in Jul-1982, tracks 6-11 recorded live at The Haçienda in Manchester on 22-Jul-82 and tracks 12-18 recorded live at The Haçienda in Manchester on 24-Feb-83.
TRACK LISTING
1. “Nick the Stripper”
2. “Fears Of Gun/”
3. “Hamlet (Pow!Pow!Pow!)”
4. “Deep In The Woods”
5. “Junkyard”
6. “Dead Joe”
7. “A Dead Song”
8. “Junkyard”
9. “Release The Bats”
10. “(Sometimes) Pleasure Heads Must Burn”
11. “Big Jesus Trash Can”
12. “Hamlet (Pow!Pow!Pow!)”
13. “Pleasure Avalanche”
14. “Six Inch Gold Blade”
15. “Wild World”
16. “The Six Strings That Drew Blood”
17. “Sonny’s Burning”
18. “She’s Hit”
Personnel
• Nick Cave – vocals, saxophone, drums
• Rowland S. Howard – Guitar, vocals, saxophone
• Mick Harvey – Organ, piano, guitar, vocals, drums
• Tracy Pew – Bass, clarinet, double bass
• Phill Calvert – Drums
• Des Hefner – Drums on DVD track 4, live 1983
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