Birdland-Birdland (1990)



Artist: Birdland

Title: Birdland

Rock 'n' Roll Nigger b/w Protection/Roller Coaster/Fun Fun Fun

Label: Lazy Records

Format: 7" EP

Catalog Number: LAZY 20

Year of Release: 1990

Country and Year of Edition: UK 1990

Sell Price: $3.49

Sell Date: 6/20/26

Condition: VG+/VG+ 

Discogs Last Sold: 6/19/26 M/NM $5.00

Low: $0.66

Median: $2.72

Average: $2.66

High: $5.00

Current low price: $0.51 (UK), $2.96 NM/NM (US)

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 133

Have/Want: 874/39

Where Sold: Downers Grove, IL

Time It Took To Sell:  11 years

Where and When Bought: Boston New Newbury Comics around $5.99

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+

Sad To See It Go: No 

Short lived late 80's/early 90's Birmingham, UK band with an obligatory, brief, 2010 reformation.  This EP covered the Patti Smith standard on the A-side with three solid originals on the B-side, none of which made the 1991 album.  I forgot why I bought this 7" at an import price way back when.  I'm thinking I saw it on a Maximum Rock 'n' Roll recommended list from an editor I liked or maybe I heard something on WMBR.  The glossy import gatefold cover screamed new NME/Melody Maker darling and wasn't the type of thing I'd pick up sight unseen from the singles bin without some sort of advancing.

While Birdland did a good take on the cover, outside of Patti's poetic context, without the Babelogue intro, gives the song a different meaning and feel where the needle starts to go in the direction of gratuitous and less in the direction of artistic free pass.  No nuance in 1990 and in 2026, in these times of expected absolutes, there are more people to take offense at this exercise in desensitization and deprogamming at face value, without knowing or caring about the origins or the meaning.  To play it on a stage now is akin to crying fire in a crowded the-a-tre maybe even in the eyes of the law, if not the bartender or bouncer.   In the version, Patti Smith herself gets lumped into the attributory part of the lyric with Brian Jones and everyone else to carry the big and getting bigger mantle.

Outside of society is still the place to be.

FOR FURTHER REVIEW:

Patti Smith Group-Easter (1978)

Patti Smith @ The Great Hall at Cooper Union, New York, NY 3/5/25

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bob Dylan-Masterpieces (1978)

Image
  Artist:  Bob Dylan Title: Masterpieces Label: Columbia Format: 3xCD Catalog Number: 462448 9 Year of Release: 1978 Country and Year  of Edition: Australia 1991 (sticker has 30 year anniversary) Sell Price: $26.69 Sell Date: 4/19/26 Condition: VG+/VG+  Discogs Last Sold: 2/27/26 NM/NM $16.22 Low: $7.19 Median: $20.00 Average: $26.50 High: $64.59 Current  low price:  $7.17 Current Number on  Sale at Discogs: 29 Have/Want: 539/41 Where Sold: Middlebury, VT Time It Took  To Sell:  2 years  Where and When  Bought: Facebook marketplace lot Gwiz-gau Grade:  A Sad To See  It Go: No Of the many Bob Dylan compilations, I never had Masterpieces until fairly recently in a lot purchase.  It was always in the store bin at a triple CD import price when my fingers would flip over it in the early 90's Dylan section.  In that time period it meant over $50 easy whether it was from Australia, New Zealand or Japan where is was...
Read more

Blur-13 (1999)

Image
  Artist: Blur Title: 13 Label: Food/Virgin Format: CD Cat #: 7243 4 99129 2 2 Year of Release: 1999 Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1999 Listed Condition: VG+/VG+  Sell Date: 3/9/25 Sell Price: $2.84 Discogs Last Sold: 2/19/25 NM/NM $5.50 Low: $0.49 Median: $3.12 Average: $3.61 High: $8.68 Current low price: $2.83 Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 34 Have/Want: 1960/168 Where Sold: Columbia, SC Time it took to sell: 14 years Where and When Bought: internet mail order circa time of release used guessing CD Warehouse Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+ Sad To See It Go: No Another "critics" record I bought at the end of the year in 1999 that I maybe listened to once, dropped it into the CD carousel and let it pop up on random shuffle for most of 2000.  This 13 track album called 13 is the 6th full length Blur album and I would say the second one I bought after their eponymously titled 5th album. I'm going to say this one is quality start to finish.  My favorite cut is th...
Read more

Big Black-The Incredibly Corporate Whorish Big Black Interview Album (1987)

Image
  Artist: Big Black Title: The Incredibly Corporate Whorish Big Black Interview Album Side One     Side Two Label: Touch 'n' Go Format: LP Cat #:  TG-LP-INT-1 Year of Release: 1987 Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1987 Promo only Listed Condition: VG+/VG Sell Date: 7/18/25 Sell Price: $15.57 Discogs Last Sold: 5/17/25 NM/NM $23.26   Low: $14.95 NM/NM 1/14/20 Median: $25.00 Average: $26.78 High: $40.00 NM/NM like new Current low price: $17.44 VG+/VG Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 5 Have/Want: 128/147 Where: Chicago, IL Time it took to sell: 10 years Where and When Bought: promo Gwiz-gau Letter Grade:  A- Sad To See It Go: No One of those collection crown jewels that somehow dropped to 15 bucks over the years.  I'm sure I opened up at 40 many years ago, but a dreaded 2" seam split in my notes made other people that actually wanted the record opt for "NM/NM" copies in the 25-40 range. This was a promo that came before the "He's A Whore" si...
Read more