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retaliate first

  • retaliate firstRetaliate First: How one band smashed the rules of Australian rock and roll
    By Murray Engleheart
    (Allen and Unwin)

    What becomes a legend most
    When the musicians have come and then leave her
    What becomes a legend most
    Besides being a legendary star
    What Becomes A Legend Most” - Lou Reed (1984)

    It’s finally here and it’s great. For the first time, the Radio Birdman story has been thoroughly told from start to dotage (if not the end) in print, and with a sense of perspective that puts contestable versions of the story in plain view.

    For the first time?  What about Vivien Johnston’s 1990 “Radio Birdman”? For many years it was the best (only) reference point. As invaluable as it was, it was ultimately a biography shoehorned into a university thesis, and the tenuous link it tried to make between the band and Australian indigenous culture was odd. 

    And there's “Radio Birdman: The Illustrated History” from George Munoz,  an amazing visual record of the first life of the band but doesn’t try to be commentary. 

    Murray Engleheart’s“Retaliate First” is an effort to re-tell the story as it should be told and it’s an invaluable companion to Jonathan Sequeira’s brutally honest “Descent Into The Maelstrom” documentary.