Violent Femmes Why Do Birds Sing? CD

WHY DO BIRDS SING? (1991) features many of the elements that made the first pair of Violent Femmes records so great--and even includes several songs written at the same time as the songs on those albums. "American Music" opens, one of singer/guitarist Gordon Gano's best songs and an ode to, well, American music, it highlights call and response vocals punctuated by clapping. "Out the Window" is a showcase for Gano's archetypal choppy acoustic guitar playing, which in this case is grafted onto a bizarrely cheerful song about suicide.

One of the album's highpoints is "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me," the Femmes radical destruction and re-construction of Culture Club's hit single of the same name. Once again proving that the Femmes are the greatest geek-rock band in the alternative scene, WHY DO BIRDS is easily the band's best album since 1985's HALLOWED GROUND.

Live Recording

Personnel: Gordon Gano (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar); Brian Ritchie (vocals, electric guitar, banjo, bouzouki, ukulele, didjeridu, glockenspiel, acoustic bass, bass guitar, 8-string bass, Jew's harp); Victor de Lorenzo (vocals, drums, snare drum, congas, cymbals, shaker, tabla, tambourine, timpani, tom tom, percussion, bells, sleigh bell); Ilene Novog, Sid Page, Suzie Katayama, Larry Corbett (strings); Michael Beinhorn (piano, harmonium, Mellotron, background vocals); Tom Mandel (keyboards); Alex (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: David Vartanian; Eric "ET" Thorngren.

Recording information: American Recording, Woodland Hills, CA; DV's Perversion Room Mach II, Milwaukee, WI; Hit Factory Studios, New York, NY; Larrabee Sound Studios, Los Angeles, CA; Masterdisk, New York, NY; One On One Studios, North Hollywood, CA; Sunset Sound Studios, Hollywood, CA.

Photographer: Mary Jones.

The Violent Femmes: Brian Ritchie (vocals, guitar, bouzouki, banjo, ukelele, jaw harp, didgeridoo, acoustic & 8-string slide wahwah basses, glockenspiel); Gordon Gano (vocals, guitar); Victor DeLorenzo (drums, percussion, background vocals).

Additional personnel: Ilene Novag, Suzie Katayama, Sid Page, Larry Corbett (strings); Michael Beinhorn (piano, Mellotron, harmonium, keyboards).