Description

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).
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.