A Box of Birds

A Box of Birds is the twelfth album by the Australian psychedelic rock band The Church, released in September 1999.[1] It consists of cover versions of tracks by artists who were influential on the group's music.

A Box of Birds
Studio album by The Church
Released	21 September 1999
Recorded	1999
Genre	Alternative rock, neo-psychedelia, psychedelic rock, dream pop
Label	Festival, Cooking Vinyl, Thirsty Ear
Producer	Dave Trump, Tim Powles
The Church chronology
Hologram of Baal (1998) A Box of Birds (1999) After Everything Now This (2002)

The album was released after the band's decision to abandon an already-complete live album[2] and was recorded and mixed in 10 days.[3] Guitarist Marty Willson-Piper said the band had played several covers in its gigs over the years, including "The Porpoise Song", "It's All Too Much" and "Cortez the Killer" – "and we thought, why not put them on a record. So we came along with our own ideas. Tim wanted to do an Iggy Pop number, Peter wanted "Cortez", Steve wanted Kevin Ayers and I wanted to do Alex Harvey. We had to pick 10 after an initial list of about 40."[4]

Kevin Ayers' song "Decadence" has been described as 'a withering portrait of Nico.'

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original Artist	Length
1.	"The Faith Healer"	Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna	The Sensational Alex Harvey Band	7:35
2.	"It's All Too Much"	George Harrison	The Beatles	6:10
3.	"Hiroshima Mon Amour"	John Foxx, Billy Currie, Warren Cann	Ultravox!	4:27
4.	"The Porpoise Song"	Gerry Goffin, Carole King	The Monkees	4:28
5.	"Decadence"	Kevin Ayers	Kevin Ayers	9:14
6.	"The Endless Sea"	Jim Osterberg Jr.	Iggy Pop	4:33
7.	"Friction"	Tom Verlaine	Television	5:11
8.	"All the Young Dudes"	David Bowie	Mott the Hoople	4:10
9.	"Silver Machine"	Dave Brock, Robert Calvert	Hawkwind	4:57
10.	"Cortez the Killer"	Neil Young	Neil Young with Crazy Horse	11:08

Personnel

• Steve Kilbey – lead vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, guitar
• Peter Koppes – guitars, keyboards, bass guitar, backing vocals
• Tim Powles – drums, percussion, backing vocals
• Marty Willson-Piper – guitars, bass guitar, backing vocals

References

1. Holmgren, Magnus. "The Church". passagen.se. Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
2. Scatena, Dino (7 October 1999). "Box of Birds review". Daily Telegraph. Sydney. pp. T21.
3. Scatena, Dino (16 March 2000). "The Church resurrection". Daily Telegraph. Sydney. pp. T21.
4. Buivids, Amanda (5 March 2000). "One out of the box for Church". Sunday Herald Sun. Melbourne. p. 98.
5. A Box of Birds at AllMusic