The Firebirds were a mystery band of most likely session guys doing a quick one-off session for the ‘60s exploito label Crown. The burgeoning youth culture and album market of the hippy era led to plenty of cash-in records to be sold at Woolworths and supermarket cut-out bins. Most of these exploitation records are cheesy bad (as opposed to cheesy good) and not worth your time. However, Light My Fire was a complete anomaly in a sea of crap. This record is filled with violent, low-rent Hendrix/Blue Cheer power trio broken-amp guitar destruction, non-stop Mitch Mitchell wanna-be drums and a weezy, moody singer on a stoned bummer trip.
This album is a companion piece (and most likely culled from the same recording session) as another Crown LP by the 31 Flavors titled Hair. Both albums have some overlap in songs. What is so remarkable about the Firebirds is just how raw and gnarly they sound and that it came out in a corny go-go girl cover and was picked up by unsuspecting squares and clueless parents (or whatever). Just imagine whoever getting home with this and playing “No Tomorrows” while trying desperately to get their hip vibe together!
The guitar tone is not far removed from Greg Ginn’s Black Flag flavor of riffs and dissonance. There are two blues tunes (“Bye Baby” and “Warm Up”) , which really benefit from the raging ripped speaker solos going on. The whole thing comes on as a garage band trying to be heavy, or some stoned teens in the basement who’ve had Vincebus Eruptum on the turntable for weeks. The seemingly slap dash nature of the recording and the loose spirit here belie the fact that the guys could really jam together and have some killer songs.
This is the kind of record that a lot of people will never get because it seems so base, rough and cheap in a musical sense, but fuck ‘em. With the right ears, this record will perk you right up. You’ll shake your head in blissful confusion and mutter, “this is the sound, man.”
— Nick Myers
Retrieved from
https://ohwowee.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/the-firebirds-light-my-fire/
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