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There was a time when the Roman neighborhood of San Lorenzo was a genuine gravitational center for me.
I was attending university a few kilometers away, and at the first free moment, I'd rush over to the Radio Onda Rossa studios and the Disfunzioni Musicali venues, historic radio station and record store of the Capital, in search of positive vibes.
On one of these occasions, a lifetime ago, I found myself holding the vinyl piece that today is my favorite, perhaps even more so than the Clash's debut, the first one I bought once I gained full use of my intellect.
Yes, indeed, it's the EP «Burn My Eye» which in 1976 brought Radio Birdman to prominence.
I had only discovered them a few years earlier thanks to Radio Rock, another trendy voice of the Roman ether that, for some strange reason, started repeatedly broadcasting «Aloha Steve And Danno». Completely mesmerized, it didn't take long to acquire «Radios Appear» and «Living Eyes» and then everything else Younger, Tek, and company would create after the Birdman disbanded (New Race, New Christs, Hitmen ...).
All splendid, truly, but the beauty of the tracks included in the EP is even greater. Three of these were later included in «Living Eyes», yet there is no comparison with the experience of listening to «Burn My Eye»: just go to the two versions of the eponymous track to realize this (significantly, in «Living Eyes» the track is retitled «Burn My Eye ‘78»).
It might be the excitement of the first time, it might be that during that first visit to the Trafalgar Studios the Birdman played all their cards to avoid fading like a shooting star ... it might be all this, but the fact is that if you listen to «Radios Appear» or «Living Eyes», you realize you are in the presence of History, yet, if you listen to «Burn My Eye», you are witnessing History being born, and your legs give out thinking of what it could become.
It's a bit like when you see your little monsters being born; you don't experience that emotion again once they become adults, when they graduate, when they start working and get married ... It's the exact same thing, the emotion «Burn My Eye» gives you isn’t given by either «Radios Appear» or «Living Eyes»; they offer different ones, but not the original.
And in those moments, words fail you, even if you'd like to open your mouth to a flood of words, and that's why, dear DeBaserians, at this point, I only leave you in the presence of History, at its dawn ...
... also because I believe nothing else is needed to narrate the legend of Radio Birdman.
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