''Burning Farm'' is the first album by

Shonen Knife Shonen Knife is a Japanese pop-punk band formed in Osaka in 1981. Influenced by 1960s girl groups, pop bands, the Beach Boys, and early punk rock bands such as the Ramones, the band crafts stripped-down songs with simple yet unconventional lyr ...

. It is almost entirely in Japanese, with only "Twist Barbie" on the original release in English. The Japanese 8" vinyl (Zero Records 0-0783) had eight songs. The CD re-issue bonus tracks "Parrot Polynesia", "Watchin' Girl" and "Banana Fish" first appeared on the Zero Records compilation LP ''Aura Music'' in November 1983. The other CD bonus songs are either "Watchin' Girl" and "Twist Barbie" live (

Oglio Records Oglio Records is an American record company started in 1993 by Carl Caprioglio. The label issues compilations of rare 1980s modern rock and new wave songs, many previously unreleased on CD. In addition to releasing new material by artists such ...

), or "Ukkari Hachibei" and a cover of The Ramones' " I Wanna Be Sedated" (

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wi ...

, Japan). The album's cover was painted by

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

ist

Michie Nakatani (born October 8, 1961) is a Japanese retired musician, best known as one of the founding members of the Japanese pop-punk band Shonen Knife. Biography Nakatani was born in Osaka, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Ni ...

. There are at least two pressings of the 8 inch record, with different labels and back covers. One back is black with a live photo, the other is yellow with a posed group photo. Both pressings misspell the third track as "Twist Birbie".

K Records K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent mus ...

released, in small quantities, ''Burning Farm'' on audiocassette in the United States with a different cover and track listing. In 1993, Kurt Cobain listed it in his top fifty albums of all time.

Track listing

All songs written by Naoko Yamano, except where noted. #"Miracles" (Michie Nakatani) - 2:16 #"Parallel Woman" - 2:58 #"Twist Barbie" - 2:34 #"Elephant Pao Pao" - 2:15 #"Tortoise Brand Pot Cleaner" - 0:52 #"Animal Song" (Nakatani) - 2:09 #"A Day At The Factory" - 3:41 #"Burning Farm" - 4:30 K Records cassette version: #"Watchin' Girl" (Nakatani) - 1:58 #"Miracles" - 2:16 #"Parallel Woman" - 2:58 #"Twist Birbie" ''( sic)'' - 2:34 #"A Day At The Factory" - 3:41 #"Tortoise Brand Pot Cleaner's Theme" - 0:52 #"Animal Song" - 2:09 #"Banana Fish" (Nakatani) - 2:04 #"Elephant Pao Pao" - 2:15 #"Parrot Polynesia" - 3:07 #"Burning Farm" - 4:30

Personnel

Naoko Yamano is a Japanese musician, best known as a founding member, singer/guitarist, and primary songwriter for the pop-punk band Shonen Knife. She is the only member of the band to have remained throughout its entire history. After briefly working as a ...

- guitar, vocals *

- bass, keyboards, vocals *

Atsuko Yamano (born February 22, 1964) is a Japanese musician, best known as a member of the pop-punk band Shonen Knife. She formed the band in 1981 at age 17, along with her sister Naoko Yamano and Michie Nakatani. In the first incarnation of the band she pl ...

- drums, backing vocals *Kaoru Okuda, Hiroaki Fukumaru, Kazujisa Fukumaru - percussion on "Burning Farm" *Shin Hirakawa - percussion on "Parrott Polynesia"

References

Shonen Knife albums 1983 albums {{1980s-punk-album-stub