Radio Birdman

There are few things in life that get better after 20 years on the shelf, and Radio Birdman is one of them. In the mid-'70s, the Aussie proto-punks pretty much instigated what became a fertile hard rock scene Down Under with a pair of hard-charging albums, then broke up in '78. A resurgence of interest brought Birdman back together with a new rhythm section in the late '90s, and their return record, 2006's Zero Beach, picks up right where they left off -- melodic, aggressive, vital and loud.