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]

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