Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Showing posts with label Bad Seeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bad Seeds. Show all posts
Friday, August 30, 2024
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – B-Sides and Rarities Part II – Album Review
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Monday, April 14, 2014
Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Lyre of Orpheus
In 2004 The Lyre of Orpheus was released as a double album with its hairier companion Abattoir Blues. It opens with the funereal stomp of the title track, with Nick Cave singing the most visceral lyrics ("Eurydice's eyes popped from their sockets and her tongue burst through her throat"). It's a highlight of the set.
After that we get softer tracks like the almost David Gray strum of Breathless and the twinkling piano of Babe, You Turn Me On. Better are the yearning Easy Money, and the solid Spell. The skittering Supernaturally doesn't really work, and towards the end the choir prevalent on Abattoir Blues returns for Carry Me and O Children. It's all very... tasteful and the songs are all of decent quality but it's not hugely... exciting I'm afraid.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released a double album in 2004, which in fact had two separate titles for each one. The so-called 'harder' album could be deduced from its title - Abattoir Blues. In reality, it's not a balls-out rave-up by any means. There are two Cave-patented rabble-rousers on the album, Get Ready For Love and There She Goes, My Beautiful World but I have little to say about these type of songs. They seem as strong as any previous efforts in this vein but they do very little for me.
So what of the rest of the album? Far from savage, abattoir evoking stompers, Cannibal's Hymn is a kind of loping, creeping grind that gradually gets heavier, while the likes Messiah Ward, Let The Bells Ring and the title track are taut, slinky numbers. Hiding All Away is an almost gospel call-and-response track with some very fruity lyrics ("He opened his oven wide, he basted you with butter babe and made you crawl inside"), before Cave roars "there is a war coming". The melody of Nature Boy is highly reminiscent of Cockney Rebel's Come Up And See Me, Make Me Smile, it's hard not to think of this song once you make the connection.
None of it is particularly hard, and none of it is amazing either. I wouldn't put any of this on a collection of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' best, or their worst either.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Nocturama
Nocturama, released in 2003 sees
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds slipping gently into their dotage. For the most part, it’s a collection of
pretty, ballady material. Which is not to
say these songs are bad. It opens with
Wonderful Life where Cave hesitantly broods “it’s a wonderful life... if you
can find it”. Always the caveat. He Wants You, Right Out Of Your Hand and
Still In Love are all very pretty but not hugely... exciting. Bring It On is kind of a poppy, ‘rock’ song,
very straightforward for Cave and co.
The harder, heavier side is restricted to two tracks, Dead Man In My Bed
and the endless, almost fifteen minute Babe, I’m On Fire. Neither is particularly interesting in my
opinion.
Later in the album, Still In Love relies heavily on a fine Warren Ellis violin part, while There Is A Town, has a strong melody and a chorus of backing vocals. It doesn’t sound particularly like a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song, more like a ‘dark’ song by anyone from Depeche Mode to the National but it IS rather enjoyable. But it’s not an album that leaves a lasting impression.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Album Review: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - No More Shall We Part
Cave, Cave fatal Cave. It took Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds four years to follow up The Boatman's Call, an unusually lengthy spell without an album for them. 2001's No More Shall We Part is one of their most ornate albums, and also, at 67 minutes, a long one.
As I Sat Sadly By Her Side sets the tone for the album, Cave warbling in a register that doesn't quite suit him over tinkling piano, guitar and strings. This is followed up by a run of three of the albums stronger tracks. And No More Shall We Part consists mainly of piano and a slightly over-wrought vocal. Yet it's all the better for it, and towards the end, Warren Ellis' understated violin and the McGarrigle sisters join in on backing vocals.
The aforementioned pairing have a rather more prominent role on Hallelujah, the song hinges on a looping Ellis violin part that everything else weaves in and out of. This is followed up by one of the downright loveliest songs in the band's catalogue. Love Letter has a bed of sighing violin and gentle piano, all for Cave to sing of... well, love.
The album couldn't continue like this, and thankfully it doesn't. Well, not really. Many of the songs could soundtrack a sort of Bronté, Yorkshire moors style brand of doomed romance. Sweetheart Come and the dramatic piano ballad The Sorrowful Wife are two of the better offerings here. However the album feels, well, a bit long. By the time we reach Darker With The Day, Cave's lyric about "taking a final walk" feel somehow apt. Though a very pretty album, it's a long way from the teeth-baring of even Let Love In, let alone their earlier work.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Boatman's Call
Nick Cave released a stripped down, practically solo album, The Boatman's Call. Not quite Bad Seed-less, the prominence of Cave's piano relegates them to very much support act status. It opens with Cave crooning "I don't believe in an interventionist God" on piano ballad Into My Arms, a very familiar track followed up by the Doors-lite of Lime Tree Arbour, all doomy bass and creepy organ and piano.
The mood continues on People Ain't No Good, Cave sings ruefully of "to our love send a coffin of wood" over piano and Warren Ellis' deft violin. It's probably Cave's prettiest, most romantic collection of songs. Gorgeous ballads like There Is A Kingdom and Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere are the order of the day. Mick Harvey's achingly soft bed of guitars on (Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For? really convey the longing contained in it.
Just when the album threatens to sink into over-sentimental wallowing, the strum with attitude of West Country Girl shifts the mood to Cave snarling about "her glove of bones at her wrist that I have held in my hand". Later, Harvey's guitar and Ellis' violin combine well on Idiot Prayer. It's all very... tasteful, if à little unvaried. Mostly light, with little shade. But it's an album where any of 12 strong songs could be singled out.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads
1996's Murder Ballads seemed like a logical album for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to end up recording. Many of their previous songs could certainly be described as this. In truth, this album is a bit hit and miss. Song of Joy conjures a suitably macabre atmosphere to open the album, and this continues on the creeping Stagger Lee. Many came to this album via the two duets. PJ Harvey teams up with Cave to great effect on Henry Lee, while Kylie Minogue does equally well on Where The Wild Roses Grow.
Lovely Creature is a little Cave-by-numbers, and O'Malley's Bar is practically interminable at over fourteen minutes. The Kindness of Strangers is tender and sadder, seeming to lay the path for where Cave would go next (The Boatman's Call). Crow Jane has an almost jazz feel, while Bob Dylan's Death Is Not The End provides an appropriate finale. So something of à hit and miss Nick Cave album then.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Album Review: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Let Love In
There is fire and brimstone contained here, Loverman is a full-on, guns blazing rave-up where Cave spells out his plea for L.O.V.E. But there are some great Cave ballads here also, more refined than ever on Nobody's Baby Now, Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore and the title track. Red Right Hand is another key song, creepy organ and pounded bells create a spooky atmosphere on the brightest of days, and there's a clever Neil Young steal in the lyrics ("you'll see him in your nightmares, you'll see him in your dreams" - Barstool Blues).
Jangling Jack is an unhinged pounder with Cave squealing and whooshing, and Thirsty Dog is another in a similar vein. All the songs here are really strong. In case the point was missed, the album finishes with a slowed-down Do You Love Me? (Part 2) arranged for strings. It's a must-own if you like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Top 10 albums of 2013
This list will be more controversial for what I'm leaving out. So no Bowie, National or Queens of the Stone Age:
10 My Bloody Valentine - m b v
Never thought I'd be including Kevin Shields and co in a list like this. This album succeeds by simply doing what MBV are good at. It sounds like it could have come out in 1993 as opposed to 2013, yet it's not dated.
9 Low - The Invisible Way
A remarkably consistent band. This album is more stripped down than of late for them, allowing Sparhawk and Parker's harmonies lots of room to breathe.
8 Bill Callahan - Dream River
Callahan is on fairly opaque form here, and it's an album that I suspect still has to fully reveal itself 3 months on. Still, you can't argue with that voice or his band.
7 Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle - Perils From The Sea
A brave move for Kozelek to leave his voice completely at the mercy of Lavalle's lush, electronic soundbeds. The end result is an undoubted triumph, unlike anything else in his back catalogue.
6 Chequerboard - The Unfolding
A beautiful guitar instrumental album from John Lambert aka Chequerboard.
5 Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
An unexpected return from BoC to produce an addictive soundtrack for dark, uncertain times.
4 Mogwai - Les Revenants
The soundtrack to the TV series of the year, it works beautifully with the programme. But on its own it works really well, pushing Mogwai's music in an understated, keyboard heavy direction.
3 Mark Kozelek & Desertshore
Kozelek returned to a classic guitar, bass, drums combination. There's nothing earth-shattering here, but some of the songs contained are among his strongest in many years.
2 Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood - Black Pudding
Lanegan show his more rootsy side on a collaboration that echoes his early 90s solo material in a really good way.
1 Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
Nick Cave and co have had an extraordinary career, yet this album, 10 months on continues to astound, revealing hidden qualities as it goes. Wonderful stuff.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Album Review: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Henry's Dream
Henry's Dream, released in 1992 sees Nick Cave & Co hone their songwriting into nine finely crafted songs. At times almost too crafted. Some tracks Papa Won't Leave You Henry, I Had A Dream Joe and Brother My Cup Is Empty are almost Cave-by-numbers, caricatures of a Nick Cave fire and brim-stomp. Better are the sparser, more stripped down slower tracks. Straight To You feels almost redemptive, while Christina The Astonishing is an exquisite lament.
When I First Came To Town has an epic feel to it, with Thomas Wydler's military style drums accompanied by cello and violins, and works very well, as does the brooding death march Loom of the Land. The album finishes off with Jack the Ripper, a call and response Cave song which works fine, but doesn't succeed as well as the slower material, leaving this a less than essential Nick Cave album.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Album Review: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
After the intense Tender Prey, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds returned in 1990 with The Good Son. It initially feels a little disappointing after the heights of its predecessor. Cave is very much in balladeer mode here on tracks like Foi Na Cruz and The Ship Song. The title track morphs from chain-gang chant, through Cave rant to become a sort of torch song. It sounds all over the shop.
They turn in some really dramatic goth-ballads, like Sorrow's Child and The Weeping Song. The Hammer Song dials up the intensity with vibraphone and crashing percussion, while Lament is almost the quintessential Cave ballad with its sweeping faux-strings. They have time to fit in the glam-stomp of The Witness Song before returning to crooning on Lucy.
It's probably the first Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album in their back catalogue that you could play to your parents/grandparents/whoever but after the thrills of Tender Prey, this one suffers by comparison. Better to take this one on its own merits and let it wash over you.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Album Review: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Tender Prey
Watching Alice is the type of pretty piano ballad Cave does so well, and he plays a fine harmonica midway through. Mercy is a sort of melodramatic ballad where the band's vocals play fast and loose with actually staying in tune. Cave breaks out his harmonica again on the Doors-meets-Joy Division of City of Refuge. Mick Harvey's bassline is practically a Peter Hook homage on the chorus. What follows, torch song Slowly Goes The Night, sees Nick Cave practically crooning his way through a fine melody.
The melodies throughout the album are really strong, from the strutting Sunday's Slave to the almost jaunty singalong of New Morning, making this an essential Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Your Funeral... My Trial
The rest of album is more standard issue Cave and the Bad Seeds; the death march of The Carny, the zaniness of Hard On For Love and the epic finale of Tim Rose's Long Time Man. While Jack's Shadow is very much a quintessential Cave track, special mention must go to She Fell Away which takes an early Johnny Cash groove to feature not only xylophone courtesy of Mick Harvey, but also Thomas Wydler on fire extinguisher!
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Kicking Against The Pricks
Nick Cave and
the Bad Seeds released a cover album in 1986, quite early into their
career. The album had the effect of
broadening their range, in terms of the type of material found here, but also
indicating their influences.
Many of the
tracks here fit very neatly into the “Cave moody ballad” box. Tracks such as Muddy Water and the Johnny
Cash song The Singer are full of smouldering attitude. Others, such as Long Black Veil and the
gospel Jesus Met The Woman At The Well have an almost jaunty feel to them.
Elsewhere,
Sleeping Annaleah is like a fairground in a nightmare, Hey Joe features a
ridiculously doomy vocal from Cave and creepy arrangement, while The Velvet
Underground’s All Tomorrow’s Parties is probably the liveliest thing here,
driven by a pounding rhythm section.
Nick Cave also
tries his hand at crooning, with mixed results.
By The Time I Get To Phoenix fares pretty well here, as a fairly
straight version. On the other hand they
really camp it up for Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart, which proves to be a
little beyond Cave’s range. However, his
misshapen, almost cretinous vocal works really well on this version, making it
arguably the best track on an album which, though it doesn’t work at times, at
other times fascinates.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Album Review: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Firstborn Is Dead
Their version of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash's Wanted Man ups the ante considerably, transforming the original with a powerful vocal by Cave as the band display a fine grasp of dynamics, opening with Blixa Bargeld's slide guitar, speeding up gradually as the song progresses. They finish with the intensely moody blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson.
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