# Where should I start with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981 "2005-07-11T13:06:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/1 "2005-07-11T13:06:16Z")
A long time ago I had a cassette copy of _Henry’s Dream_ and I’ve heard most of _Murder Ballads_. I currently don’t own any of it and I want to pick up a couple. Name 3 albums, in order, that I should get. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/2 "2005-07-11T13:08:21Z")
Get the “Best of” collection, listen to it, and see which albums your favorite material came from, then work backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/3 "2005-07-11T13:19:38Z")
1. Best Of - it really is a good collection of his stuff, and good overview of different phases of his Bad Seeds career 2. The Good Son - chock-filled with classics, like “The Ship Song” and “The Weeping Song”, plus my personal favourite Cave track, “Lucy” 3. Abbatoir Blues and The Lyre of Orpheus - his latest, a double album with nary a hint of filler ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/4 "2005-07-11T15:41:23Z")
What **BBVL** said. The import version has an additional live disk, so if you have a choice you might want to grab that. You could also start with the _Live Seeds_ album. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/5 "2005-07-11T15:44:03Z")
> [@Monkey Chews](#): > > 1. Abbatoir Blues and The Lyre of Orpheus - his latest, a double album with nary a hint of filler (Whoops, forgot to include this in my previous post.) His latest is actually _B-Sides and Rarities_, if you want to count rereleased material. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/6 "2005-07-11T15:55:32Z")
God is in the House, live dvd is good as well for getting into the music. The dvd video collection less-so. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/7 "2005-07-11T16:01:30Z")
_Kicking against the Pricks_ is my favorite along with _Henry’s Dream_. It’s a cover album, but he does a great job. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Wazowski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Mike\_Wazowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Wazowski)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/8 "2005-07-11T17:11:30Z")
(Everything IMO, of course) 1. **Tender Prey:** Perfect early Cave. At least just for the amazing _The Mercy Seat_ which was the song that got hooked. 2. \*\*Henry’s Dream: \*\*I think it’s the best middle-period Cave. It’s a close one between this and \*The Good Son \*. 3. \*\*No More Shall We Part: \*\* Amazing album, much better than Boatman’s Call, it’s the best example of late period, softer Cave, but still has a huge helping of his trademark darkness which I found sorely lacking in Boatman’s Call. Apart from these _the best of_ is a good start too, but it’s a rather old compilation and also has too many songs from Murder Ballads. \* Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus\* is fantastic too, that should be the fourth album you buy. My first post here after lurking for ages, just couldn’t resist a thread on Mr.Cave. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/9 "2005-07-11T19:34:40Z")
“Let Love In” is one of my absolute favorites. Lots of extremely hooky, dark songs. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Wazowski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Mike\_Wazowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Wazowski)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/10 "2005-07-12T05:44:00Z")
Oh hell, I forgot _Let Love In_. Love that album too. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/11 "2005-07-12T06:28:28Z")
_The Best of…_ misses few key early songs and avoids you buying some of the more uneven early albums. Since its release I would choose _No More Shall We Part_ and _Abattoir Blues…_ and in fact that is the extent of my Nick Cave collection. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/12 "2005-07-12T10:18:08Z")
I’d go for “Best of” or “Live Seeds”. I prefer the latter myself, he’s sort of more unhinged. It includes great versions of The Ship Song and The Weeping song. Let Love In. A great album all songs at least decent and several classics, e.g. Red Right Hand, Do You Love Me. As for the third, might as well be Lyre/Abattoir. His albums can be patchy, especially the early ones. And don’t feel the need to investigate the Birthday Party. That put me off Nick for far too long. I had to be _forced_ to listen to Bad Seeds (and that’s all it took). You’ve probably heard more Nick Cave stuff than you realise. It’s always popping up as background music in films, tv and radio. ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2005, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/13 "2005-07-12T11:44:35Z")
I’d absolutely second the suggestion of “Tender Prey”, and you should own “The Good Son”, which might be my favourite CD of all time. I love early Bad Seeds, so you might want to consider either “The Firstborn is Dead” or “Your Funeral, My Trial”, which includes the wonderful “The Carny”. And then of course, “Kicking Against the Pricks” has a killer version of “The Carnival is Over” Seekers, eat your hearts out. "Murder Ballads’ is great fun, if for nothing else but the “The Curse of Milhaven” which always makes me laugh. But then there is “Henry’s Dream” with “Straight to You”, which is so lovely. And of course, if you really want to get a handle on the Bad Seeds you need to start at least with The Birthday Party’s “Prayers on Fire”. But my suggestions if I can’t choose all of them, are: The Firstborn is Dead Tender Prey The Good Son (if you buy nothing else, buy this) and (I know this is four) The Boatman’s Call. I think that sort of gives a flavour of the Bad Seeds at different stages. ---
**Author:** ![Fredescu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/73ab20/32.png) [@Fredescu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fredescu)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-should-i-start-with-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/311981/14 "2005-07-13T00:29:34Z")
1. Live Seeds 2. Let Love In 3. Henry’s Dream Doesn’t really cover the post Murder Ballads era, but I think those three are Cave at his best. Don’t forget to come back and tell us what you got and what you thought of it 🙂