From his newest CD Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus:
Nature Boy
I was just a boy when I sat down
To watch the news on TV
I saw some ordinary slaughter
I saw some routine atrocity
Now that’s how to start a love song. Later he meets his gal (at the flower show):
*You said, hey, nature boy are you looking at me
With some unrighteous intention?
My knees went weak,
I couldn’t speak, I was having thoughts
That were not in my best interests to mention.
And she moves among the flowers
And she floats upon the smoke
She moves among the shadows
She moves me with just one little look*
Really lovely song but really what goes on in your head:
The Firstborn is Dead
Your Funeral… My Trial
Tender Prey
Murder Ballads
I love Nick Cave, but my perception of him is that only “music people” know who he is, kind of like Tom Waits. He is ignored by radio, and fans have to know him or seek him out–everyone else is clueless. Is he more of a star or celebrity in his native Australia, or does his music receive any mainstream airplay?
No he doesn’t have hits in Australia but he is well known. However we have a national radio station that is government sponsored - JJJ, triple J or “the Js”, it has no advertising and they play whatever they like. They broadcast all over the country and can be heard anywhere even out in the bush. Currently the albums they are featuring are:
Pinback - ‘Summer In Abaddon’
Kaada/Patton - ‘Romances’
2UP - ‘Player’s Club’
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - ‘Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus’
Blues Explosion - ‘Damage’
Dresden Dolls - ‘Dresden Dolls’
Urthboy - ‘Random Sense Of Menace’
The Dears - ‘No Cities Left’
Bang Gang - ‘Something Wrong’
Aberfeldy - ‘Young Forever’
I don’t think he’s really lived in Australia for years - I thought he flitted between Germany and the UK.
He’s huge in certain circles, but otherwise not so well known.
But…I think a lot of people know “Red Right Hand” and don’t neccesarily know the artist, as it seems to crop up on a lot of soundtracks.
I think he’s fairly well known in the UK, if only for doing the duet with Kylie Minogue a few years ago. I know he’s basically unheard of in the States, aside from the music people Lou states. Man’s one of the finest lyricists of our time IMO. Theres a great sense of humour in what would appear deadly serious music there too, plus the Bad Seeds are some of the most talented multi instrumentalists musicians around.
Saw him live last November. It was fucking brilliant.
My favorite is Deanna, which is truly a twisted love song. It is about him and Deanna, who go on a murder spree and are in love. I just love the lines:
You can totally hear this psychotic killer just manic about murder and just talking about it with his lover like a bizarre sexual fetish.
He often manages to twist the strangest things into his prettiest love songs. Like when he sings “Come loose your dogs upon me” in The Ship Song. When he tries to be dark (“The Mercy Seat”, “Curse of Millhaven”, “Papa Won’t Leave You Henry”) it is just a thing of majesty.
Oh I just wanted to add that I got into him through Israeli relatives. He seems to have quite a following over there. But I have turned a number of people onto him (I’m in the US). He doesn’t get much acclaim, but he is one of those people that a lot of music people know. I think the comparison with Tom Waits is a good one: lyrically driven, often dark music.
I’ve seen him once, in 1994, when he was one of the main acts on the Lollapalooza tour along with people like Green Day, A Tribe Called Quest, The Breeders, Smashing Pumpkins, the Beastie Boys, and the P-Funk Allstars (Stereolab, the Boo Radleys, Shonen Knife, and a few others were on the second stage when I saw it). He definitely has a following and will definitely fill up shows.
I might just add that you don’t sell out 3 nights at the Brixton Academy by being an unknown also.
Plus anyone who can write a 40 verse, 15 minute long song like ‘Babe, i’m on fire’ kicks arse in my book.
The videos DVD is also highly recommended.
Have Nick Cave and Tom Waits ever collaborated? Does anyone know if they even know each other, or are friends or fans of each other’s work? It seems like they have a lot in common, lyrically and musically, and it might be an amazing thing if they ever combined efforts.
My Ecclectic sampling and packrat habits left me with a bootleg copy of ‘Tender Prey’ that I’d play from time to time. When I heard that Johnny Cash had covered ‘Mercy Seat’, my jaw dropped. When I actually heard it, I was amazed at how much justice he did it. Plus it was the first time I actually understood all the lyrics. Nick can Mumble, at times.
As sick tribute to the wide range of my musical collection, the other side of that particular TDK90 is Soft Cell’s Non Stop Erotic Caberet
Fourthed. Nick Cave is one of the few musicians who sings angry and depressing stuff without a heavy metal background (Leonard Cohen is another one). And when he stops singing about death and mutilation for a second and sings about something nice - its devine. Prime example - Into My Arms. I know he has a small but very loyal fan base in Russia, a lot of famous people over there have publicly claimed to be enjoy his work. Now if only we could find out why wikipedia lists him as a goth?
Love Nick Cave. I have been rather remiss and have failed so far to pick up his latest release. All the buzz seems to suggest that it’s one of the best albums going around right now. I think i’ll get online right now and order it.
How many people have it? How do you think it compares to his previous stuff?
That’s one of the things I love about Nick Cave, the sly thread of humour that runs through even the Bad Seed’s most violent work. “Murder Ballads” is both terribly blood thirsty and violent and laugh out loud funny.
And he’s a brilliant lyricist, with a grasp of melody that should make hacks like Andrew Llyod Webber cry themselves to sleep.
If I had to choose only one album to listen to for the rest of my life it would probably be “The Good Son”, but I’ve loved most of the stuff Cave and his band have done since the Boy’s Next Door. “Prayers on Fire” still gives me the chills, and I have a very soft spot for “Tender Prey” and “Kicking Against the Pricks”, which is a collection of covers.
Must just ‘fifth’ the former compliments to The Man. It annoys me, but only slightly, that newcomers to Cave hear him as a misery when he compared to so many over-serious, po-faced pretenders, he’s as witty as they come.
To the Russian (?), he’ll probably be referred to as a goth due to his general darkness plus his 80s outfit the Birthday Party, and involvement with the dodgy German industrialists Einstuerzende Neubauten, who, in my tiny knowledge, are fairly darned creepy, melancholic yet beautiful (at times).
Now can anyone remind me of the serious cosmological poser I was meaning to post?
Well, i can answer my own question now, having taken delivery of Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus yesterday. I’ve listend to it a couple of times now, and it’s well up to his usual standards. Excellent music and brilliant lyrics, as usual, all in a nice understated cloth case.