They have NICK CAVE polls now? I want one!: The ILM Nick Cave Poll Voting Thread (#106 in a series)

If sleeve ever covers "Moon Song," he's swapping out the Clapton lyrics with Cave references.

I'm glad I have no idea what that means

I admire Boatman more than I love it. Some great tracks, but it doesn't really sustain itself from end to end.

it does have "lime tree arbour," which is one of his very best ballads

Brompton Oratory one of my alltime favorites -i love Boatman’s Call so much

and There is A Kingdom is great too!

I love "Brompton Oratory," that's going on my ballot. I think it's great in small doses, but it feels a bit lacking when I listen to all 52+ minutes of it. The music is fairly minimal, which actually puts more burden on basic stuff like the tunes, the lyrics, etc. and it's tough building a whole album around that, so my hat's off to him for trying.

um that record easily has three of my top ten on it, none of which have been mentioned. and generally I prefer rocking Seeds! but those songs are undeniable IMO.

as a whole-record listen, yes is is a sloggy overlong breakup album, but the highs are so high for me (personal associations noted)

The beginning 6 song run on Boatman’s Call is so good. “Lime Tree Arbour” will definitely make the shortlist.

i always think of Boatman as a collection of secular hymns
i dont know if its exactly what he was going for
def v ...reverential? vibes

also reminds me VERY specifically of that year & the boring suburban house i was renting & listening to the album nonstop staring at my bedroom wall

it's a breakup album for me, hence its power

i found ghosteen to be very dull on first listen until i got to the second disc which has more movement and then the rest of the album completely opened up to me and now it's solidly my second favourite album he's ever done, only just behind abbatoir blues/lyre of orpheus

boatman's call has never quite clicked with me though, it's got some very good moments but as a whole it's a bit much. not bad but not yet a favourite either

also reminds me VERY specifically of that year & the boring suburban house i was renting & listening to the album nonstop staring at my bedroom wall

LMAO, I can see it being especially good on a loop under those circumstances.

it's a breakup album for me, hence its power

Weird seeing that after you put down his mournful albums for being soporofic, but regardless, I will agree it's moving for that reason

breakup != death of child

the first happened to me, the second happened to Cave, to be clear

the reason I like Boatman is because it mirrored my life at that time, the songs stay with me. I don't have the same emotional investment in his later work.

Amazing how many great covers he's recorded.

afaict there are twice as many compilation albums of "songs that Nick Cave covered (or liked)", as tribute albums covering his own songs

(one album commissioning covers, two recordings of tribute concerts.)

covers should be a side poll

I was thinking about making a list and suggesting that

I would appreciate it, he has so many good originals that I have no room for the covers

some covers he does are so good that he completely makes them own. "wanted man" is his "all along the watchtower".

Love his cover of Disco 2000.

(Forgot he did two! The slow one obviously.)

One my fave covers, Nick & Warren going all Grinderman on the Gatlin Bros for True Detective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttPMvXBOAaI

having a separate covers poll would be great!

ok The Abbatoir Blues Tour is their best live album for sure, it's touring their best album, not as muddy as live seeds, the band is in top form (that version of "red right hand"!), and there's great backing vocals!

Would be totally up for a cover's side poll. His delivery of "Long Time Man" was the first time I got anything but macho posturing out of a kill-my-woman song. I felt the lack of control the character had over his emotions, the heartfelt regret, the acceptance of personal evil.

Now that I think about it, when the song clicked for me, Cave created same chill I felt during a "scared straight" session in high school where they brought in some inmates to talk about their experience, and after an hour of hearing these well-spoken if haggard men talk about life inside, they revealed their crimes. One of them had killed his wife and kid during a freebasing binge.

"Mutiny in Heaven" created a similar chill on first listen. I've gotten it from Jubilee Street. At his best, he transcends theatrics.

Man, I just had a magical memory moment. I put on "Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus," which the streaming service began with "Abattoir Blues." First, I have no idea why but I always listened to "Lyre of Orpheus" first; maybe based on where the CD was slipped in the sleeve? Second, because the service played that album second I had moved on to washing the dishes, but then I heard the flute that starts "Breathless" and I suddenly remembered I put it on a mix of really pretty songs for my wife to listen to when she was pregnant and ready to give birth to my first daughter (who is now 16). I hadn't heard the song in years. Very special.

An additional point about Mick Harvey's essential role: that he would unfussily take whatever position in the band was vacant at the time. Tracy's in jail? Okay, Mick will do bass and we'll have one guitar. Everyone hates the drummer enough that he's staying in Australia this time? Mick will be the drummer for, oh, three years. Barry Adamson has got a solo deal? Mick can be the bassist for five years. The Triffids have split up so Martyn Casey is available? Back to guitar and organ and writing string arrangements for Mick.

Yeah, Harvey's ever shifting roles are fascinating. Were he more than a competent vocal presence I think his solo albums would be pretty impressive.

oof i may be too close to the deadline to relisten to the catalog or deliver a ballot but i'm very happy to read all of these positive posts about abattoir blues/lyre of orpheus in a row, that record was huge for me in my senior year of high school/freshman year of college

that same year of college i got heavy into no more shall we part and i still love every song on that record even tho it could and should be shorter yes

the results will be interesting as it seems like there are quite a number of millennial ilxors voting in this ... I also realized that I don't have Tender Prey on my iPod, which might actually be my favorite? (see also: records that were huge for me in high school).

still wondering if we can do a covers side poll

yeah somehow i have every album but The Good Son i had it on cassette & wore it out, no idea why i never got it on cd wtf

(xpost)

I give us permission to do the covers side poll

not 100% sure how a covers side poll would work, given you can obviously choose covers for the Bad Seeds & non-Bad Seeds polls (which will ideally give us an understanding of how we rank/ interpret them)?

happy to accept separate lists of covers if we want to go down that path though.

there's just so many good originals! thank you for accepting my list

yah the covers poll idea is to free up lists (and listening) for all originals this time. I'm happy to run one separately after this is over, if that's simpler?

yeah, let's have this main poll be originals only, and then do a separate covers poll - and I nominate sic to run it!

only problem there (which may not be a problem) is that there are already a couple of covers (not many) that have crept into ballots for the main polls so far. i guess we're ok for me to take those out?

I would suggest that those voters be allowed to revise their ballots and replace the covers with other songs

good call -- I'll put the word out.

there are several edge cases of course - Henry Lee and Stagger Lee are probably valid for either poll

btw Cave has managed to release another new album since I posted that list eight days ago

(an opera written during lockdown: a libretto of 12 litanies for composer Nicholas Lens)

i think it's fine to include covers in the main poll anyway, just that there's enough to highlight them separately too since. if any are able to place in the main poll, let them

agree, would prefer to also include covers in my main poll.

ok sweet! to avoid ongoing confusion, we'll include covers in the main polls. I don't think this will really take anything away from a dedicated covers poll once we're done.

yup. i'd love to vote in a dedicated covers poll later.