Nick Cave : Classic or Dud ?

Classic? Beyond classic, fucking godlike more like. Try the _Live Seeds_ album, _Kicking Against the Pricks_ or _Let Love In_.

There's been a real shift in how Cave is perceived. When I first started reading the press he was always treated as this borderline nutter goth smack freak, now he's an Important Figure, and in between there was this oh-it's-another-Nick-Cave-album period, which would always qualify the "He's good" with a big "But". I think that got it right, pretty much.

A handful of stunning tracks though - "Mutiny In Heaven", "Tupelo", "The Mercy Seat", "The Ship Song", "Do You Love Me?", "Stagger Lee". So surely not a dud.

The Good Son proved the leonard cohen territory was his ie a very well structured running sequence, and ambience that almost saves also-rans like "weeping song",
but he dropped the ball on Henry's Deam so badly that i really haven't been able to bother much since

I mean there are a few songs on Let Love In, but for me that's as patchy as the album that preceeded it (Henry)

i believe he can only do so many really good ballads though, and that he's revisited those same ballads so often with the recent albums

i say there're have been so few rock songs that i can count them -- "The good son" & "the hammer came down", "Long time man", "Jangling Jack", "John Finn's wife" -- that's one or at most two good rock songs for each of those albums ! (oh "papa won't save you Henry", "who will be the witness", "jack the ripper", "weeping song" all lousy songs, such rock-by-numbers stuff, will not save him)

go back to your funeral my trial for the whole range, great title track ballad through the true freak-show feel of "The Carny", (better than anything the residents had produced for oh, so-long), and then the great whine-o-drone of "long time man" and the succinct birthday party punch of "scum" -- a classic album, from when Cave had to produce decent stuff to keep his job and maintain and propogate his reputation

"Murder Ballads" a great Aussie cash-in for then career dwindlings of Kylie and Nick (and what an unexpected couple !! proving they're both really show-biz and contenders for legit. rock star -- i thought Cave had some outsider cred -- maybe this was needed to break the concept to new audiences ?? it worked i suppose, but just a big-budget re-rendering of "long time man" idea to me)

ok the birthday party and early bad seed stuff didn't get the easy pay-checks the concept and oomph of their mere presence deserved as real-life art in the public eye, so
good luck to him for those initial flashes of real brilliance

maybe he'd be best served by a "greatest rock songs" and "greatest 'love' songs" double greatest hits, and then save those good songs for singles and forget the nine-yards albums

(ie you should not produce a whole filled out album if you don't have enough good songs)

I've only heard three Cave solo tracks: his cover of Neil Young's "Helpless," which I love, his cover of the Beatles, "Let It Be," which I despise, and that song "I'll Love You Till The End Of The World," which is pretty nice. I'm guessing people would recommend The Good Son as the place to start checking out his solo work? From Her To Eternity?

I trust many of you already know what my full first name is.

Mmm hmm.

So, um, what about my opinion regarding Nick Cave? Well, when you're able to selfishly claim that song for yourself, what other answer can you have but CLASSIC? All those naysayers can just kiss me. And Momus? I happen to like Kylie Minogue, too. She comes from a magical little place with little elfin fairies who spread their pixie dust all across this land. What do you say about Kylie's collaborations with the Manic Street Preachers? MSP also like Kylie.

But back to Nick Cave. Classic. A surprising one, too, considering how little I actually care for country. But I like this brand of graveyard country rock. And damn, I need to play "City of Refuge" now.

What do you think of The Bad Seeds? Surely you must like them... ?

I'm going to listen to my namesake song again.

I may be new and not know shit but I do know I don't like this kid at all.

No, I really like it as well.

whatever

What do you think of The Bad Seeds? Surely you must like them... ?

no

The last record of his I bought was "Murder Ballads" and I didn't really like it much and at the time was getting into some different music. I've been curious about the last three, but not enough to search them out.

Did you check out Aereogramme by the way?

Goodness I'd forgotten about this. I've barely digested Ghosteen. Is it a tough one to get into? I suppose it doesn't matter, I should get it.

It's not tough, mainly just pretty.

it's probably most similar to skeleton tree, but i prefer it to that

he has no fucking clue what his songs are about

what does this even mean

this? https://www.theredhandfiles.com/such-a-beautiful-sad-song-carnage/

oh wait - avoid clicking on that link at all costs!

https://pitchfork.com/news/nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds-announce-b-sides-and-rarities-part-ii-share-song-listen/

oh this seems really interesting - there weren't much in the way of non-album tracks from the last few albums released so there's a ton of completely unreleased outtakes & alternate versions here it seems like

The limited edition 7-LP vinyl box sold out already. Knowing Nick and his one-night-only films and never-to-be-repeated online shows, I'll just get a copy when it gets a general release.

I had the original 3-CD version that went up the 2000s or something, and I sold it cos it was basically a black box with 3 CDs in it. No notes, booklet, nothing. It didn't feel any different from owning a bunch of burnt discs. So anyway, I can't wait to get it back on vinyl plus the new stuff for £140 haha.

opium tea from the first b-sides one is class!!

has anyone been to see cave & ellis on this tour yet? am i to expect a playthrough of carnage, or...? i bought tickets thinking it was the bad seeds!

don't think the tour's started yet. i would be expecting most of the new album + a bunch of bad seeds & maybe grinderman tracks in some sort of relatively stripped down form

they're performing with one extra musician & some backing singers, to give you an idea of how stripped down it'll be compared to the bad seeds

They added a load of extra dates, including Glasgow, but at £90 for any decent seat I'm going to give it a miss.

Nick has more thoughts about woke culture

https://www.nme.com/news/music/nick-cave-says-hes-repelled-woke-cultures-self-righteous-belief-lack-humility-2557386

Ugh.

stfu old man

“Antifa and the Far Right, for example, with their routine street fights, role-playing and dress-ups are participants in a weirdly erotic, violent and mutually self-sustaining marriage, propped up entirely by the blind, inflexible convictions of each other’s belief systems. It is good for nothing, except inflaming their own self-righteousness."

Actually Nick, one side is more propped up by the police. And it's not a marriage, you might be thinking of Batman and the Joker.

oh this is actually the same stupid one I saw before, at least he didn't write a new one

Yeah that's the one from 2019, which doesn't make it good or anything, I was just expecting an even dumber doubling down or something.

^^ same

nick cave and the bad screeds

oh sorry i missed the date :(

no worries, definitely worth another round of mockery

modern classics or dud?

https://i.imgur.com/TVoASfg.jpg

samples are here. I have to say I'm not encouraged

https://www.juno.co.uk/products/nick-cave-sings-the-modern-classics/846639-01/

ok actually the 2nd track sounds kinda good. "disco 2000" sounds dire. "sweetest embrace" sounds like kicking against the pricks style lounge classic, as does "suzanne" though honestly is there really call to cover "suzanne" some more, or "here comes the sun" for that matter

Are these new recordings or is this just a covers comp?

It's a bootleg

sure, but what are the sources here? the instrumentation, based on the samples, sounds largely from a single session

Someone should email that photo to Cave's fan question thingie - he'll probably cringe and make a good joke about it.

All The Pretty Horses sounds ripped straight from the track on the Current 93 album that Cave sang on.

Same with Cave singing Disco 2000 from the Pulp Bad Cover Version EP

so i'm guess it's a comped bootleg of obscure covers

(Not to digress, but has anyone been to the current tour with Warren Ellis?)

sure, but what are the sources here? the instrumentation, based on the samples, sounds largely from a single session

JCLC you might enjoy TOWERS OF SONG: a Nick Cave Sings Covers listening thread and poll

His Disco 2000 is lovely.

I love the Pulp cover as well - and it makes sense when put in context with the Bad Cover Version ep

I don't even have a functioning turntable currently but I had to grab one off Discogs. I'll frame it if nothing else.

(Not to digress, but has anyone been to the current tour with Warren Ellis?)

they added a second show in Oakland and I thought about going, there are still decent seats, but it's pretty pricey (as is every major tour these days). Not sure; I love Cave and at one point wouldn't have thought twice, but his cultural dominance in the past few years has been a little tiring to me. I'm sure it will be great though; I saw him with just Ellis many years ago and it was one of the best shows I'd ever seen up to that point in time.

those are all previously released covers. i can't tell if that collection it's an actual bootleg or they're just trying to make it seem like one as a bit - i guess stores like juno mightn't be stocking it if it was actually unauthorised (?), but there's no mention of it from any official source. looks like it first got released last year, and the label it's on ("b-vis") doesn't seem to meaningfully exist and is alternatively described being from spain or poland.

gotta be one of the best crowd reaction shots ever pic.twitter.com/rXguEzDMMd

— Sam Fishell (@SamFishell) March 9, 2022

stores like j***

Generally don't seem to be sticklers about that kind of thing, let's say.

Awful news, his second son Jethro has passed away. How much tragedy can someone endure.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/nick-caves-son-jethro-has-died-aged-31-3221399

Oh no, that's horrendous. I have a family friend who lost both of their children at similar ages - one early in college, then years later the other at 30 due to COVID. More painful than what I can imagine.

the article says he only learned that Cave was his father at age 8. Not sure how close they were.

(he was, iirc, born a few days after Cave’s first son.)

From the Pitchfork article, sounds like they had grown closer after that:

Lazenby was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1991, but said that he did not meet his father until he was about 7 or 8. Cave said in 2008, “To my eternal regret, I didn’t make much contact with Jethro in the early years, but I now have a great relationship with him.”

How incredibly sad.

Never followed him much, but this one got me, and seems appropriate today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc7mDChiiNU

ugh god that is awful

i don't think that's his second son, it was his first son; the twin of the one who passed away is still alive.

his oldest son Luke is still alive ie “first” son

jethro second

then the twins

Sounds like Jethro and Luke are virtually the same age, both born in April/May 1991. Reports today suggest Jethro was older by 10 days.