Nick Cave : Classic or Dud ?

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when i saw them he was the worst thing about it, he just played on hi treble & tried to hurt people because he was sick cause they couldnt get any gear in christchurch

duane, Monday, 14 July 2003 00:21 (twenty years ago) link

that's what i love about roly poly

electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 14 July 2003 00:21 (twenty years ago) link

fuckin spoiled brat, the correct thing to've done wouldve been to not even show up for the gig & actually put some real effort into trying to cop

duane, Monday, 14 July 2003 00:22 (twenty years ago) link

Uh, duane, the Manics contacted Kylie first, way back in 1991 or somesuch. It wasn't until years later that Kylie wanted to do anything with them. The Manics have gone on the record as being fans of Kylie's music, even the teenypop '80s years.

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

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

Innocent Dreamer (Dee the Lurker), Monday, 14 July 2003 00:24 (twenty years ago) link

RSH lives just round the corner from me. his face seems to have partially melted off

electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 14 July 2003 00:25 (twenty years ago) link

Dud. He lost is instantly when the Birthday Party broke up. ADMIT IT!!! Tracy Pew was always the cool one.

colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Monday, 14 July 2003 02:58 (twenty years ago) link

Dud. He lost it instantly when the Birthday Party broke up. ADMIT IT!!! Tracy Pew was always the cool one.

colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Monday, 14 July 2003 02:58 (twenty years ago) link

ooops, double post, sorry

colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Monday, 14 July 2003 02:59 (twenty years ago) link

I don't think it's at all surprising that he dated Kylie, because in its own dark, reverent way his material is just as generic, conservative, synthetic and lifeless as hers.
-- Momus

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

ben welsh (benwelsh), Monday, 14 July 2003 02:59 (twenty years ago) link

nar Rowly is still a legend!! he did a great gig a few years ago with a version of Lou reed's "Oh Jim" that sent shivers (fnarr) every which way

electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 14 July 2003 03:02 (twenty years ago) link

dude totally lives off the royalties to "Shivers" i'm sure

electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 14 July 2003 03:05 (twenty years ago) link

Yes, sorry Jim, forgot about Rowly. The cover to 'Prayers on Fire'. Two drop dead cool human beings. Melbourne was right about something after all.

colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Monday, 14 July 2003 03:12 (twenty years ago) link

Classic. I love everything from the Birthday Party up through the new solo stuff. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that No More Shall We Part is his best, most consistant record since Prayers on Fire.

Clay, Monday, 14 July 2003 03:44 (twenty years ago) link

Am I the only one who likes Henry's Dream?

s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 14 July 2003 03:47 (twenty years ago) link

Am I the only one who likes Henry's Dream?

No, I really like it as well.

Clay, Monday, 14 July 2003 03:50 (twenty years ago) link

Is that what your album is going to be like then?

s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 14 July 2003 03:52 (twenty years ago) link

I don't follow you. Are you thinking of someone else?

Clay, Monday, 14 July 2003 03:55 (twenty years ago) link

Uh, duane, the Manics contacted Kylie first, way back in 1991 or somesuch.

whatever

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

no

duane, Monday, 14 July 2003 05:13 (twenty years ago) link

i shouldntve posted that it just sounds rude & mean, sorry. but nick cave is 1 of my top unfavourites.

duane, Monday, 14 July 2003 05:17 (twenty years ago) link

One very positive thing about Nick Cave's solo records, even from the start is that they sound quite good. In the past couple of weeks I have been going back and listening to "My Funeral, Your Trial", "The First Born Is Dead", "Tender Prey" and "Kicking Against The Pricks"; listening to these on headphones has really made me further appreciate the arrangements and production.

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.

earlnash, Monday, 14 July 2003 12:56 (twenty years ago) link

The new one is pretty damn good, I think, if a little more mellow than usual.

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 14 July 2003 13:02 (twenty years ago) link

But, it should be said, it's not "Boatman's Call" mellow. It's more, like, AAA mellow. It's nice, though.

Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 14 July 2003 13:07 (twenty years ago) link

my old roommate tim had bad luck with the ladies during the couple years my wife and i shared a big ol house on the hills above ithaca ny. with him. so he spent alot of the time in the bars, where as i was happily ensconced drinking at home and being married. tim and i were both cooks but i mostly did days and he mostly did nights. if you have ever worked nights in a restaurant you know how tought it can be to wind down when you start your work day at like 3 in the afternoon and get done at 11 at night it takes alot of booze. but it was the same for me as well, only, i started at 8am and started drinking after shift at 4 so my sleep cycle was more "normal". anyways, about twice a month he would come home smashed and depressed. the walk to our house was up a huge painfull hill that only got the blood and alchohol flowing thru the sysetem. depressed and womanless he would crank up some nick cave and sit on his bed and stare at the floor and mumble along with the lyrics, blacked out of his mind. it was a barometer for his smashedness, if i heard nick at night then i knew tim would only have vague recolections of the night before. fortunetly tim is the kinda guy that no matter what he does you just cant get mad at him. i donno why. it was a blessing and a curse to have him as a roommate. just like nick cave- a blessing and a curse. ive never bought any of his records
but ive wished i was him now and then. hes crazy!!. i dont know why his pulpy voodoo shtick never worked for me- i mean i love screamin j hawkins, the cramps, misfits, t. waits- all that kitchy shit but nick annoys me. last week my wife and i went up to prospect park here in brooklyn to see a free show under the stars at the bandshell. it was a tribute to lenoard choen with
linda thompson, laurie anderson, marc ribot, nick cave, and loundon wainwright. all the heavy hitters. it was pretty boring,
or maybe i im pretty boring. sonic youth and wilco were better the night before in central park.

kelly denison-cole (dustjacket), Monday, 14 July 2003 19:07 (twenty years ago) link

CLASSIC if just for the *awesome* cover of "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart" on Kicking Against The Pricks. I'll admit I stopped listening after Henry's Dream , but everything up to that was super. Plus, he let me beat him at pool once.

Jay Vee (Manon_70), Monday, 14 July 2003 23:34 (twenty years ago) link

seven months pass...
Stupid (that is the poster's name) had asked for some thoughts on this abortive thread. Well here are some thoughts of mine for you. Offhand I would say either Tender Prey or Let Love In as a starting point.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 21 February 2004 01:27 (twenty years ago) link

Thanks Ned, I'd already checked your reviews on allmusic out (I always do, you're rarely wrong I find: Cranes, The Wedding Present, Disco Inferno... the list of bands you've unwittingly set me up to love is growing every week), I was just looking for a few more opinions. Those two certainly sounded appealing, I guess I'll start with those then. Cheers, once again.

Stupid (Stupid), Saturday, 21 February 2004 01:35 (twenty years ago) link

Yer welcome. Hope you didn't mind the thread lock-and-redirect, but I didn't want to lose Scott's opinions either.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 21 February 2004 01:36 (twenty years ago) link

I pretty much posted that so that someone would show me to the old one I couldn't find, so it's all good.

Did you check out Aereogramme by the way?

Stupid (Stupid), Saturday, 21 February 2004 01:40 (twenty years ago) link

I remember you telling me to do so. Now what I can't recall is if I did.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 21 February 2004 01:43 (twenty years ago) link

Well you should. They're very you, especially their second album "Sleep & Release". Kind of Siamese Dream/Mellon Collie era Smashing Pumpkins/The God Machine sort of thing meets a Red House Painters/Mogwai sort of thing. With pretty vocals.

Stupid (Stupid), Saturday, 21 February 2004 01:52 (twenty years ago) link

CLASSIC. If only for Murder Ballads. Like, I know that every Dungeons and Dragons Ggek shows up for a Nick Cave concert because of this album - because of his weirdly accurate and historically-substantiable references to Victorian history, but I still think the album is amazing. And so, for that matter, is Let Love In. I go for months without listening to the album, but every time I do, I'm like X GFHDS GDJh agjkladasgd; lhjk FUCKING WOW it's good. I was driving my father's Suburu Outback on a mini-300-mile road trip through Vermont while listening to it, and it was nigh-akin to a masturbatory experience.

The Second Drummer Drowned (Atila the Honeybun), Saturday, 21 February 2004 02:01 (twenty years ago) link

I like Mr. Cave.

latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 21 February 2004 02:19 (twenty years ago) link

That meant clssic, by the way.

latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 21 February 2004 02:28 (twenty years ago) link

Terminally tedious zzzzzzz

regards,

REB

Rik E Boy (Rik E Boy), Saturday, 21 February 2004 14:42 (twenty years ago) link

You should be set on fire.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 21 February 2004 21:23 (twenty years ago) link

I will add to my rather dismissive opinion upthread that I was a huge fan of the Birthday Party and saw them several times live. In fact they're the reason I sent a demo to, and signed to, 4AD. So count me a disgruntled former fan of Mr Cave. I tuned out after 'Your Funeral, My Trial'. Because I just don't recognise in his more recent songs any world I know. They sound like songs by someone who loves songs too much. He sounds like Methuselah with a piano.

Momus (Momus), Saturday, 21 February 2004 21:35 (twenty years ago) link

I am taking that second to last sentence and I am going to run with it as a new thread...

Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 21 February 2004 21:42 (twenty years ago) link

If I was on fire Al, at least I would wake up. I think....

regards,

REB

Rik E Boy (Rik E Boy), Sunday, 22 February 2004 10:05 (twenty years ago) link

Ah, but you're not on fire.........yet. And my name's not "Al".

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 22 February 2004 21:01 (twenty years ago) link

"You Can't Call Me All"

willem (willem), Sunday, 22 February 2004 21:35 (twenty years ago) link

Some years ago, a friend of mine and I used to laugh at our inability to find a single record store used bin that didn't have at least one copy of The Good Son in it. Cave is ridiculous, and more annoying because he wasted time that Blixa Bargeld could have spent making more Neubauten records.

Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 22 February 2004 21:43 (twenty years ago) link

I was scrolling/parsing too quickly and my mind got the impression that some typed: "Cave joins Clan of Xymox--it's great."

Ian Grey (Ian_G), Monday, 23 February 2004 06:24 (twenty years ago) link

Totally fucking classic

The BDay Party were fucking wicked and badass and awesome.
Solo Nick Cave is hit and miss with some really awesome moments and some really low, bad moments.

But if it isn't totally awesome, then its atleast usually pretty funny.

sunjammerr, Monday, 23 February 2004 06:31 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...
I'm listening to Your Funeral...My Trial, and it just struck me that this may be his best album. I've listened to it many times before, but for some reason it burrowed its way to the center of my brain on this particular listening. I'd always favored Henry's Dream...but this has much more blues, some of his best writing, and his voice is right at that mid point between the early shriek and the later baritone. Scum is such a great song...and The Carny is one of my all-time favorites of his.

I've also been listening to B-Sides & Rarities on my ipod, and that 3rd disc just keeps blowing my mind. Some of that stuff is jaw-droppingly good.

Just felt like gushing... that's all.. :)

VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 7 May 2005 05:21 (eighteen years ago) link

Hurrah! :-)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 7 May 2005 05:26 (eighteen years ago) link

I was so disappointed to find both his Melbourne shows are sold out.

Seuss, Saturday, 7 May 2005 05:26 (eighteen years ago) link

You're disappointed? I made the mistake of immigrating to the US at about the same time Nick decided he didn't want to play in Yankeeland anymore.
So god knows when I'll see him again.

I would love to see the Lyre Of Orpheus/Abbattoir Blues tour, that gospel choir he's got going would kill live. Imagine 'There She Goes, My Beautiful World' live. I'm also interested in their dynamic now that Blixa has gone. I wonder who'll do Kylie's part now on the live performances of "Where The Wild Roses Grow". Blixa had such a lovely falsetto. Maybe Mick will pitch in...

VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 7 May 2005 05:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh no, when did that happen? I heard that after Lollapalooza but it didn't last of course. "Jack's Shadow" might be my favorite of his songs, I think I'll go put on Your Funeral, My Trial now, in fact.

Is it just me or does Cave have a lot better sense of humor than he's usually given credit for?

daria g (daria g), Saturday, 7 May 2005 05:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Nick has always had a great sense of humor. Mick & Blixa too. It just gets overlooked because everyone expects him to be completely morbid because of the song content.

Apparently his publicist announced that he's doing no tours for 2004/2005, and in 2003 he said he wasn't touring a country that had declared war on Afghanistan, so god only knows what 2006 holds.

VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 7 May 2005 06:01 (eighteen years ago) link

"Jack's Shadow" is great. I'm listening to Firstborn Is Dead now, and damn if Tupelo doesn't send me into paroxysms of joy.

VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 7 May 2005 06:06 (eighteen years ago) link

Haven't liked much since Dig, Lazarus, Dig, and this is ok but I still think I'm done.

But curious about how his brand diversification is coming along and fucking hell his t-shirts are £50?

woof, Wednesday, 6 March 2024 18:22 (one month ago) link

I'm obviously out of the loop but when did they part ways with Mute?

completely suited to the horny decadence (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 6 March 2024 21:27 (one month ago) link

I think Dig, Lazarus, Dig was the last album on Mute.

Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 6 March 2024 21:34 (one month ago) link

This is good but it reminds me a bit of Tenacious D.

President Keyes, Wednesday, 6 March 2024 21:44 (one month ago) link

This is their label now! You can download their accounts and everything. Probably linked to a distribution deal with a major, is that how these things work nowadays?

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08097565

help me I am in hull (Matt #2), Wednesday, 6 March 2024 21:45 (one month ago) link

this one's quite good once it gets going, reminds me a bit of abbatoir blues/lyre of orpheus which remains my favourite

it looks like they have a 'partnership' with PIAS for this album, after carnage was released through AWAL and the previous three were completely on their own label (though surely with a distribution deal with a major or something behind the scenes)

ufo, Wednesday, 6 March 2024 22:07 (one month ago) link

I am not really in the mood for Nick Cave right now and have probably been slow drifting out of the zone since Mick Harvey left the Bad Seeds... but I'm sure I will look back in 10 years in a reevaluative mood and feel this is fine or better

Abattoir Blues / Lyre of Orpheus definitely the last one I was knocked out by

Kraal Disorientation Chamber (emsworth), Wednesday, 6 March 2024 22:37 (one month ago) link

Wow, for me the new song is so awful it transcends parody.

assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 6 March 2024 22:59 (one month ago) link

I concur, the last Nick I loved was the 2nd Grinderman LP. He's on his own artistic journey but it's not one that I find compelling. I guess I just miss the intensity and vague danger of his old work.

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 7 March 2024 01:14 (one month ago) link

He’s deeply in love with himself as an allegorical fabulist, but the stories are trite and boring (cf his novels as well). Coupled with the Christlike pose struck in his goodwill-to-all-men missives … nah. Hope you enjoyed the coronation pal.

assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 7 March 2024 08:14 (one month ago) link

his lyrics have always been the worst thing about his art and it's basically a wonder that i can tolerate them at all really

ufo, Thursday, 7 March 2024 08:20 (one month ago) link

outro sounds horrible

corrs unplugged, Thursday, 7 March 2024 12:11 (one month ago) link

Daughter got sent a pre-sale link for the new arena tour, only seats available to her a hour in were back row of the side seating near the back so possibly the worst seats in the whole place. ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR POUNDS. Before fees. Fuck that shit.

I blinked and it was a new decade (aldo), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 11:59 (four weeks ago) link

my partner got a standing one for £75 which i think is about the same as last time, maybe £5-10 more.

stirmonster, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 12:57 (four weeks ago) link

which is still expensive imo!

£144 is insane.

stirmonster, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 13:04 (four weeks ago) link

They might have started there but dynamic pricing and ticket bots just pushed them through the roof.

She's going to try again on general sales on Friday and has set herself a £100 upper limit, which is still too rich for my blood.

I blinked and it was a new decade (aldo), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 13:35 (four weeks ago) link

Is visiting Europe possible for her? See a great city, get slightly cheaper Nick Cave tickets?

woof, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 13:47 (four weeks ago) link

That's an option, or she could just get over it. </caring dad>

I blinked and it was a new decade (aldo), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 14:04 (four weeks ago) link

xp my first show was a few years back at an outdoor show at castle in the Austrian countryside and i can’t imagine wanting to see it anywhere else, let alone a packed theater.

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 14:44 (four weeks ago) link

He’s deeply in love with himself as an allegorical fabulist, but the stories are trite and boring (cf his novels as well). Coupled with the Christlike pose struck in his goodwill-to-all-men missives … nah. Hope you enjoyed the coronation pal.

yeah...for me the process is when I was younger I considered him a great lyricist. then two things happened: he got older and so did I. the fiery pyrotechnics of his younger writing gave way to his version of mature writing, but he's not really as good at that, and the pyrotechnic stuff ("Mutiny!" and most of the first Bad Seeds album typify what I mean by that -- hyperverbal excited stuff dense with lurid imagery) I'd kind of outgrown, though I can still get a kick out of it. I'll go to the mat for him as a performer, I think he has few peers and even continues to grow, but as a writer that's just not what I'm into as a grownup. it has taken me years to admit this.

J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 15:01 (four weeks ago) link

We got standing tickets for Glasgow and they were about £72 each all told, with excruciating fees of course.

brain (krakow), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 15:18 (four weeks ago) link

She must just be unlucky with Cardiff then.

I blinked and it was a new decade (aldo), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 15:19 (four weeks ago) link

I didn't look at seated prices at all, but the presale standing allocation did seem to sell out quite quickly.

brain (krakow), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 15:31 (four weeks ago) link

Foi Na Cruz was the beginning of the end for my liking him. Everything Birthday Party & the first four Bad Seeds albums (Tender Prey maybe, if there's room left) = desert island, the rest: not so much (even though there were some good tracks here and there, it just wasnt the same anymore) - I'm not hating on artists who get clean or start a family, it just how it turns out that "the tormented artist makes the best art" cliché didn't come out of thin air.

StanM, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 15:31 (four weeks ago) link

Foi na cruz is one of my fav bad seeds songs. Power ballad!!!

fpsa, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 17:47 (four weeks ago) link

I love that you love that :-)

StanM, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 17:57 (four weeks ago) link

I'm the opposite, finding the best parts of the 21st-century albums what works best for me ("Higgs Boson Blues" and "Push The Sky Away" and more). The lurid earlier songs, maybe because I first heard them in audiences with frat-like guys singing along to "Stagger Lee," feel more distanced from the violence and death in the lyrics, and the most recent ones treat them as tangible.

paisley got boring (Eazy), Wednesday, 20 March 2024 18:02 (four weeks ago) link

As a lyricist I find him well-intentioned but ultimately pretty mid (as the kids say). When his music was more furious he could at least fake his way into matching it (see: Grindeman, which pretty effortlessly reverts back closer to formative form), but his more subdued current mode (I assume; I haven't heard the new one) brings the focus squarely on the words, and imo they're just not as compelling as intended. Which is odd, because I do often find him pretty thoughtful and perceptive and intelligent, even funny, it's just not translating to the albums.

Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 20 March 2024 18:15 (four weeks ago) link


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