Nick Cave : Classic or Dud ?

Did you check out Aereogramme by the way?

regards,

REB

regards,

REB

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.

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.. :)

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...

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

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.

the dud part is the way i can't afford the seventy odd dollars it costs to see him next tuesday.

I don't think he's even come close to the level of The Boatman's Call since then, but there's enough there up to then to justify a resounding classic.

Seeing 16 Horsepower live made me decide Nick may as well retire as he wasn't really required any more - sadly he's managed to outlast them.

Blixa didn't leave then, he just refused to do Lollapalooza. He left proper after Nocturama, having barely played on the last three records (Cave said that his presence and opinions in the studio were still personally valuable even if there wasn't anything for half the band to play tho). His replacement is actually Lolla fill-in James Johnston! Playing organ not guitar for the most part though.

Funnily enough, 16 H opened for Nick on the 1998 tour. I always liked them, but not loved. Appreciated the obvious Ian Mc. from Echo jones in the dude's voice, though.

But the person way upthread who mentions Cave's "stifling seriousness" is really missing something. One of the great things about the early stuff (Boys Next Door through Birthday Party through, well, even "God Is In The House") is his mordant humour.

My coincidental thoughts in way more detail than you want, from just the other day:
http://www.livejournal.com/~frogworth/3437.html

Then again, each to their own. Praps just not your cup o tea.

30th January Birmingham Symphony Hall
31st January Cambridge Corn Exchange
1st February Nottingham Royal Centre
2nd February London Apollo Victoria - supported by Richard Hawley
4th February Edinburgh Playhouse
5th February Glasgow Concert Hall
6th February Manchester Bridgewater Hall

50 years old today! HB NC!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Cave

tbh, everything he's done post-Birthday Party belongs in the arena of the worthy-but-dull.

The lp covers looks splendid when laid on designer furniture, however.

tbh, everything most of what he's done post-Birthday Party the first four solo albums belongs in the arena of the worthy-but-dull.

fixed

:-)

I am glad to share a birthday with this man. I will listen to the Birthday Party all day.

Happy birthday!

Yes, that's right he's a Virgo/Libra cusp isn't he? I always kindof forget what sign Nick is for some reason. Happy Birthday Ivan!

Not really feeling his new album at all. Anyone?

me either, can't get past the first two songs. same reaction i had to grinderman...I love nick cave but, maybe like the fall, I've just kind of had enough

Yes, exactly.

I've had Straight to You on repeat all evening - it's an amazingly beautiful song. Not two things I normally associate with one another, beauty and Nick Cave

Classic but Dig Lazarus Dig hasn't appealed to me either.

Most of Lyre of Orpheus is beautiful imo

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

I love that you love that :-)

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.

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.