Nick Cave reviews, resources, album rankings etc

[avid fan]

Morning all,

I have only recently discovered the joys of Nick Cave, but I notice (just from a brief search) that he has plenty of fans on the forums

After buying his 'best of', I quickly went out and bought(£5 in FOPP), in order of appreciation:

The Boatman's Call
No more shall we part
Nocturama
Murder Ballads

I like all four, but thought Murder Ballads got a little repetative/ cliched, and Nocturama didn't quite have the personality of the top two.

As well as the awesome musical arrangements, one of the things I love is the depth of the lyrics - each song seems to tell a story that could fill a book.

I'd love to find out how people rank his albums (I know I've got plenty still to get), and their opinions on each.

I was also wondering if there were any decent online resources with interviews, and particularly with background to each song and the stories behind them.

Finally, I see there's a new album out - a brief look over reviews says its up with the best - agree?

[Adge]

Probably the best indie reviewer on the web:

http://www.adriandenning.co.uk/cave.html

[GregB]

The best Cave resource on the web is Nick Cave Collector's Hell (http://home.iae.nl/users/maes/cave/) althouhg it is sadly no longer updated so only covers material up to 2001.

Nocturama is easily his weakest album and the new album is simply stunning Murder Ballads is one of my faves but you really need to have heard his earlier material to undestand that the album was done partly as a joke. It can be heavy going though.

The link from Adge seems pretty good and it's not one I'd seen before. It's always difficualt to recommend where to go next with Cave as the earlier stuff can be a bit too much for people who got into him via The Boatman's CAll. So rather unusually I'd recommend working backwards through his catalogue. If you do that then the order to get them in would be the nwe one first then on to

Let Love In
Henry's Dream (My personal favourite CAve album)
The Good Son
Tender Prey
Your Funeral. My Trial
Kicking Against The Pricks
The Firstborn is Dead
From her to Eternity

After that the wonders of The Birthday Party beckon :D

Enjoy

[avid fan]

Cheers for that

I have listened to the 'best of', so I kind of know what you're talking about when you refer to his earlier stuff. Some of it seems a bit hit and miss (mostly hit) - I love Red Right Hand, Tupelo, The Weeping Song and the Ship Song in particluar.

Real shame about the websites that seem to have died off - most of the yahoo searches I did went no-where (and one link from a fansite to a supposed decent site ended up being a porno link :nuts: :suspect: ).

Think a trip to CD-Wow is in order for the new album - can anyone tell me if it comes with the nice cover sleeve when you order from them?

[GregB]

Think a trip to CD-Wow is in order for the new album - can anyone tell me if it comes with the nice cover sleeve when you order from them?

It should as I don't think it has been released with any any other packaging.

I forgot to menetion the Official Site (http://www.nickcaveandthebadseeds.com/) which has a very active forum which is a great place to keep an eye on as it often has gig dates befor the site itself mentions them. I picked up Gateshead tickets after seeing a post on there a full two weeks before the site itself posted the date :eek:

[Whiting]

Think a trip to CD-Wow is in order for the new album - can anyone tell me if it comes with the nice cover sleeve when you order from them?

Yeah, mine did although, as said, I don't think it comes in any other packaging...not until this print run is exhausted at any rate.

As for albums to get next, I'd go with :

The Good Son
Henry's Dream
Let Love In
Tender Prey or the covers collection, Kicking Against The Pricks