where would u suggest someone start listening to nick cave and the bad seeds
My Time Has Come.
so i wrote you a quick run down on nickās musical career with the records i recommend going in chronological order and i need to emphasise that theyāre MY picks. fan faves like tender prey and murder ballads arenāt included because they arenāt pinnacles of what i consider to be nick/the bad seedās allure and enticing world building capabilities. i go over a brief history, members, and quick reviews of the albums i suggest. i hope this helps at all! i skip around chunks of his discography to keep it a concise 5 album recommendations.
ok so like, as most people know nick started with a punkish band THE BOYS NEXT DOOR, featuring nick cave, tracy pew, john cocivira, ashley mackevicius, & phil calvert. john & ashley would leave & make room for mick harvey to join the group - mick will be a staple of nickās music for many years to come. the band will eventually merge with fellow aussie punk band THE YOUNG CHARLATANS which featured legendary guitarist and ineffable model of youth & underground prestige, ROWLAND S. HOWARD. the two would become rivals of sorts over the course of the next few years only periodically reuniting when it was already far too late. rowland had written a pristine track titled SHIVERS which was recorded by TBND and released in all is melodramatic glory. it may be the greatest song ever made. LISTEN HERE.
the boys next door start going into a more experimental sound and change their name to THE BIRTHDAY PARTY. under this name they begin recording no-wavey, stripped down post punk records and relocate to LONDON to find a better audience. they donāt accomplish this and move to WEST BERLIN. this is an instant success! good job, fuckfaces! when they move here they begin to dismantle and release MUTINY!/THE BAD SEED EP in 1983 as their final record. their other records are pretty alright but they donāt do it for me, they sound too much like the pop group but this recordā¦ā¦ less go.
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY: MUTINY!/BAD SEED EP (1983)
this is the first instillation to the bad seeds canon with more intricately crafted instrumentation on behalf of the band, which was split in personnel at the time due to the changing nature of the band itself. featured on his record is legendary only-boy-on-the-planet BLIXA BARGELD who is like essential to this story. blixa is in a band centralised in west berlin called EINSTĆRZENDE NEUBAUTEN, one of the progenitors of industrial music and one of the most compelling experimental outfits to ever exist. nick would basically fall in love with the man after seeing him on german television while staying in a hotel room with rowland. the more they hung out, the more nick wanted his own freedom to leave and do what he wanted. this relationship is the crux of the early bad seeds, well, this and mick harvey.
MUTINY! is a the most lyrically dense and story driven record by the birthday party and unfortunately their last together and nick will throw a hissy wissy fit and break the band up for good. tracey pew passes away of a brain hemorrhage in 1986 at the age of 28. i feel itās important to note that tracey, who nick considered one of his closest if not closest friend, was the second major death nick faced in his life after the passing of his father in october of 1978.
āLOVE IS FOR FOOLS AND ALL FOOLS ARE LOVERS ITS RAINING ON MY HOUSE AND NONE OF THE OTHERS. LOVE IS FOR FOOLS AND GOD KNOWS IM STILL ONE!ā
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS: YOUR FUNERAL, MY TRIAL (1986)
āyour funeral, my trialā is sordid derelict of circus performers scorned by gods and dogs with chains around their necks. it is an elusive but dense shadow leaking blood. it is all of the things you wish you had kept to yourself but didnāt. it only knows how to make mistakes. it is a harrowing, desolate pool of rain water in a city now abandoned where once stood an empire. it is the soundtrack for wim wendersā 1986 masterpiece āwings of desire,ā therefore making it an incremental part of film history. it is the virgin mary. it will never die.
iām in love with the swaying, staggering movements of this record. opening up in a gentle crash of alcoholic adoration and tripping down flights of love to coalesce into some of the most heart-wrenching, stomach churning declarations of self hatred, isolation, and dizziness of the human condition. blixa bargeldās backing vocals and guitar stylisations trail behind nickās weary voice like a ghost haunting a chapel, ever present in its judgement and thinly veiled threats. tracks like āstranger than kindnessā will place a sense of dread like a crown upon your heart as you reminisce suddenly about all of the times youāve found yourself the most alone, the most troubled in spoils. throttles of passion are exalted in one of nickās most sleazy displays with āhard on for love,ā an admittedly hilarious song which may take itself a little too seriously but Shshshshshshshut it itās so good. crashing through the shield of rain the track punctures the vessel and splays bodily fluids, a victorious failure. stamina and blood build and boil in a body too weak to carry the emotion vested within it. this record features all the right things; penetration, rabbits, milk, fiends, torn skirt hems, jesus christ. itās got it all.
āO, MONEY LENDER ! O, CLOVEN GENDER !ā
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS: LET LOVE IN (1994)
love shatters on the brink of lust, giving way to a myriad of hidden motives and sultry pleasures. the curtains are red and they are velvet like the insides of something screaming longing. a woman has gone and she may never return, but the man who worshipped her violently still stands. why? i donāt know but maybe it was doomed to die premature from the start. you always get so ahead of yourself. a swelling bass fingers the pulse of your true intentions, maybe it was a lie but it was a lie you told well. i sound like bunny monroe. iāll save that fucker for later.
this record swells with a threat, a threat that the devil is waiting to slink you away and devour you from the inside. he lives in you and you love it. someone has been wrongfully punished here, now your wounds are filled with seas of curiosity for things you shouldnāt know. the record suggests a number of things: death, loneliness, a severe aching like the incessant beating of a drum, a certain arrogance which makes you question the people you thought you trusted. iv always got the feeling that our protagonist knows that he was a poor contender. the lyrical themes of this record are what make it so enticing, as well as the blasts of orchestral noise which kicks down your doors and threatens you with a gun. mowing over ideas of heartbreak, abuse, sexual assault, suicidal ideation, everything. a more jovial sounding record, sure, but no less free from our previous miseries.
āIM SORRY THAT I EXIST AND WHEN I LOOK INTO YOUR EYES, I CAN SEE YOUāRE SORRY, TOO.ā
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS: DIG LAZARUS DIG!!! (2008)
itās a bird!!! itās a plane!!! itās the oddessy!!! itās iliad!!! homer!!! bukowski!!! first class low class sleaze!!! itās john waters!!!! itās superman!!!!! itās dig lazarus dig!!! this is an odd choice but i am not wrong. this tale of the undeserving lazarus, a washed up and confused rock star alĆ” johnny thunders, resurrected by accident to walk the earth again. and no one wants him. this record is just plain fun. i donāt want to get over this record. the record was written while nick was on a hunt to exorcise his toxically masculine behaviours and thoughts that he believed to be holding him back from the way he loved and lived his life, resulting in not just this album but a brilliant second novel āthe death of bunny monroeā which i donāt recommend to those who become ill at ease with discussions of sexual violence and narcissistic hedonism. itās one of my favourite books.
dig lazarus is a very underrated record in his discography, it swishes a disoriented wet head like a serpent recently blinded. it does not know right from wrong, it does not know who it will be or who it has been, it is ordering the wrong drinks for the right girls and it is leaving empty handed tonight. it will go home and find comfort in itās right hand and a bottle of rum. it is bitter, annoyed, it is rolling itās eyes and it prowls through new york city thinking about how much it wishes someone needed it as much as it needs someone. it is a triumph of human illness. it ends with my favourite nick song, āmore news from nowhere,ā taking you on the final roll call or the night with all its sultry characters and general nastiness. no one said the show would be good, but it was worth going to for the fuck, wasnāt it?
this one will definitely be a multiple listens-er.
āWE CALL UPON THE AUTHOR TO EXPLAIN!ā
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS: PUSH THE SKY AWAY (2012)
billowing up from a low terrace surrounded by moss and dim light, the record floats to the surface of the pond and dissolves into strips of white skin covering shadows left by men with heads hung. itās a delicate night which will never be repeated but will remain sacred in a paper lantern like way. this is my favourite album of all time and it carries an extremely important weight in my heart and in my life. it means more and more all of the time. it is filled with a wistful daydream of what love is and could be, idle ideation from the kitchen window as it invents fairytales for us to live in, for us to breathe in.
i consider this record to be the first in the trilogy that is push the sky away / skeleton tree / ghosteen. representing respectively the past, the present, and the future. the trilogy is all in pursuit of the light which is hope. nick himself has said this post-ghosteen which has filled me with pride for catching on before he said anything. this record is a sparse retrospection on the deep downs of nickās life, covering over fifty years of memories and tragedies. it was also the first album to be released with a film companion made by nick himself. oh yeah, in addition to being a musician and author nick has also made two films: 20,000 days on earth (push the sky away) & one more time with feeling (skeleton tree). they are both deeply personal and intimate looks on the artist as an aching human. i think i just need to let this record speak for itself.
my favourite lyric of all time is from this record:
SEE ALSO:
MY FAVOURITE NICK CAVE SONGS
AND THE ASS SAW THE ANGEL [NOVEL]
THE DEATH OF BUNNY MONROE [NOVEL]
WINGS OF DESIRE [FILM]
20,000 DAYS ON EARTH [FILM]
ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING [FILM]
MUTINY! SESSIONS [FOOTAGE]
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND [DOCUMENTARY]
STRAIGHT TO YOU [DOCUMENTARY]
B-MOVIE: LUST & SOUND IN WEST BERLIN [DOCUMENTARY]
THESE IMMORTAL SOULS [BAND]
ROWLAND S. HOWARD [FIGURE, MY GUARDIAN ANGEL]
HONEYMOON IN RED, LYDIA LUNCH [ALBUM]
DIE HAUT [BAND]
EINSTĆRZENDE NEUBAUTEN [BAND]
links take you to the full source! all working!
