Day 0952 - Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds "Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus" (2004) - got it

 

I'm a big Nick Cave fan, but releasing a double album as a follow-up to the uncharacteristically lacklustre "Nocturama" did not seem like the best idea.   But, this seems to be a case of something I've talked about before, where artists can creatively fire up for a period of time (and should probably mine that vein while they can) but then fizzle out in others.   Nick Cave was definitely on fire here.

The first disc (Abattoir) is all power, opening with the crash of high power gospel rocker "Get Ready For Love" which I've always felt is about people missing out on everyday miracles because they're too busy waiting for 'a sign'.   The disc proceeds through grinding twisted blues rock in "Hiding Away", upbeat melodic rocking songs with "There She Goes My Beautiful World.   It is surprisingly short on fat ending on the uplifting "Let the Bells Ring" and then "Fable of the Brown Ape" that feels like it would fit nicely on 'Let Love Rule' next to a track like "Red Right Hand".

The second disc (Lyre) starts on a more sedate note with the unrelenting murder-folk of the title track.   A lighter folk informs the love songs "Breathless" and "Babe You Turn Me On" which features the gently murmured line "I put one hand on your round ripe heart, and the other down your panties".  Putting that line in a love song just seems to nicely sum up Cave's mix of the intimate/yearning and naughty/perverse.   "Supernaturally" is nicely propulsive piano-centred track and adds a little variety against the first few quieter tracks.   

This disc feels like maybe it could have lost a track and still been pretty good, but maybe the mellower sound was just less gripping than the bump and grind of Abattoir.   It starts and ends well at least.

This was the band's first album without guitarist Blixa Bargeld.  It would be unfair to lay the success of this album and the inadequacies of the previous release totally at Bargeld's door, but possibly removing one cook helped improve the broth?

Day 0848 - The Boatman's Call

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds "The Boatman's Call" (1996) - got it

Cave had described the experience of making previous album "Murder Ballads" as 'a holiday'.   It was an album of twisted stories with gorgeous arrangements that Cave could lose himself in.   

"The Boatman's Call" is completely the opposite.   The cover once again features a picture of Cave, this time a bleak black and white rendering.   The songs are all painfully personal, alluding to breakups (Cave had recently divorced his wife and had a brief relationship with PJ Harvey), religion and a generally cold view of the word.   The Bad Seeds, responded to these songs with sparse arrangements (in some cases, just a piano backing Cave's deep croon) putting Cave even more in the burning spotlight.

The result though is a beautiful collection of songs that somehow manage to take pain and sadness and make something from it (like a rainbow after the fall if you want a trite analogy).   "Into my arms" may be one of the most beautiful songs written by anyone.   "Brompton Oratory" is a suitably hymn-like song for the church of the same name in London (I've been, it is a beautiful building).
"People Ain't No Good", "Where do we go but Nowhere" and "(Are You) the One That I've Been Waiting For" tell tales of heartbreak that almost seem to revel in the pain they're exorcising.

The next few Bad Seeds would move away from this kind of bare honesty back into a more narrative and sometimes character-driven form of writing, but this album is rightly held up as one of the best in the band's canon.

Day 0731 - Henry's Dream

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds "Henry's Dream" (1992) - got it

After internal conflicts, the Birthday Party broke up.  Members Nick Cave and Mick Harvey put together a pretty impressive collection of talent with Barry Adamson, Blixa Bargeld (Einstürzende Neubauten) and JG Thirwell (Foetus, Steroid Maximus, Manorexia etc.).  The line-up eventually pared down somewhat and started cranking out the albums, evolving towards the Bad Seeds' particular blend of delta-blues, murder ballads and goth-gospel.

"Henry's Dream" was their seventh release.  Reportedly Cave didn't enjoy the recording process for it himself, but the result is pretty arresting.   It's like some giant apocalyptic catastrophe hits during the pulsing, unrelenting acoustic first track, with its dark imagery building to include "lynch mobs/death squads/babies being born without brains".  In the aftermath of this event there are those cracked, dry and broken ("Brother my cup is empty"), wandering around the world ("When I first came to town"), but there is also the chance for redeeming love ("Straight to you").

I love the bad seeds, but I have to say that a few of their albums (this one included) tend to lag a bit towards the end.  I find the last couple of tracks to be less interesting than what has preceded them.  Not bad, just not up to the standard of the rest of the album.

Day 0606 - Calenture

The Triffids "Calenture" (1987)

I had heard the Triffids' name but had no real idea of what they'd sound like.  This album is almost indie-meets-gospel.  It has a really raw, soulful feel that is admittedly curtailed somewhat by the amount of studio sheen heaped on it.

The musical style, combined with David McComb's deep and declamatory vocal delivery make the music sound like a more upbeat take on early-mid era Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.  Not surprising then that bass-player Martyn Casey would later go on to play in the Bad Seeds.

Definitely enjoyed this and will keep it in mind for further investigation at a later date.

Day 0480 - Penthouse and Pavement

Heaven 17 "Penthouse and Pavement" (1981)

I remember listening to this one ages ago (in fact I quickly searched out a review I wrote in 2015 - all I said was that it was a good little pop album with some funky sounds and lighter synth bits). Didn't really remember the music off the top of my head... though I was listening to it during night-shifts back then so that might factor into it.

It remains a good pop album with some funky sounds and lighter synth parts.  A fun album, even though it's lead single "(we don't need this) fascist groove thing", championed by John Peel was banned by the BBC for implying that Ronald Reagan was a fascist.  Some things never change, the BBC have made some terrible censorship decisions in the past.

The band was formed by ex-members of the original line-up of the Human League (before they went extremely mainstream and had huge success with songs like "don't you want me"). That band had a reshuffle and the members who would form Heaven 17 created the company called the British Electric Foundation (BEF) under which the band was based... that idea of band/album as corporate product is illustrated (quite literally) on the album cover with it's corporate promotional vibe.

Day 0381 - One World

John Martyn "One World" (1977)

 
Martyn was by this time burnt out on the music industry.  A hippy folkster who'd lived several of these years in a druggy haze.  Martyn took some time out to chill out and clean up in Jamaica with producer Lee 'Scratch' Perry.

Martyn came back kicking, with this album that meshes his folk background with some modern instrumentation and interesting techniques (some songs were recorded outside at night with additional microphones set up at a distance to capture the ambience). "Big Muff" despite being the name of one of the more popular guitar fuzz pedals, is a beautifully atmospheric and melodic track.