NickCaveFilter: Fifty years ago this very day,
Nicholas Edward Cave [
previously] crawled from the womb and started to plot. At 16 he formed his first band which evolved quickly into the
Boys Next Door [
Shivers]. This in turn mutated into
the Birthday Party (1980) who terrorised the post-punk soundscape in Australia and the UK [
Release the Bats |
Nick the Stripper]. The
Birthday Party relocated to England and in 1984 the band imploded in an orgy of drugs and booze. Shortly after
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were born [The Ship Song -
video &
solo live | The Mercy Seat -
video &
live |
Where the Wild Roses Grow], and 23 years and 11 studio albums later (not to mention a
best selling book, a
great screenplay,
some acting and several soundtrack projects) he is still going strong. But, instead of sitting on his musical laurels he decided to get back to basics and, in 2006,
grew a huge moustache and formed
Grinderman – a four piece with a primeval hybrid Birthday Party/Bad Seeds sound [
No Pussy Blues |
Honey Bee]. Fellow Mefites, I ask you to raise a glass to
Mr. Cave… And, especially if you are not familiar to his work, don’t forget to “look inside” for my primer on the enigma that is Nick Cave, one of the
finest song-writers on the face of this miserable planet.
The
Boys Next Door released
a couple of singles and an album,
Door, Door (1979) [although the early Birthday Party singles and debut LP were originally credited to the Boys Next Door].
Not much remains except for the LP (
re-released on CD), the promo video for the single
Shivers,
an interview and
one decent live recording (1977). The
Birthday Party were a tour de force, fuelled primarily by booze and drugs.
They made three stunning LPs, the eponymous Birthday Party (
later re-released with two singles as Hee-Haw ),
Prayers on Fire and
Junkyard. The band imploded in 1984 with
Mick Harvey leaving the band temporarily. Check out:
Junkyard,
Sonny’s Burning,
Deep in the Woods [
discography]. (
Mick Harvey gets an honourable mention as he is ever present in Nick Cave’s music, 24 years to date, playing drums, bass, guitar and keys at diferent times. He has also release
several critically acclaimed solo LPs.)
Cave re-surfaced straight away with
Mick Harvey,
Barry Adamson and
Blixa Bargeld as the
Bad Seeds. (
Blixa Bargeld of
Einsturzende Neubauten also gets an honourable mention, playing guitar with the Bad Seeds from 1984 to 2003.) The Bad Seeds hit hard with
From Her to Eternity (1984), taking up the primeval growl where the final Birthday Party EPs left off [
From Her to Eternity |
I Put a Spell On You]. They also released a cover of
In the Ghetto. (Elvis and Johnny Cash are strong influences in Cave’s music, along with John Lee Hooker, the Stooges and Nina Simone.) They followed this with
The Firstborn Is Dead (1985), with a more laid back, bluesy edge (although Cave dislikes this being referred to as bluesy) [
Tupelo |
Wanted Man]. 1986 saw two LP releases:
Kicking Against the Pricks (an LP of cover versions, including
Hey, Joe) and
Your Funeral, My Trial (a really dark LP with a dense sound) [
The Carny, featured in Wim Wenders “Wings of Desire”, and also
Scum, for the journos] [
Interview]
1988 saw
Tender Prey released (selfIndulganceFilter: my personal favourite, along with
Henry’s Dream). The album has a
fantastic Elvis-esque sleeve and contains The Mercy Seat (widely regarded as Cave’s signature tune and played at
most of his shows since 1988, and covered by
Johnny Cash) [
Deanna |
Mercy]. Cave, Bargeld and Harvey scored the soundtrack to
Ghosts… Of the Civil Dead, in which Cave acted as well as co-writing the screenplay. The
Good Son [1990] was
Cave's first release after kicking his heroin addiction, and he produced his most accessible music to date. Songs such as the
Weeping Song saw Cave attract a new audience with a mellower sound [
Jack the Ripper]. In 1991 a road movie filmed in B/W on Cine 8 called
The Road To God Knows Where was released.
Henry’s Dream (1992) is an
intense LP [
Straight to You |
I Had a Dream, Joe] which is captured vividly in their
Live at the Paradiso video. 1994 saw
Let Love In [
Red Right Hand], and in 1995 Cave dueted with Kylie Minogue on
Where the Wild Roses Grow. [
Written interview]. This single was included on Murder Ballads (1996) [
Stagger Lee], which also included
Henry Lee (with
PJ Harvey). He also rejected his
MTV Award. 1998 saw the release of The
Boatman’s Call - a really beautiful, chilled piano led LP [
Into My Arms |
Lime Tree Arbour |
Far From Me |
People Ain’t No Good ]. Cave’s debut novel,
And the Ass Saw the Angel was released in 1999. In 2000 he released
Secret Life of the Love Song & The Flesh Made Word – two philosophical lectures [
transcript]. 2001 saw the mellow
No More Shall We Part released [
God is in the House |
Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow], followed in 2003 by
Nocturama (
not their finest, best left alone)
The double LP
Abbatoir Blues/
The Lyre of Orpheus was released in 2004. A
truly beautiful LP, characterised by a lush production (and featuring members of
The London Community Gospel Choir) [
Nature Boy |
Breathless |
Abbatoir Blues |
Oh My Lord]. The film
The Proposition was released in 2005 (a
gritty Western, set in Australia) and as well as writing the screenplay, he and Warren Ellis also recorded
the soundtrack.
2006 saw Cave form
Grinderman, a raw,
stripped down four piece recording and mixing their debut (
Grinderman, 2007) in 12 days [
Grinderman |
Electric Alice |
interview]. Cave is joined by
Martyn P. Casey,
Warren Ellis and
Jim Sclavunos – all from the Bad Seeds. Even at 49 Cave was kicking against the pricks. Their debut live performance was at the
All Tomorrows Parties festival (2007) and... (selfIndulganceFilter:) I was there! [And finally...
Other Cave YouTube Interviews, and other performances:
John the Revelator,
I feel so Good,
Mack the Knife]
Subscribe
bbiab
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 5:08 PM on September 22, 2007 [13 favorites]