It looks like at some point, somebody tried to start one of these but it didn't even really get to the first album. So here we go. Nick Cave AO Nick Cave in October 2012 Background information Birth name Nicholas Edward Cave Born 22 September 1957 (age 60) Warracknabeal, Victoria, Australia Genres Post-punk, gothic rock,[1][2]alternative rock, experimental rock, garage rock Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, writer, actor, composer Instruments Vocals, piano, organ, harmonica, guitar, percussion, saxophone, drums Years active 1973–present Labels Bad Seed, Mute, 4AD Associated acts Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Birthday Party, Shilpa Ray, PJ Harvey, Grinderman, The Boys Next Door, The Immaculate Consumptive, Shane MacGowan, Kylie Minogue, Blixa Bargeld Website nickcave.com Nicholas Edward Cave AO (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor, best known as the frontman of the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Cave's music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences, and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence.[3] Born and raised in rural Victoria, Cave studied art before turning to music in the 1970s. As frontman of the Boys Next Door (later renamed the Birthday Party), he became a central figure in Melbourne's burgeoning post-punk scene. The band relocated to London in 1980, but, disillusioned by life there, evolved towards a darker, more challenging sound, and acquired a reputation as "the most violent live band in the world".[4] The Birthday Party is regarded as a major influence on gothic rock, and Cave, with his shock of black hair and pale, emaciated look, was described in the media as a poster boy for the genre. After the break-up of the Birthday Party in 1983, Cave formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Much of the band's early material was set in a mythic American Deep South, drawing on spirituals and Delta blues, while Cave's preoccupation with Old Testament notions of good versus evil culminated in what has been called his signature song, "The Mercy Seat" (1988). The 1996 album Murder Ballads features "Where the Wild Roses Grow", a duet with Kylie Minogue, Cave's most commercially successful single to date. The band has released 16 studio albums, the most recent being 2016's Skeleton Tree. Cave formed the garage rock group Grinderman in 2006, which has since released two albums. Cave co-wrote, scored and starred in the 1988 Australian prison film Ghosts... of the Civil Dead (1988), directed by John Hillcoat. He also wrote the screenplay for Hillcoat's bushranger film The Proposition (2005), and composed the soundtrack with frequent collaborator Warren Ellis. The pair's film score credits include The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), The Road (2009), Lawless (2012), and Hell or High Water (2016). Cave is the subject of several films, including the semi-fictional "day in the life" 20,000 Days on Earth (2014), and the documentary One More Time with Feeling (2016). Cave has also released two novels: And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989) and The Death of Bunny Munro (2009). Cave's songs have been covered by a wide range of artists, including Johnny Cash, Metallica and Arctic Monkeys. He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007 ============================================== COMPLETE THREAD INDEX HERE - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Album thread - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Album thread ============================================== Added two links above per OP request.
The Birthday Party Photograph circa 1982, from left: Harvey, Cave, Calvert, Pew, Howard (cover image of John Peel Sessions CD, 2001) Background information Also known as The Boys Next Door Origin Melbourne, Australia Genres Post-punk, gothic rock, punk jazz, art punk, noise rock[1] Years active 1976–1983 Labels Missing Link, 4AD, Shock Associated acts Tuff Monks, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Crime and the City Solution, These Immortal Souls, Honeymoon in Red Website www.thebirthdayparty.com.au Past members Nick Cave Mick Harvey Tracy Pew Phill Calvert Rowland S. Howard The Birthday Party (originally known as The Boys Next Door) were an Australian post-punk band, active from 1978 to 1983. Despite limited commercial success, The Birthday Party's influence has been far-reaching, and they have been called "one of the darkest and most challenging post-punk groups to emerge in the early '80s."[2] The group's "bleak and noisy soundscapes," which drew irreverently on blues, free jazz, and rockabilly, provided the setting for vocalist Nick Cave's disturbing tales of violence and perversion.[3][4][5] Their music has been described by critic Simon Reynolds as gothic, and their single "Release the Bats" was particularly influential on the emerging gothic scene.[4] In 1980, The Birthday Party moved from Melbourne to London, where they were championed by broadcaster John Peel. Disillusioned by their stay in London, the band's sound and live shows became increasingly violent. They broke up soon after relocating to West Berlin in 1983. The creative core of The Birthday Party – singer and songwriter Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Mick Harvey, and singer, songwriter and guitarist Rowland S. Howard – later went on to acclaimed careers.
Before they became the Birthday Party, the band was known as the Boys Next Door and released a fairly popular album called Door Door. The main outstanding song from the album was a song called Shivers. Shivers - 1979
The Birthday Party gained a cult following and produced some great and certainly very interesting music before dissolving after the Mutiny album in 1983 Zoo Music Girl 1981
Interesting note about "Shivers" - was written by Rowland S. Howard, the Birthday Party guitarist. Here's an interesting clip and his (solo) take on the song. He also talks briefly about when and how he wrote the song.
side note - don't want to take away from the Nick Cave discussion. Rowland S. Howard had - compared to Nick - a small post-Birthday Party career. I absolutely love his group These Immortal Souls. Too bad that drugs carried such a talented guitarist and musician away at too early of an age. And also limited his output.
So there is a quick look through some of the stuff that was out there before the Bad Seeds came into being. The Birthday Party/Boys Next Door are certainly worth looking at is you like any of the songs posted up there. They were definitely an interesting band and Cave and Harvey carried some of the feel over into the early Bad Seeds Albums. I am a big fan of the Prayers On Fire album.
I am not fully conversant in Rowland S Howard, I came back to The Birthday Party via the Bad Seeds. I like the Birthday Party, but am more of a Bad Seeds fan. Having said that I certainly do need to investigate These Immortal Souls as they haven't been on my radar as yet.
Yeah I first bought the 1st Immortal Souls album back in the 80s - and one of the few albums from that era that I still love to pieces. But I recently - after only owing two Nick Cave albums - went bonkers over the man and now have most of his discography. Will jump in here 'n' there. Good idea for a thread!
From Her to Eternity Studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Released 18 June 1984 Recorded September - October 1983 and March 1984 Studio The Garden and Trident Studios, London, England Genre Post-punk, experimental rock Length 43:32 Label Mute Producer Flood, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds[1] Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds chronology From Her to Eternity (1984) The Firstborn Is Dead (1985) From Her to Eternity is the debut studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 18 June 1984 on Mute. Produced by Flood and the band itself, the album's title is a pun on the James Jones novel, From Here to Eternity, and its subsequent 1953 film adaptation. After the breakup of Nick Cave's former band The Birthday Party, Cave formed a new project with former band member Mick Harvey. Cave and Harvey were joined by a semi-fluid group of bandmates, initially including Einstürzende Neubauten member Blixa Bargeld on guitar, Hugo Race on guitar, and former Magazine member Barry Adamson on guitar, bass, and piano. After some studio work, the band's premiere public performance was held on New Year's Eve, 1983 in Melbourne, under the name "Nick Cave - Man Or Myth?", followed by a tour.[2] The band then briefly called themselves "Nick Cave and the Cavemen" before adopting the "Bad Seeds" moniker, in reference to the final Birthday Party release, The Bad Seed EP. The majority of the album was recorded at Trident Studios in London in March 1984. "Saint Huck", "Wings off Flies" and "A Box for Black Paul" were recorded at The Garden studio (owned by John Foxx) between September and October 1983. The band is also seen playing a live performance of the title track in the 1987 Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire. This version, recorded at Hansa Studio, Berlin in February 1987, is included on CD reissues of the album. Cave later said, "Well, I guess we weren't kicking people in the teeth anymore. I mean, it just became different. I wanted it to be more lyrically orientated and getting Blixa Bargeld from Einstürzende Neubauten in the group made an incredible difference. He's a completely kind of atmospheric guitarist and incredibly economical and it gave me room to breathe." From Her to Eternity has been well received by critics. Trouser Press wrote that while "the album relies less on shock effects than any the Birthday Party ever made, the explosive parts are that much more effective."[12] Chris Long of BBC Music described it as "imperfect, visceral, exciting and, ultimately, classic." This album is not one to step into lightly if all you know is the Ship Song or Red Right Hand. This album is much more avant guarde in its structures and styles. The base of most songs is a macabre blues that relies on feel and lyrics rather than hooks and popular melodies. If you enjoy the style of the bands less commercial stuff this is a good place to have a look. Otherwise I would suggest moving slowly backward through the catalog.
Avalanche Interestingly the band decided to open its debut album with an atmospheric and dynamic version of Leonard Cohen's Avalanche. It is a tortured and effective reading of the track that would probably leave some of his later day fans quite stunned at how different the band were in the years immediately after the Birthday Party. Lyrics I stepped into an avalanche It covered up my soul When I am not this hunchback that you see I sleep beneath the golden hill You who wish to conquer pain You must learn to serve me well You strike my side by accident As you go down to your goal This cripple here that you clothe and feed Is neither starved nor cold He does not ask for your company Not at the centre, the centre of the world I who am on a pedestal You did not raise me there Your laws do not compel me now To kneel grotesque and bare For I myself am the pedestal For this ugly hump at which you stare You who wish to conquer pain You must learn what makes me kind The crumbs of love that you offer me Are the crumbs I've left behind Your pain is no credential here It's just a shadow of my wound I have begun to ask for you I who have no greed I have begun to long for you I who have no need You say you've gone away from me But I can feel you when you breathe Do not dress in those rags for me I know you are not poor And do not love me quite so fiercely now When you know that you are not sure It is your turn, my beloved one It is your flesh that I wear
Cabin Fever Very percussion heavy and again dynamic with guttural vocals from Cave. Lyrically this is one of Cave's nightmares effectively translated into a song. Probably not a party tune though ... Lyrics The Captain's fore-arm like bunched-up rope with A-N-I-T-A wrigglin' free on a skull'n'dagger and a portrait of Christ, nailed to an anchor etched into his upper... O o o' Cabin Fever! O o o' Cabin Fever! Slams his ****en tin-dish down Our Captain, takes time to crush Some Bloo-Bottles glowin in his gruel with a lump in his throat, and lumpy mush Thumbing a scrapbook stuck up with clag and a morbid lump of Love in his flags. Done is the Missing, now all that remain Is to sail forever, upon the stain Cabin Fever! O o o' Cabin Fever! The captain's free-hand is a cleaver which he fashions his beard, n' he rations his jerkey! and carves his peg outa the finest mahagony! Or was it Ebony? O o o' Cabin Fever! O o o' Cabin Fever! Slams his ****en tin-dish down Our Captain, takes time to crush Some Bloo-Bottles glowin in his gruel with a lump in his throat, and lumpy mush Thumbing a scrapbook stuck up with clag and a morbid lump of Love in his flags. Done is the Missing, now all that remain Is to sail forever, upon the stain Cabin Fever! O o o' Cabin Fever! Tallies up his loneliness, notch by notch For the sea offers nuthin to hold or touch Notch by notch, winter by winter Notch x notch, winter x winter Now his leg is whittled, right down to a splinter O o Cabin Fever! O o o Cabin Fever! O the rollin sea still rollin on! She's everywhere! now that she's gone! Gone! Gone! O Cabin Fever! O Cabin Fever! Welcome to his table, Beloved-Unconscious Raisin her host of hair from her crooks and strugglin to summony one of her looks! His arm now like coiled s-s-s-snakes Whips all the bottles that he's drunken, like crystal - skittles about the cabin, of a ship they'd been sailing Five years sunken... O o o' Cabin Fever! O o o' Cabin Fever! Slams his ****en tin-dish down Our Captain, takes time to crush Some Bloo-Bottles glowin in his gruel with a lump in his throat, and lumpy mush Thumbing a scrapbook stuck up with clag and a morbid lump of Love in his flags. Done is the Missing, now all that remain Is to sail forever, upon the stain Cabin Fever! O o o' Cabin Fever!
Well Of Misery This song has more percussion leading the march. This song takes the form of a deranged call and response gospel type song. The style is like a grandson of the Doors My Wild Love. Lyrics Along crags and sunless cracks I go Up rib of rock, down spine of stone I dare not slumber where the night winds whistle Lest her creeping-soul clutch this heart of thistle O the same God that abandon'd her Has in turn abandon'd me And softenin' the turf with my tears I dug a Well of Misery And, in that Well of Misery Hangs a bucket fulla Sorrow It swings slow an' achin' like a bell Its toll is dead and hollow Down that well lies the long-lost dress of my lil floatin girl That muffles a tear that you let fall All down that Well of Misery Put ya shoulder to the handle, if ya dare and hoist that bucket, hither Lord, crank'n'hoist'n'hoist'n'crank Till ya muscles waste'n'wither O the same God that abandon'd her Has in turn abandon'd me Deep in the Desert of Despair I wait at the Well of Misery
From Her To Eternity An absolute classic that most folks familiar with Cave will know. Again I'm struck by the percussive nature of the song, the piano, guitar and of course the percussion instruments are all work as percussion instruments in this song. There is a nice and effective piano motif repeated through the song and an excellent bass line worth listening for. The dynamics that the band were able to produce were incredibly effective and even later on when the band smoothed the edges on their style and introduced more and more melody to their music, that dynamic edge was always an important part of the bands sound and feel. Lyrics Ah wanna tell ya 'bout a girl You know, she lives in Room 29 Why that's the one right up top a mine Ah start to cry, ah start to cry-y O ah hear her walkin' Walkin' barefoot cross the floorboards All through this lonesome night And ah hear her crying too Hot tears come splashin' down Leakin' through the cracks Down upon my face, ah catch 'em in my mouth! Walk 'n' Cry, Walk 'n' Cry-y! From her to eternity From her to eternity From her to eternity Ah read her diary on her sheets Scrutinizin' ev'ry li'l piece of dirt. Tore out a page 'n' stufft it inside my shirt. Fled outta the window And shinning it down the vine Outta her nightmare and back into mine. Mine! O mine! From her to eternity From her to eternity From her to eternity Cry! Cry! Cry! She's wearin' them bloo-stockens, ah bet! And standin' like this with my ear to the ceiling Listen, ah know it must sound absurd But ah can hear the most melancholy sound Ah ever heard! Walk 'n' Cry! Kneel 'n' Cry-y! From her to eternity From her to eternity.
That's probably a lot to take in, but I just wanted to get us underway. Rather than spend a week exploring the Birthday Party and their recordings, just a taste of what the Bad Seeds developed from. I hope you will add your comments and observations, especially if you have knowledge of the band. I just have the music and a couple of dvd's. Please stay with the thread album and song wise so we can produce a coherent documentation of who this band is. Cheers
cheers mate. back in the eighties Nick Cave would probably have been too much for me to digest. I was still very much a rock and roll only kind of guy. I first heard the Ship Song and bought, and very much enjoyed the Good Son. I slowly explored his catalog, and having been a fan of Zappa, Beefheart and Tom Waits and other more "out there" artists found it much easier to digest, than I would have at twelve or thirteen.
I may do a Birthday Party thread at some point, but I just posted some Birthday Party stuff To show where The Bad Seeds (specifically Harvey and Cave) came from.
Saint Huck It isn't hard to see how Harvey and Cave moved into soundtrack albums down the track. There was always a cinematic feel and sound in their work and this song is no exception. Blixa Bargeld was definitely an important cog in the wheel and as the band progressed his use of his guitar as a tool developed an awful lot. Lyrics Born of the river, Born of its ever-changing, Never-changing murky water Oh riverboat just rollin' along Through the great great greasy city Huck standing like a Saint, upon its deck If ya wanna catch a Saint, then bait ya hook, let's take a walk... 'O come to me!, O come to me!' is what the dirty city say to Huck... HUCK woah-woah, woah woah! woah-woah, woah woah! Saint Huck! Huck! Straight in the arms of the city goes Huck, down the beckonin' streets of op-po-tunity whistling his favorite river-song... And a bad-blind n****r at the piano Buts a sinister blooo lilt into that sing-a-long Huck senses somthing's wrong! Sirens wail in the city, and lil-Ulysses turn to putty and Ol Man River's got a bone to pick! and our boy's hardly got a bone to suck! He go, woah-woah, woah woah! woah-woah, woah woah! Saint Huck! Huck! The mo-o-o-on, its huge cycloptic eye watches the city streets contract twist and cripple and crack. Saint Huck goes on a dog's-leg now Saint Huck goes on a dog's-leg now You know the story! Ya wake up one morning and you find you're a thug blowing smoke rings in some dive Ya fingers hot and itchin, ya cracking ya knuckles Ya bull neck bristling... Still Huck he ventures on whistling, and Death reckons Huckleberry's time is up, O woah woah woah! Saint Huck! O woah woah woah! Saint Huck! Huck! Yonder go Huck, minus pocket-watch an' wallet gone Skin shrink-wraps his skeleton No wonder he gets thinner, What with his cold'n'skinny dinners! Saint Huck-a-Saint Elvis, Saint Huck-a-Saint Elvis O you recall the song ya used to sing-a-long Shifting the river-trade on that ol' steamer Life is but a dream! But ya traded in the Mighty ol' man River for the Dirty ol' Man Latrine! The brothel shift The hustle'n'the bustle and the green-backs rustle And all the sexy-cash And the randy-cars And the two dollar ****s O o o ya outa luck, ya outa luck Woah-woah-woah-woah Saint Huck! Huck! This is the track of deception leads to the heart of despair Huck whistles like he just don't care but in the pocket of the jacket is a chamber Lead pellets sleeps in there Wake Up! Now Huck whistles and he kneels and he lays down there See ya huck, good luck A smoke ring hovers above his head And the rats and the dogs and the men all come and put a bullet through his eye and the drip and the drip and the drip of the Mississippi cryin' And Saint Huck hears his own Mississippi just rollin' by him Woah-woah-woah-woah Woah-woah-woah-woah Saint Huck! Saint Huck! Saint Huck! Woah-woah-woah-woah Woah-woah-woah-woah Saint Huck! Saint Huck! Saint Huck! Woah-woah-woah-woah
Wings Of Flies Another heavy on the percussion variation on a blues theme. Lyrics She loves me, she loves me not She loves me, she loves me not She loves me, she loves me not We-e-ll, ah've spent seven days and seven nights tryin to get sunk in this brine Don't turn on ya water-works 'cause ah got me a pair of water-wings, right?! Insects suicide against the window, and my heart goes out to those lil flies There's a buzzin in my ear but it's more of her black-mail, ham shakespeare + lies Wings off Flies, She loves me, she loves me not. O o o o oh she loves me not!! Lord, Ah've discovered the recipe of Heaven ya git solitude and ya mix with sanctuary and silence, then bake it! Listen, I plead guilty to misanthropy so hang me! Ah'd appreciate it!! Witness her gate-crash my tiny hell with some obscene tête-à-tête, If ya wanna talk to me about Love'n'Pain consult my ulcer, it'd be happy to co-operate Wings off Flies, she loves me, loves me not Uh hey, Joe! Another outa do the job. Time to drown our lil fire, ya can keep the ashes, Now bye bye, bye, bye, see ya in a pigs eye! Ah will be one, in need of no-one In this, my deepest dive... Fill'er up, Joe... Hey! Ah am obliged! Ah am olbiged! Wings off Flies, She loves me, she loves me not Wings off Flies etc... ad infinitum Welcome the solitary flyer ya see it land on the rim of my glass it's going around and around and around look I just don't have the heart to hurt a fly I grabbed it in my paw snatched it up and then I held it to my ear could hear it scream could hear it scream and scream and scream till it screamed not... Hey Joe, ya know anything about this scream?