Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus [Digipak] - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds > Reviews > The Cave-man cometh...and he rocks!

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money

Advantages:	May be the most accessible album for new fans !
Disadvantages:	May not be the most accessible album for new fans .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Nick Cave has been gothing it up for the best part of three decades and shows little signs of giving up the (dark, chair-rattling, Old Testament thumping) ghost just yet.

His Birthday Party was at the forefront of punk, getting hyped for song titles as leftfield as “Big Jesus Trash Can” when I was in short-trousers and listening to Pinky and Perky.

The Bad Seeds albums have seen the emergence of a mature, song-writing Cave, now more likely to get his kicks from a piano ballad than bone-crushing guitar noise.

But as his latest double album Abattoir Blue/The Lyre Of Orpheus shows, his healthy love for the darker side of the soul and the mysticism of God are as strong as ever.

And with velveteen song titles such as Cannibal’s Hymn, Fable Of The Brown Ape and O Children and lyrics to match he has lost none of his sly sense of humour.

The double album is testament to the Jekyll and Hyde nature of The Bad Seeds.

Abattoir Blues is the more forceful of the two works, with Get Ready For Love leading straight in with a crescendo reminiscent of 80s highlight The Mercy Seat or the anarchic Baby I’m On Fire from his last, and commercially ignored album, Noctorama. The anthemic There she Goes has a chorus Franz Ferdinand would die for!

Lyrically there is the lament of passing loves ones juxtapositioned with the praising of a God he is so aching to be closer to. Suitably he is backed admirably by The London Community Gospel Choir, always willing to add an angelic backdrop to the carnage.

The Lyre Of Orpheus is more acoustic and minimal with many songs seemingly just Cave and song writing partner and gifted multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis.

This is far closer in style and substance to his peak, around the time of The Boatman’s Call, if lacking in enough killer tunes to make an impact on the mainstream.

I have seen Nick Cave in Holland and Australia and appeared on the cover of one of his singles and can testify that like a good Edgar Poe book, he is well worth the effort, if a little scary if you are not used to him - Well he did bash Kylie Minogue’s head in a video for their duet Where The Wild Roses Grow!

Be sure to catch him on his UK tour which starts next month.

(PS...The album is almost worth the money for the sublime packaging, rare in today's industry.)