Surprised nobody mentioned Tender Prey yet as it is one of his finest albums.
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That’s a great beginner’s choice. Please let us know what you think.
Boatman’s Call is great but I would recommend’ ‘Push the Sky Away’ as your first port of call
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The recording was shown on the BBC a few month’s back. It may still be on iPlayer.
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I’ve got that on vinyl. Awesome music and recording quality!
exactly
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Of the earlier albums try ‘No more Shall We Part’ which has a bit of everything stylistically, and 'Boatman’s Call which is incredibly intense and slower paced.
‘Push The Sky Away’ is the first of the albums where Warren Ellis starts to come into the forefront, ‘Ghosteen’ a further development. ‘Skeletion Tree’ is quite challenging for a new listener. Some if their soundtrack work together is worth catching too.
Agree ‘Idiot Prayer’ is amazing but it is Cave plus piano only so not totally typical of his output.
Bruce
Another thought, Martin. There’s an excellent collection, The Best of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. It serves as a fine overview of NC up to 1998. From there, explore at will. If you want to, that is.
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I can’t agree with these recent recommendations. I guess the best of is an ok place to start but none of the band wanted a bar of it.
In my view, Nick Cave’s music is not best approached via his more ‘accessible’ albums. Dive in and sample the rich back catalogue and then move to the later stuff. The brilliant Ghosteen risks sounding like another nice electronica album if you haven’t heard Abattoir Blues or Dig Lazarus Dig or Let Love In or Murder Ballads, Henry’s Dream, etc. Otherwise it’s like going to an early 20th century exhibition of Picasso and skipping the nudes.
Well, it just wouldn’t do to skip the nudes, would it now?
Nick Cave, for me, is a musical and lyrical genius.
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So what you are saying is you liked him before he was cool?
He’s always been cool, right from the Birthday Party indie days. I’ve got a few of his albums and they are all good in their own way.
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Love his music, Murder Ballads, Abattoir Blues, Henry’s Dream, From Hear to Eternity, The Lyre of Orpheus, are my favs.
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He was a big act at Glastonbury in the 90s. Cave is not recently ‘cool’.
Not if they are key to understanding his work and contribution to art, no.
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