Continuing the loose theme of selections from music magazine freebies, today's spotlight is Nick Cave and friends, mostly the Bad Seeds. Spanning four decades, one third cover versions, two thirds original compositions, the strength of the songs belie the random selection process.
The Ballad Of Robert Moore And Betty Coltrane was an immediate pick for opening song, one of my favourite Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds songs, yet a mere B-side of Where The Wild Roses Grow, when originally released in 1995.
The earliest recording here, following The Birthday Party's split, is a cover of I Put A Spell On You, originally by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Credited to Nick Cave & The Cavemen, the latter comprising Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld, Hugo Race and Barry Adamson. The song appeared on Department Of Enjoyment, a cover-mounted cassette with New Musical Express, released in May 1984, by which time the band had been renamed Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
I must have bought the Best of 2019 issues of both Mojo and Uncut that year, which explains the inclusion of two tracks from Ghosteen; I considered only including one of them, but I couldn't choose between Leviathan and Spinning Song, so they both made the final tracklist. I also had two versions of Jubilee Street to choose from, and opted for the live in concert over the original studio recording.
Peaky Blinders theme Red Right Hand unsurprisingly popped up on two magazine promo CDs (and I'm sure many, many more over the years). Ubiquitous though it may be, I never tire of hearing the song.
There are a couple of rarities: One Autumn is Cave reading an extract from his novel And The Ass Saw The Angel; this version is from Gigantic!, a cassette giveaway with Melody Maker, but also featured on a 4-track bonus 12" with limited quantities of the Tender Prey album. Likewise, Needle Boy featured on various limited edition formats of 2013 album Push The Sky Away, although my copy comes from The Mojo Anthology, a 15-track CD to celebrate Mojo's 300th issue in 2018.
Nick Cave's collaborations with Warren Ellis outside of The Bad Seeds get a couple of look ins. One highlights their growing body of soundtrack work, in this case from 2006 film The Proposition, for which Cave also wrote the screenplay. The second and most recent song is from their 2021 album Carnage, which I confess I've not yet heard. What can I say? There was a hell of a lot of good albums last year which swallowed up my music buying budget...!
As with the choice of opener, the closing song was also inevitable: what else but The Mercy Seat? Here it's the Seven Inch Version aka Video Version and was handpicked by Idles for their Acts Of Resistance compilation for Mojo magazine last year. In a nod to the couple of Johnny Cash cover versions included here, the Man In Black repaid the tribute with an equally stirring version of The Mercy Seat in 2000, which turned out to be one of the finest moments in his career.
Having sequenced this selection from a loose theme/connection, what immediately struck me was how well Cave's decades-spanning body of work hangs together. It prompts the question: is it possible to collate a duff Nick Cave compilation? I'm not sure it is.
This one's for Stuart.
1) The Ballad Of Robert Moore And Betty Coltrane: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1995)
2) The Singer (Cover of 'The Folk Singer' by Johnny Cash): Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1986)
3) Avalanche (Cover of Leonard Cohen): Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1984)
4) Clean Hands, Dirty Hands (Cover of traditional song): Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (2006)
5) One Autumn: Nick Cave (1988)
6) Needle Boy: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (2013)
7) The Ship Song (Live @ The Royal Albert Hall, London): Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1997)
8) Galleon Ship (Live @ Alexandra Palace, London): Nick Cave (2020)
9) I Put A Spell On You (Cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins): Nick Cave & The Cavemen (1984)
10) Wanted Man (Cover of Johnny Cash): Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1985)
11) Rye Whiskey (Cover of traditional song): Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
12) Leviathan: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (2019)
13) White Elephant: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis (2021)
14) Spinning Song: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (2019)
15) Red Right Hand (Single Version): Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1994)
16) Jubilee Street (Live @ Royal Arena, Copenhagen): Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (2017)
17) The Mercy Seat (Seven Inch Version): Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1988)
1984: Department Of Enjoyment: 9
1984: From Her To Eternity: 3
1985: The Firstborn Is Dead: 10
1986: Kicking Against The Pricks: 2
1988: The Mercy Seat EP: 17
1988: Tender Prey / And The Ass Saw The Angel EP (ltd LP & 12"): 5
1989: Rye Whiskey (promo flexi 7"): 11
1994: Red Right Hand EP: 15
1995: Where The Wild Roses Grow EP: 1
1998: The Best Of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds/Live At The Royal Albert Hall (ltd 2x CD): 7
2006: The Proposition OST: 4
2013: Push The Sky Away (Super Deluxe Box Set): 6
2018: Distant Sky: Live In Copenhagen EP: 16
2019: Ghosteen: 12, 14
2020: Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone At Alexandra Palace: 8
2021: Carnage: 13
Melody Maker: 5
Mojo: 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17
NME: 9, 15
Reflex (USA): 11
Select: 7
Uncut: 4, 14
Vox: 1, 15
A strong list and as you say it would be easy to substitute a totally different set of songs and of songs and have an equally good comp. Carnage is superb btw.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Adam, Carnage is on my 'Must Buy' list!
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