Hi. This is Vince Reilly. The internet’s more indie music music nerd.
The Australian singer and songwriter Nick Cave came under my radar back in 1980 and he has recorded prolifically. Therefore, you will forgive me for not buying and avidly listening to everything he’s done. My last review was on his latest release with the Bad Seeds, Wild God, and this was triggered by getting tickets to see them live in my neighbouring town of Oberhausen, Germany.
To our disappointment, there was the neo-Goth support act Dry Cleaning. I mean, why not call themselves Toilet Brush or Bar-B-Qs? My wife, Veronika, and I immediately left the hall to sit at the entrance and she promptly fell asleep on the concrete floor. When security and the Red Cross asked why I explained that the support band were so dreadful and she was just being honest.
But when the main act finally walked on stage, their presence immediately revitalised her. The same reasons I had against Wild God as a CD made it perfect heard and performed live: To quote my last review it was “loud and joyous and upbeat and full orchestra and optimistic and big gospelly choir and heart-felt and the band so fuck yeah! and the Cave at full throat.” Cave connected physically to those near the stage and emotionally to the rest of us. He roamed and owned the stage as an angry crow American preacher.
The highlight of the visuals was that the 3 screens behind the band followed the action so it’s central screen gave the impression of an enormous Nick Cave acting as a benign puppet master.
So seeing him live again after so many decades has not only reawakened my interest in him as a musician but as a fellow human who was a fucked up violent junkie, settled down and had 4 sons, lost two and has slowly but very openly emerged from his grief with a new perspective on the beauty and joy of life and of the world. To understand these
thoughts and his deveeloping maturity in some depth I strongly recommend ‘Faith, Hope and Carnage,’ a collection not of interviews, but therapeutic conversations between Cave and his journalist friend Sean O’Hagan.
Days after the gig was Veronika’s birthday so I gave her their previous CD ‘Ghosteen.’ Strangely, although I feel it is a great album, if I were to be introduced to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds with this one release, I certainly wouldn’t become a fan. The cover artwork is horribly kitsch, and one hears an ageing crooner sing over slow ambient layers of synths, the tones of which, as a keyboard player myself, sound rather 80s. But it is so out of character and so wonderfully restrained, heartfelt and sincere one must admire their balls and sits as a welcome diversion to their usual work.
I thank you for listening. Welcome any comments and ‘Ghosteen’ and The Wild God tour by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds?
The bright horses have broken free from the fields
They are horses of love, their manes full of fire
6 окт 2024
