Nick Cave
Time to check out the smoother, more laid-back side of an artiste usually not associated with ballads or slow songs. This time it's the dark prophet of doom himself, Australia's most menacing export, Nick Cave, with a selection from his long catalogue. Think all the man does is spit venom and growl? Think again...
From her to eternity (1984)
Concentrating solely on his work with the Bad Seeds, we begin with what was the debut album for them, 1984's “From her to eternity”, and a nice if sharp ballad called “The moon is in the gutter”.
Kicking against the pricks (1986)
His second album, “The firstborn is dead”, is far too dark and sparse an album to contain any ballads at all, so we're on to his third, a collection of covers which goes under the name of “Kicking against the pricks” and was released in 1986. On this he does a very good version of the old standard, “By the time I get to Phoenix”.
Also a rather nice arrangement of the traditional song “Jesus met the woman at the well”...
His version of “Muddy water” is good too.
Two years before Marc Almond got his hands on it, Nick was covering Gene Pitney's classic “Something's gotten hold of my heart” (and much better too!)
He does a great version of the Seekers' “The carnival is over”
And a dark, moody and brilliant version of Johnny Cash's “The singer”.
Your funeral ... my trial (1986)
That same year came “Your funeral … my trial”, which gave us the great “Sad waters”.
The eerie “Stranger than kindness”
And the haunting title track
After that somewhat mammoth undertaking, it was not surprisingly two more years before we saw any more Cave output, this being 1988's “Tender prey”
Tender prey (1988)
This gave us the beautiful “Slowly goes the night”
The country/gospel “New morning”
And the lovely “Watching Alice”.
The good son (1990)
“The good son”, released in 1990, has some lovely slow tracks on it, in fact they're in the majority. Tracks like the opener, “Foi na cruz” (which apparently translates from Portuguese to “It happened on the Cross”)
The achingly lovely but stark “Sorrow's child”
The beautiful “Ship song”
“Lament”
and the closer, “Lucy”, with its beautiful piano ending.
Another two years on, and Nick released his seventh album, “Henry's dream”.
Henry's dream (1992)
Unlike his previous opus, this only included two slow tracks, the sombre “Straight to you”
and the forlorn love song, “The loom of the land”.
And
another two years saw the emergence of “Let love in”.
Let love in (1994)
This album, one of his classic best, contains four slower songs, among them the darkly beautiful “Nobody's baby now”.
The title track (with an “I” in front of it!)
The ominous “Ain't gonna rain anymore”
and the satirically autobiographical “Lay me low”, wherein Cave envisages his own funeral
And then 1996, (yes, another two years later) unleashed upon us the excellent, dark and funny “Murder ballads”.
Murder ballads (1996)
Including the sad tale of “Henry Lee”
Already just featured in our “Marriage made in...?” section, Kylie joins him for “Where the wild roses grow”
Another sad tale of murder and loneliness in “The kindness of strangers”
And finishes up with a rare cover, Bob Dylan's “Death is not the end.”
The boatman's call (1997)
Only a year later Nick released his superlative “The boatman's call”, which is heavily influenced by ballads and slow tracks, like the opener, “Into my arms”.
I could feature virtually the whole album, but I'll just pick the best of the bunch, like “People ain't no good”
“Brompton oratory”
The savagely dark “Where do we go now but nowhere”
And the lonely “Far from me”