Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
The Firstborn Is Dead (1985)
Some things to ntoe before I start:
Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem of unknown authorship from between the 8Th to the early 11Th century. It is written in Iambic Pentameter, so it flows off the tongue like music. It tells a great story, and being the T.v of that time, was powerful enough to stain time itself. I have found after spinning The Bad Seeds first couple studio albums that Nick Cave is a writer of his own dark and twisted modernized epics. Trust me. If you spin these albums enough, you may find yourself in a completely different world.
Before I really get into
The Firstborn Is Dead, I want to make a note to any Nick Cave fans who aren't familiar with his work during the 80's and are interested in looking backwards. Although I would never peak what's in store for me and my discography review by skimming the later decades, I have been told that Cave's early work can be very different then his more modern releases. Keep this in mind, and try to just let it grow on you. You won't be disappointed, these last two albums have been fantastic.
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Never judge an album by the opening track.
Tupelo, as contrasting it is in its trickery, had me thinking
The Firstborn Is Dead was going to be as morose and unsettling as
From Her To Eternity. By the end of the fourth track, my mind just bubbling with a mesh of a deep American blues and folklore, I had learned my lesson.
Before we continue, I'm overwhelmingly compelled to first give justice to a few tracks. I've heard people talk of
Tupelo being the gem of the entire album, and it baffles me. Although it does reflect some of the all-encompassing energy and chaos of
From Her To Eternity- saying it's the gem of the album is to miss the album completely
(In my opinion).
The real beauty of this album, to me, started to make its impression upon the beginning of the second track. In
From Her To Eternity we were taken on a slow-paced and gothic journey.
The Firstborn is dead is completely different. A certain deep, southern bluesy atmosphere takes hold during
Say Goodbye To The Little Girl Tree. Although the third track is not without a jolting sense of frantic mania, and the fourth feels as though there is a cult following, I feel like the entire album maintains this bluesy feel to it throughout the work. This makes for enthralling entertainment as well as a sense of flow and overall unity in the album.
I was pretty much devastated to hear through here and through there that the sharp, beautiful despair of
Knockin' On Joe or the perfectly creepy, maddening blues, of
Blind Lemon Jefferson is supposedly exclusive to
The Firstborn Is Dead. Why such incredibly songs weren't expanded upon in future albums is a mystery to me currently, but I am eager to find out.
In any case, the second half of the album is wonderfully done as well. The track
Wanted Man evolved from a song composed by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, which Cave was granted permission to alter the lyrics. This is really just an added treat as Dylan himself never released a studio version of the song.
The Six Strings that Drew Blood is included on the CD version of the album, but not on the LP. It was the B-side of the "Tupelo" single and a re-recording of a song Cave originally recorded with The Birthday Party during the Mutiny sessions in 1982. The Last song on the album is the
Single version of Tupelo, which is about the same as the original.
Not only Nick Cave should get credit for this album, of course. Although his vocals are much more then menacing and he is the lead of the band, The Bad Seeds did a phenomenal job here. Mick Harvey and Barry Adamson deserve much props for their stunning work on the drums and bass, which make up a huge aspect of the album. As well as Blixa Bargeld for his creepily bluesy guitar and back-up vocals (which alone would have me rofl), but none-the-less are a necessity.
On a whole there is much to be said about this album. Unlike the album before it, it was much less wild, frenetic, or gothic, drawing particularly on the deep well of Southern American blues and folklore. I suppose it is also to be noted that this is supposed to be a bit different, lyrically and musically, from anything else in his catalog. Slow, brooding songs like
Knockin' On Joe, or
Blind Lemon Jefferson (all very bluesy) and
The Six Strings That Drew Blood give off a wonderfully murderous feeling, while songs like
Tupelo and
Train Long-Suffering have a sense of excitement and mania, and yet somehow the entire album flows beautifully. Overall it's a masterpiece of southern blues, stunning imagery, and a throbbing sense of intensity that only Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds could deliver.
20/20
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A note to everybody who hasn't washed themselves dirty in this wonderful album:
I procrastinated on this review, kept getting distracted. Oh man, you guys, I'm telling you; I was jerking myself out of something wonderful. If you can appreciate the blues, please give
The Firstborn Is Dead a few good spins to grow on you. To grow on and devour you whole like the beautiful beast The Bad Seeds are turning out to be. I think my ears might be stained like this forever and the barren core of my soul is thoroughly covered with goosebumps.
Linear Mode
