Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Tender Prey

Truthfully, for the most part I probably like the idea of Nick Cave more than most of his music, although I respect the career that he has created and there have been some incredible moments. But after seeing Kid Congo recently, I was reminded of his work with the Bad Seeds and this record was recommended by Rob Bell, so I added it to the collection.

The opening song, "The Mercy Seat", is considered one of Cave's signature tunes and it is an exceptional one, with fantastic lyrics, melody and feel - so much so that Johnny Cash himself covered it for his American III: Solitary Man. This reminds me a lot of some of Leonard Cohen's better work, although with Bad Seeds' waves of sounds washing over it all, creating a true classic. Like Cohen, I think that Cave truly excels in his words more than his songs (that said, I'm a big fan of Cohen's songs) and the cuts are centered more around the lyrics here than on melodies - although I can't say that there aren't some catchy tunes here, as well.

 Stealing Robert Johnson's title, the group - now with Powers on guitar - devises their own Satanic tale in a waltz tempo on "Up Jumped the Devil" and in "Deanna" they practically produce a 60's pop number (as much as this combo ever would), followed by a sorta jazz/torch song in "Watching Alice" that includes some sweetly melancholic harmonica, prefacing some menacing piano work combined with waves of sound for the ballad "Mercy".

"City of Refuge" starts as a stark, spaghetti western-ish tune that turns into a powerful, pounding drone based on a Blind Willie Johnson song of the same name, "Slowly Goes the Night' is a twisted lounge number, "Sunday's Slave" is an odd mix of sparse piano and marching drums, "Sugar Sugar Sugar" has a driving rhythm with plenty of dynamics (although the instruments are quite low in the mix) and the finale, "New Morning" owes a melodic debt to the traditional "Wayfaring Stranger".

The cuts here are essentially soundtracks to Cave's lyrical stories more than songs in the conventional sense, so it doesn't exactly lend itself to casual listening. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I think this is more defined in Cave's case than other poetic musicians like Dylan, Patti Smith or the aforementioned Cohen, as the musicians are generally kept in the background and no one really stands out too much (there is nothing here to really indicate that Kid Congo is playing since he is mixed so low with the others). That said, it can still be quite rewarding when you do give it a chance.