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As a big fan of Nick Cave’s brilliantly unhinged postpunk band The Birthday Party, I followed his career with The Bad Seeds with dedicated fervor through the 80s. Your Funeral…My Trial (1986) seemed to be his artistic peak, while Tender Prey (1988) was a commercial triumph with both his most accessible ("Deanna") and powerful ("The Mercy Seat") songs. Then in 1990 he seemed to have lost the plot. At the time The Good Son (1990) sounded like a plodding attempt to become a crooning poet-balladeer like Leonard Cohen. I didn’t think it suited him, nor did his pretentious attempt at southern gothic literature in his book And The Ass Saw The Angel, published around that time. Unlike Cave’s most engaging story songs, the tale of the mute savant Euchrid Eucrow was a real chore to slog through. Cave was trying to evolve as he grew older, but suffered growing pains. Despite flashes of brilliance in Let Love In (1994) and Murder Ballads (1996), I still saw him as an artist in decline, until 2004’s Abbattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus. Still somewhat weighed down by his literary ambitions, he nevertheless showed he was becoming more comfortable in his aging skin, developing a wry sense of humor not unlike Tom Waits, while poking fun at his new identity as a middle-aged family man. What kind of lullabies does this man sing to his children, and how many years of therapy will be required for them to recover? Last year he shaved down the Bad Seeds into a smaller, cruder unit for the side project Grinderman, and gleefully adopted a dirty old man persona, rocking out with his cock out. Now this is the Nick Cave I used to worship, but more grizzled and funnier.
Whipped up seemingly in just a few days, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! arrived early last spring hot on the heels of Grinderman. It’s by far his best album since 1994, possibly even 1986. The literary references no longer feel forced. The songs are still ambitious, but loose, like when he digs up the biblical character Lazarus and puts him, to his chagrin, in modern New York City where, after womanizing and wild exploits, ends up a junky on the streets, then the psych ward, then back to his grave. "Midnight Man" and "Moonland" are highlights of a solid collection of passionate rockers that are also hung on some of the strongest melodies Cave has ever come up with. "We Call Upon The Author" is a slavering beat rant, raving about ridiculous situations in life and the world, and calling "upon the author to explain." "I say prolix! Prolix! Something a pair of scissors can fix!"
Last night’s performance at the Riviera was definitely the best of the half dozen shows I’ve witnessed since 1988. The large Bad Seeds ensemble sounded loose, lean, and more explosive than ever. As always since his poetically drunken shows with Dirty Three in the 90s, violinist/guitarist Warren Ellis is a treat to watch, bounding about the stage like a bearded lepprechaun/goblin. It’s a credit to the strength of the new material that I enjoyed the new songs just as much as his classics, and definitely more than the few ballads he’d play ("Weeping Song," "God Is In The House") probably to recover from the overall intensity of the 18 song, two hour set. Classics that sounded better than ever included "Tupelo," "Deanna," "The Mercy Seat," "Red Right Hand," "Papa Won’t Leave You Henry," and "Stagger Lee." It’s ironic that an Australian who has spent his adult life in England and Brazil has a better grip on American folklore and music than almost any other American musician. His huge body of work certainly puts him up there with (and over, in my eyes) another honorary Yank, Neil Young.
1. Hold On To Yourself
2. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
3. Tupelo
4. The Weeping Song
5. Red Right Hand
6. Midnight Man
7. God Is In the House
8. Nobody’s Baby Now
9. The Mercy Seat
10. Deanna
11. Moonland
12. Get Ready For Love
13. We Call Upon the Author
14. Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry
15. More News From Nowhere
16. Jesus of the Moon
17. Hard On For Love
18. Stagger Lee
They also played these songs Sunday night:
Night of the Lotus Eaters
Today's Lesson
Love Letter
Hold on to Yourself
Into My Arms
Lyre of Orpheus
TV On The Radio's second album, Return To Cookie Mountain (2006) divided its audience. Some were disappointed, others think they'll never top it. It was an oppressive wall of sound that accomplished exactly what it set out to do. It was a dark, prickly, heavy album that took me two months to properly absorb, and still holds up two years later. Dear Science, is just as complexly layered, but more immediate. The melodies are sweeter, and there's more air between the layers, making instruments and vocals more discernable. I see it less as flaws in David Sitek's production, but rather the band's evolution. On the first couple listens it was obviously catchier, funkier, even sexier. Polished but still rough where it counts. My third listen on headphones is what floored me. After finishing it I felt wobbly with catharsis, like I'd spent a day traveling in an unfamiliar country with a lover, having deep conversations, getting drunk, arguing, and ending the night at 3 a.m., exhausted from intense make-up sex. The feeling wasn't diminished after my 20th listen.
"Halfway Home" starts off strong, with the droney beginning a bridge from their previous work. Tunde has expanded his range, developing a falsetto that would make Morrissey proud, and packing in more melodies. A guitar line emerges out of a Gary Numan electro pulse to some nice Surfer Rosa style distortion. "Crying" has a complex arrangement of electronic beats and sounds like recent Radiohead, but funky like Prince. This time Kyp handles the falsetto, and does so beautifully, setting up a chorus that is pure pop gold. The song slowly builds, and then fades with fabulous horns from their pals in Antibalas, the Afrobeat inspired band.
The pace quickens on "Dancing Choose" with Tunde's rapping, rapid-fire delivery that recalls R.E.M.’s "It’s the End of the World…" or even Dylan’s "Subterranean Homesick Blues.", except where the R.E.M. song is overly long and annoying, the band keeps it a short, focused blast at 2:56. The mic is tossed to Kyp again, who gets the wrench out for "Stork And Owl," grabs your heart and twists. This is where we have liftoff into "this album is incredible" territory. Kyp is on fire, reminding me of Hawksley Workman’s flamboyance that cracks with vulnerability on his first two albums. Strings are used in a perfectly balanced effect, with a nice plucked melody that recalls mid-80s Cure. "Golden Age" has an ascending exuberance that TVOTR haven’t gotten enough credit for in the past. Especially when I listened to this on the train, it gave me vertigo, assigning a rush of corresponding memories and emotions to the neighborhoods as I whizzed by. This is probably the first big single of the album.
"Family Tree" is the kind of stunning weepy ballad that Coldplay would do if they weren’t so empty. It's backed by electronically enhanced Boards Of Canada style nostalgia. The music is so stunning here it's easy to forget they are also masterful lyricists. The beautiful ruminations of childhood and family are laced with a shadow of dread and mystery. "And in the shadow of the gallows of your family tree / There's a hundred hearts soar free / Pumping blood to the roots of evil to keep it young." The album just keeps getting better as it progresses.
"Red Dress" is raucously messy, funky and noisy, like Bowie's Scary Monsters and early 80s Talking Heads, had they employed Fela Kuti's Nigeria 70. It's one of the albums lesser tracks, but it's still great. "Love Dog" is another ballad bursting with feeling. When Tunde sings "Howling hallelujah," he doesn't leave it at that. He does howl, and somehow manages to not sound ridiculous doing it. Lyrics, vocals and original sound aside, it’s the emotional response they elicit that has made them my favorite band of the decade. "Shout Me Out" is another high point. It starts out recalling the stripped down sound of the Young Liars EP, until the beat goes double time. The most amazing guitar sound comes in at the punked-out freakout part that somehow recalls both early New Order and Velvet Underground, on top of almost junglist breakbeats. Awesome. The band relishes the moment, as they can be heard shouting "Hey!" in the background. They're probably also jumping and doing scissor kicks. Guitars are more scarce on this album, but when Sitek lets loose with the squalls, it feels like a tsunami. "DLZ" keeps the energy running in the red, with a heavy Radiohead inspired dubstep beat, while Tunde rages about the "death professor." This would be the part in the live show where you see nothing but flashing white light, twitching limbs and perhaps some spraying spittle.
"Lover's Day" appropriately ends the album on a strong, elegiac note. Katrina Ford of Celebration reprises her role of contributing vocals to "Wolf Like Me." It manages to sound bittersweet, joyous and sentimental, while also letting loose bluntly unsentimental lines like "I'm gonna take you / I'm gonna shake you / I'm gonna make you come." Too late man, I did that four tracks ago. When it’s hard to choose between six tracks as the best song on the album, you know it’s a monster. It's become harder to identify classic albums in the last 15 years. Music has splintered into more and more styles and subgenres, catering to an expanding palatte of specific tastes. No longer can an album appeal universally to a majority of a generation, never mind cross-generations. Partly for those reasons, critics are afraid to go out on a limb and crow about a great album without reservations. They're forever hedging their bets, timidly saying, this might be the best album of the year. Fuck that, Dear Science, is the best album since at least 1995.
"How can I get more like this? Who sounds like TV On The Radio?" I've been asked these questions for the past five years, and now that the band as at the peak of their powers, I'm sure I'll hear it more. The answer is sorry friends, there is no one else. All the more reason to treasure these recorded documents, and catch them live every chance you get.
http://www.fastnbulbous.com/tvontheradio_dear.htm
Previous reviews:
Return To Cookie Mountain (2006)
Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004)
Comments
I like your review. But will you still wuve me if I tell you that, Wolf Like Me aside, I don't really like this band? And I'm afraid that I won't like the new album either (at least I know that I did not enjoy Shout Me Out). I think I'll try it though.
I do realize the intelligence that lays in their music, if that counts for something...
Give it a lil wuv and it wuv you back long time!
"'I'm gonna take you / I'm gonna shake you / I'm gonna make you come.' Too late man, I did that four tracks ago,"
Ahoy mateys, it's Talk Like A Pirate Day, and pretty much Autumn now. A damn fine time t' enjoy a mug o' glog, some pipin' hot mutton, and a slab o' hea'y metal, or I be a scurvy dog who ortin' t' be keel hauled!
Amon Amarth's Twilight O' The Thunder God has nearly a score o' albums, all pretty interchangeable as far as epic, melodic Swedish 'ikin' death metal goes, though this compares fa'orably t' 2004's Fate o' Norns.
Take the 'ocalist from Opeth and the guitarist from Katatonia and you'd think it would be a progressi'e wankfest less fun that a bout o' scurvy. Instead, you have a Bloodbath o' raw, thrashin' fury, perfect for swabbin' the gore off the decks after a 'icious pirate battle, aye. Fathomless Mystery it's called.
Burst's latest album Lazarus Bird is a far more clean, controlled sort o' beast. Rather than sla'erin' o'er your boots, it skulks and stalks quietly before pouncin' and slashin' with giant claw-filled paws. A fair bit more appealin' t' these long sufferin' ears than the fairly acclaimed Origo (2006).
Gama Bomb's debut on Earache, Citizen Brain is an 80s throwback reminiscent o' thrash titans Anthrax, Exodus and Nuclear Assault. The 'ocalist's yelp sound more akin t' hardcore punk, and I suspect the most appealin' thin' about the album is the co'er art. Worth at least half a gold dubloon for fans o' the genre.
As a fan o' Slayer, Me have always appreciated Haunted's homage t' that great band while still maintainin' their own 'oice and identity. While they be havin' had trouble matchin' th' glorious squalls o' Made Me Do 't (2000), Versus looks t' be a candidate fer th' proper followup after three other less than thrillin' attempts. I would keel haul th' plank any tide fer these Swedish Davy Jones' locker merchants. Even horn swogglin' landlubbers will love 't.
What t' say about Motörhead other than Lemmy continues t' be on a roll wi' his slyly evil lyrical genius. Metallica's comeaft be nay th' buried booty we all seek, but 't's nay bad. I would say Testament's Th' Formation O' Damnation has a fair bit more o' honest metal energy t' 't.
Dragonforce sounds remarkably like Journey, wi' multi-tracked vocals resemblin' a rovin' band o' lassies. Matters be improved considerably o' course when th' guitarist hits warp speed. Nay bad fer cartoon metal.
I'm still absorbin' Enslaved, Gates O' Slumber, Gorjira an' Harvey Grog. Thar's only so much metal a cap'n can digest in one sittin'. Aye, me parrot concurs.
Now this here be an album a seadog cap'n can relate t'
Comments
MOG Meter
Comments
Me likey your review, and agree (not that you need me to :P). I was lucky enough to see him on this tour, and the experience is still very vivid in my head. I think I lost a part of my brain when they performed I Let Love In, The Ship Song (with the quote "fucking demanding Greek women before it) and The Mercy Seat, and I don't want it back, no, sir. Funny, energetic, funky, haunting...one hundred and ten :)
when i'm in the mood for murder ballads, Nick Cave is #1 on my list. i'm jealous you heard "Love Letter" live!
I agree with your assessment of his music, stage by stage, and that doesn't happen very often.