Hey everyone! Happy Halloween to those who care and welcome to album club week 6!
I was searching for something vaguely Halloween related to discuss this week and came across Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ album Murder Ballads which is an appropriately named album of murder ballads!
Give it a fresh listen! Tell us your favorite song or tell us what you like or don’t like about it. Or discuss whatever you want related to the album or Nick Cave in general. This will stay pinned for a few days so feel free to take your time.
And then please give some suggestions for what albums we should discuss in the future!
Upcoming
11/7 - Broken Social Scene - You Forget It In People (2003)
11/14 - TBD
Some facts about the album that I stole from Wikipedia.
Stagger Lee and Henry Lee are both considered traditional folk songs that were reimagined by Cave. And Death is Not the End is a Bob Dylan cover. The rest of the songs are originals.
The duet with Kylie Minogue Where the Wild Roses Grow received a lot of attention on MTV and Cave was even nominated for best male artist that year. He requested that his nomination be withdrawn because he didn’t want people to buy the album based on the Kylie song.
I haven’t really listened to much Nick Cave beyond his last 2 or 3 albums and the song Red Right Hand (Thanks Peaky Blinders). So this is the first time I have heard Murder Ballads.
My first impression is that his voice and delivery is absolutely perfect for these gruesome lyrics. I wish there weren’t any features on this album. I love PJ Harvey but her song and the song with Kylie kinda fell flat for me. They pulled me out of the atmosphere that Cave’s voice pulls you into.
I really liked Song of Joy. A great opener for this album. The atmosphere is established right away and it gives you an idea of what to expect with the rest of the album.
Then Stagger Lee is next and it elevates the gruesomeness to the next level. Maybe a bit too much for some people. But what do you expect with an album called Murder Ballads. I really like the reggae style of this song. It was unexpected and really cool.
My favorite song was O’Malley’s Bar. I wasn’t sure at first when I saw that it was 15 minutes. But Cave utilizes the entire 15 minutes to tell a great story. That song probably sucked me into the storytelling the most with the amount of detail he was able to provide.
And then the album concludes with a cover of Death is not the End which I found to be kinda hilarious given the context of the rest of the album.