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CD reviews

Murder Ballads

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads Audio CD

A fair review of the Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds "Murder Ballads" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds reviews here, or go back to the Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds tabs.

Band: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Title: Murder Ballads
Rating:

Release Date: 1996-02-20
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Song of Joy 2: Stagger Lee 3: Henry Lee 4: Lovely Creature 5: Where the Wild Roses Grow 6: Curse of Millhaven 7: Kindness of Strangers 8: Crow Jane 9: O'Malley's Bar 10: Death Is Not the End

Listen with the lights on
For those who don't know, the CD is a collection of ten songs about murder and mayhem written in the old English ballad style. I love this CD, but I wouldn't use it for a lullabye.

The songs are better than CSI to take you right to the bed where a victim lay shot through the head or the barroom where a bad guy is about to wreak havoc. Cave accomplishes this with plangent chords, screaming effects, and vocalizations that range from shouts to whispers.

"Murder Ballads" is not for people who object to strong language or violent situations. If either push your buttons, you're not going to derive full enjoyment from these songs. On the other hand, if you enjoy powerful music that sticks with you long after you've played the disk, this is a CD you are going to want.

Rebecca Kyle, October 2009.

Sleepy times......
Our Love for Nick Cave sparked alot of conversations about Nick cave music and art.
well first off Nick cave is the reason im now dating the most wonderful girl in the world. (allt hings we d and love) and one of the first nights she slept over i asked what she wanted to listen to as we fell asleep she recalled that i had said Murder Ballads was one o my favorite records to sleep to. she found this very disturbing never the less with the "sleep music" left up to me I put on murder Ballads. Its an amazing record filled with creepy and some how comforting songs about murders Now i will give it to most who have reviewed this record and saying that it is kinda creepy and Not everyone would enjoy this to sleep to. its not very calming unless you know every word to every song. and if you buy this record you will. its captivating. the one record I would buy for anyone who wanted to start listening to Nick Cave, it has songs that span his writing style. and form this you can take your favorite songs on Murder Ballads and ask any nick cave fan what record should you get next. I would say "your funeral my trial" Would be a good next buy. .

Murder Ballads
Released in 1996 Murder Ballads was the collection of music that Nick Cave had been working toward lyrically for nearly his entire career. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds-Murder Ballads ****1/2

Though they have since topped it and may have released better albums before Murder Ballads, it still stands as one of the definitive releases from the group. Always playing Lucifer's rock n' roll boyfriend he had reached his most evil and haunting here. With the help of The Bad Seeds, P. J. Harvey, Shawn McGowan, and Kylie Minogue Cave released the most consistent album of his career.

Consisting of a few cover tunes set to Caves arrangements and a ton of originals Murder Ballads is more than an album it is a down right scary experience. While sometimes laughable and sometimes relatable the contrast never tarnishes the feel.

From the homosexually offensive 'Stagger Lee' through the eerie 'Where The Wild Roses Grow' with Kylie Minogue to Broadway-ish 'Crow Jane' and the epic 'O'Malley's Bar' to the closing of the Bob Dylan cover 'Death Is Not The End' we feel that there is much more to this than an a Sweeney Todd album, Cave was welcoming God into his life with this album as he soon became a born again Christian after it's release.

Murder Ballads is essential.

Nick never lets us down

Murder Ballads is appropriately named, and an absolute delight to listen to. Nick Cave never lets his fans down and puts out exactly what they want to hear. . . . should you be of such a mind.
Nicks lyrics are harsh, but his deep tones and clear imagery paints picture after picture with music. Blood gore and mud, but put together in such a way as to delight the listener in his world.
I suppose if fine art could be made of blood, gore and mud, the paint to use would be Murder Ballads.
Nick typically sings in his usual deep serious tones, with perfectly fitting music. Its rather like Grim Fairy tales, and I mean GRIM fairy tales.
I live in a town called Milhaven,
and it's small and it's mean and it's cold.
But if you come around just as the sun goes down,
you can watch the whole thing turn to gold.
Oh, it's around then that I used to go a-roaming, singing
Lalalala, lalalalie, all God's children, they all gotta die!

Buy it.

"All things move toward their end..."
It's a strange, nightmarish album, full of backwoods serial killers, barroom brawlers, sadistic predators, and knife-wielding townies. True to its title, Murder Ballads is a collection of songs about death at its most unnatural and humanity at its darkest. Cave and his fellow travelers create a world without rules, where arguments end in stopped hearts and revenge is the only form of justice. Of course, Nick Cave being the uniquely gifted songwriter that he is, things aren't really that simple; the darker lyrical themes of these songs are balanced by humor (admittedly of the gallows variety) and a sharp eye for narrative and social commentary. This isn't violence for its own sake- Cave uses his gruesome little vignettes as a means to create atmospheres, whole worlds full of paranoia, rage, and mordant wit. When filtered through the Bad Seeds' raw, punkish versatility, it works incredibly well. "Lovely Creature" and "Crow Jane" are menacing, apocalyptic visions with lyrics that grow gradually unsettling. "O' Malley's Bar" is an epic bloodbath, anchored around a creeping electric piano riff and vocals that are simultaneously deranged and hilarious. "The Curse Of Millhaven" is nothing short of breakneck black comedy polka metal, as Cave takes on the role of an adorable fourteen-year-old girl who goes on a gleeful killing rampage. A rendition of the classic folk anthem "Stagger Lee" is a screeching goth-punk rocker with a wailing guitar and cruel vocals. "Song Of Joy" is a heavy slab of pure doom, and a rousing cover of Bob Dylan's "Death Is Not The End" closes out the proceedings on a strangely ironic note.

A few tunes do prevent this from earning top marks- "Where The Wild Roses Grow," despite probably being the album's most popular song, is a dull, somewhat tedious ballad, and "The Kindness Of Strangers" wallows in cliches, melodrama, and awkward phrasing. There's also a version of the old folk tune "Henry Lee" (no relation to Stagger) that plods along without an ounce of mystery or tension. Boo! Still, the good stuff here makes this a great purchase for fans of Nick Cave.

You can see a complete list of all Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds discography, or go back to the Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.