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CD reviews

Nocturama

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Nocturama Audio CD

A fair review of the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds "Nocturama" 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 and the Bad Seeds reviews here, or go back to the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds tabs.

Band: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Title: Nocturama
Rating:

Release Date: 2003-02-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Wonderful Life 2: He Wants You 3: Right Out Of Your Hand 4: Bring It On 5: Dead Man In My Bed 6: Still In Love 7: There Is A Town 8: Rock Of Gibraltar 9: She Passed By My Window 10: Babe, I'm On Fire

I'll keep it short and sweet...
To all the reviewers writing monologues, you're covered in this song - "Babe you're on Fire". A great album and worth every penny namely for the last track - there's a reason it's 14 minutes long, give it a listen (not to sell short the other tracks, many good songs here).

I'm sorry but, I loved it.
I was expecting, from the mild and somewhat disapointed reviews of fellow fans, a much lamer album. Given, I'm only a fairly recent (last 2-3 years) Nick Cave fan, and only own 8 of his albums (including Abbatior Blues/Lyre Live and B-Sides), but I loved this album. If your looking for another "First Born Is Dead" (one of my favorites), then you may be disapointed, but as for a smooth transition from the intensely moody No More Shall We Part to the more objective and interested Abbatior/Lyre albums, this is a winner. It has a few of his best songs on it, like Wonderful Life and Bring It On, and the insane, only-Nick-Cave-could-have-written Babe, I'm On Fire, and is just another great collection of the amazing unique brilliance that is Nick Cave. But then again, to be perfectly fair, maybe I'm TOO biased. I almost think that he can't make anything bad, if he tried.

I love everything I've ever heard of his, this album included. Enjoy!.

Not your average Bad Seeds ... but amazing
But I really think this album is the next logical step in Nick's progression, and it strikes so many chords within me personally. I freely admit that I'm on the mellower side of most Nick fans - I love the man for his lyrical brilliance and his innovations, not for his songs that sound like he's playing the guitar with his teeth. Murder Ballads was my favourite Nick album until I found this, and just . . . WOW.

The album starts out with "Wonderful Life," which is one of the most amazing alt-rock songs I've heard in years, with its dark lyrics and the persistent piano throughout. There are low points - "Babe, I'm On Fire" frankly bores me, and songs like "Right Out Of Your Hand" and "Still In Love" are a little bland. But for every miss, there's a startling bull's eye. "He Wants You" is aching and gorgeous in the way that "Brompton Oratory" pulls me, and songs like "Bring it On" and "Dead Man In My Bed" are a little crunchier, a little rockier. "Rock of Gibraltar" is easily my favourite song, though that might be because it's somewhat personal to me. Still. The piano is what kills me, and it's what has kept Nocturama in my player on constant repeat.

For those of you who like The Birthday Party and Cave pre-LET LOVE IN, this isn't for you. If you're a fan of the man and his more mature work, then get this, and fast. You won't regret it. .

solid Cave that's a pleasure to listen to
Compared to other albums, _Nocturama_ is without doubt a little clean-cut (I was inspired to that comment by the profile shot of Cave on the cover, his lack of chin quite distinctive). Nick Cave is, of course, legend, but I wonder sometimes if such following is at times rather stifling. And I think some of the nay-saying on this album stems from those who would prefer that Cave and the Seeds simply keep doing what they like.

There aren't the clearly disturbing tones of work that has sealed his legendary status, though "Dead Man in My Bed" and "Babe, I'm on Fire" are knee-numbing sonic assaults, and I will freely admit to an earlier reviewer that tracks like "Rock of Gibraltar" are pretty abyssmal, but I have to credit this album for songs like "Bring It On" and "Wonderful Life," which keep happily popping up in my iTunes mix. Maybe a little more standard than other Cave stuff, but even if so, they are solid tracks that give me a little charge when they play.

No doubt, some of Cave's notoriety is for making dissonance in sound and tone an art form, but some of these tracks reaffirm that he makes the sounds he does not because of a lack of ability, for when the man wants to bring it all together, he does so without stutter. I'll keep playing my favorites on this album for a long time.
.

Not bad from an outsider's perspective
I've seen a lot about this being "mediocre compared to" and, even more, the use of the phrase "treading water", and it's possible this is the case. It seems that most of the reviews I've read of this album - most of which have been fairly negative, or at least somewhat indicative of a certain level of disappointment - have been written from the clear perspective of fans of Nick Cave, or at least people who have previously been impressed with his earlier masterpieces. Being historically familiar with Cave and the Birthday party, but never having heard more than a track off of a few of his later records (specifically Boatman's Call and Lyre of Orpheus), I feel somewhat priveleged to be one of the few reviewers here who has heard Nocturama (which I bought based on its inclusion in the Mojo Collection book) fully objectively, but nevertheless my feelings aren't too far removed from those of my peers.

I was enchanted with this record upon first listen, particularly from the gorgeously gloomy opening track, "Wonderful Life", which sounds exactly as I would've imagined Nick Cave does, but softer. It's enchanting in the same late-night, pseudo-occult way that Tom Waits is, and all seven minutes compose what remains one of the most impressive tracks on the album. And it's true, all but three tracks follow this slow, brooding and occasionally beautiful template. Most work, at least partially, and I'm particularly fond of "He Wants You" (which is Cohenesquely lovely, and that second chorus note Cave hits sends me), and to a lesser degree the pretty "Right Out Of Your Hand". Nevertheless, this languid and tranquil approach proves a little monotonous around the second half, as Cave drags lyrics not always deserving of such attention over seemingly formless melodies, only to arrive at a mere sliver of a chorus - witness "Still In Love", the vaguely Nine Inch Nails-sounding "There Is A Town", and the short, bare-bones "She Passed By My Window", all acceptable, none terribly riveting.

The heavier tracks, nevertheless, are just about everything they're made out to be. "Bring It On" is a beautiful, dramatic centerpiece for the first half, sounding vaguely like Achtung Baby-era U2 but nevertheless proving as gothically effective as everything that surrounds it. This is largely due to the talents of the Bad Seeds, which are unquestionable throughout the album, and Nick himself, a marvelous vocalist whose somewhat convoluted lyrics can weigh a record like this down if they're read on their own. History goes that Nocturama was written in a very short period of time, and that loose verve the band brings to all of the tracks fuels it more than the quality of the songs they're playing.

Of the two other, more vicerally hard-rocking tracks, "Dead Man In My Bed" is a tad silly lyrically (granted, probably intentionally), but otherwise ominous and driving enough to qualify as an excellent way to spend four-and-a-half minutes. There's a delightful, raw power to this and its counterpart, the fourteen-minute closer "Babe I'm On Fire" that everybody singles out, and it's a lot more fun to hear Cave and his band having a great time with an alright, upbeat song than struggling to create an atmosphere with an alright, lethargic one. "Babe I'm On Fire" remains my favorite track on the album, even after having read all 38 (not 43 or 42) verses, some of which bring the slightest semblances of winces to the corners of my mouth ("the poor Pakistani/with his lamb Bhirriani"? Dylanesque maybe, but I've never been quite so subtly bothered by any of Blonde On Blonde's tossed-off lyrical asides). The group holds its terrific own throughout, particularly Thomas Wydler, keeping a steady, manic beat with inhuman consistency for well over ten minutes (an accomplishment which brings to mind Can's "Halleluwah"). Again, Nick's striking vocalizations of sometimes questionable lyrics - and sometimes brilliant ones - drive this one home, and I'm never bored once, which has never happened to me with a Pink Floyd track. Even if Nocturama is not a great album per se, "Babe I'm On Fire" is indeed a marked achievment, and it does make everything that led up to it seem more than necessary.

Overall, Nocturama was very worth my time, and a fair introduction to Nick Cave - one that will probably make his better albums seem far more impressive by comparison. I'd like to give it a 3. 5, maybe more realistically a 3. 25, but in increments of stars, three seems most appropriate to how I feel about it. The seams show, some songs merely do not succeed at sticking in the craw or sending me with genius, but there are shards of genius lying all over this record - and more than several times, I find myself stepping on one, and beautifully bleeding.

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