release date: Sep. 20, 2004
format: 2 cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,34]
producer: Nick Launay, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
label: Mute Records - nationality: Australia
Track highlights, Disc 1 'Abattoir Blues': 1. "Get Ready for Love" - 3. "Hiding All Away" - 6. "Nature Boy" - 8. "Let the Bells Ring"
Disc 2 'The Lyre of Orpheus': 3. "Babe, You Turn Me On" - 4. "Easy Money" - 5. "Supernaturally"
13th studio album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds is a two-disc album - disc one titled "Abattoir Blues" (containing 9 tracks) and disc two "The Lyre of Orpheus" (containing 8 tracks). The album is the first by The Bad Seeds without Blixa Bargeld, who is replaced by British guitarist and organist James Johnston. NC&TBS is here an octet consisting of Nick Cave, Martyn P. Casey, Warren Ellis, Mick Harvey, James Johnston, Conway Savage, and with Jim Sclavunos playing drums and percussion on "Abbattoir Blues", while Thomas Wydler does this on "The Lyre of Orpheus".
Although, having the same producer as the predecessor Nocturama from 2003 the sound and style of the new double album differs considerably, at first sight, in being a more aggressive and almost garage rock album forecasting the 2008 album Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!. It's not all uptempo aggression on these 17 tracks, and without simplifying things too much, it could be compared to a fusion of what NC&TBS have released in the past 20 years or so - there are both slow ballads, blues rock anthems, reminiscences of both art rock and post-punk, and the ever-presence of singer / songwriter material, but the overall impression is that of a fusion of styles, and I'm not totally impressed nor entirely disappointed. "Abbattoir Blues" is the rock & roll of gothic rock whereas "The Lyre of Orpheus" is the singer / songwriter part of it, and which is why there are two distinctive parts on two separate discs. The whole album may reflect the two-coined face of The Bad Seeds in more than one way. They cannot skip the aggressive punk roots, and instead of releasing an album that is either what they have been doing on the last 4 albums, or doing what they do on their 2008 album by succumbing to more steamy rock, they "simply" choose both.
However well-produced and well-orchestrated - in every aspect - this album turns out, it's a rather big mouthful to swallow. It's pretentiousness without disguise - but hasn't it always been that with Nick Cave?! Yes, only here, perhaps even more boldly, which in a way says quite a bit. One has to be in the right mood to digest this album, but it functions on many levels, and it's really impressive how they managed to assemble and record all this varied material in less than a fortnight [as producer Nick Launay explains].
The album was generally met by positive reviews, and it's included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" - I like it, it's goood, though, I don't find it really great, and I just find that the great songs are missing on account of lesser compositions. I won't call it essential - not even in a Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds discography context.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Blender, Q 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5, The Guardian, Mojo 5 / 5 stars ]
