Henry's Dream

Damn that Nick Cave sure is a wife stealer (me. I'm the wife)

18th September 2023 Catching up, I’m a week behind due to having Stu and Laura staying with us.

That’s enough Nick Cave, okay?

This is the third Nick Cave album on the list, and second I've had in 3 days. I'm still traumatized from Murder Ballads a couple of days ago so please be understanding of the brevity of this review as I struggle to recover. I liked it, and feel a little dirty about that.

I love Nick Cave. His lyrics are some of the best and most inspiring I have ever heard and belong on one level with Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and David Bowie. Although this isn't his strongest album by any means (mostly because of a couple of songs on the second half) the songs that DO stand out are some of his best. The mix of Punk Blues and Folk Rock work very well. favourites: Papa Won't Leave You Henry, I Had a Dream Joe, Straight To You, Brother My Cup is Empty, John Finn's Wife, Jack the Ripper least fav.: When I First Came to Town (if I HAD to pick) Rating: light 9

Interesting - kind of a mix of Warren zevon meets rocky horror picture show. Solo drive to Worcester for rogers surprise party

This so called "must listen" list is filled with TOO MUCH old white male GARBAGE. If these boring tracks only made it here because they're beloved by middle-aged American guys, why not swap them for more Taylor Swift? At least her music is vivid, and even in her worst music she's enough genuine. As for this album itself, it's better than Oasis, but that's about it.

This one was a slog for me. I know so many people who absolutely love Nick Cave, and I trust their musical tastes, but I've never been able to get into him. This is maudlin, overblown and just so overwrought that I can't help but dislike it. The lyrics are weaker than I expected, and the songs themselves all sound like something out of a Sweeney Todd-esque Broadway show. Not for me at all.

4/10. There's a reason they aren't called the good seeds

This is third Nick Cave album I’ve gotten from the generator and I’ve deeply hated all of them. I was in a bad mood when I turned this on, which was when I had just left 80 hours of social interaction (and I’m an introvert), including work and family. I thought this would make my bad mood worse but actually, knowing I already hate Nick Cave and therefore feeling no pressure to enjoy it, I felt free to let the irritation of everything wash over me, and it actually kind of made my bad mood dissipate. I’d give it one star but I’ll give them credit for making me feel better, and also because the band being called The Bad Seeds is so good.

i’m not going to nitpick this is a stone masterpiece

This is a great album. I'm finding it hard to pinpoint a favourite track so I guess I'll have to listen to it again... and again.

Maybe occasionally let the music breathe and stop inserting your Nick Cave-ness into everything. Nice album otherwise, but by the end, it's too much. Best track: John Finn's Wife

Nick Cave is an odd dude. I think this is my 4th or 5th album by him so far. For me, he has one of the best and one of the worst albums on this list. This one's good and gets better with repeated listens.

While not strictly a country album, Nick Cave channels the gothic country themes in order to convey his dark, unrelenting folk punk sound. There's an heavy theatrical element to each song which carries a narrative ballads that almost certainly influenced the likes of Murder Ballads a few years later. If anything has been clear to me since hearing Nick Cave's work, it's that he is consistent in his ability to deliver interesting, high-quality albums.

This dude is dark

I hadn't heard this album before but it's fascinating and friendly on the ear. I came late to Nick Cave. I found The Birthday Party "difficult" so kind of overlooked his following career. This is a great example of his work - an artist and a musician and a really interesting voice but what stands out is his way with words. One of the great lyricists of this era and able to tell a story in music.

I like the storytelling on here, and the atmosphere that the band and Nick Cave creates. I am not sure if I think this is as good as, or better than, for example Let Love In, Abattoir Blues or The Boatman’s Call which are the other albums that I know from Nick Cave and band

I can’t dislike Nick Cave, he’s clearly talented and never seems to rest on his laurels - his albums are always ambitious, thematic and purposeful. I also can’t love him the way so many others do. His music, by and large, just doesn’t quite hit the right spot for me.

Our fourth and final Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album sent me on a reflective journey through our group’s experience with the Caveman. (Do his fans call him that? They totally should.) I really didn’t care for “Murder Ballads” or “The Boatman’s Call.” I definitely listened to “Abattoir Blues” 650 albums ago, but never reviewed it. Our group as a whole though clearly didn’t care for Nick Cave, especially his vocals. But perhaps one of us understood: pretentiousass on Nick Cave’s “The Boatman’s Call” - “Nick Cave seems like he lives in a dirty dive bar and chain smokes Winstons with his band. He is stressed and oppressed by the world above him. Down here, he owns his domain. He's thoughtful and means every word he breathes. The first listen was joyless and settled me down in a chair of disappointment... Nick, go outside and spend some time in the sun, buddy, that bar is killing you.” Spoken like a true Caveman. But I get it now. Sort of. Maybe the vocals on “Henry’s Dream” are better than “Murder Ballads” or “The Boatman’s Call?” The instrumentation, which hellyeah has some appreciation for, isn’t drowned out by the chain-smoking moans the way I remember from those other two albums. But I’m not willing to go back to them to see if my judgment and memory was clouded by the dirty dive bar. I was willing to go back to “Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus.” The vocals were also not as terrible as I’d feared. I remember disliking the album, but we were only 60 albums in, and I hadn’t been subjected to as many awful entries as I have now. Maybe my perspective has shifted. The arrangements and back-up singing on “Abattoir Blues” made me imagine some kind of weird musical set in the aforementioned dive bar. Ultimately, only the biggest Cavemen would think Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds deserve four albums on the list. But I think I’d be ok with “Henry’s Dream” and “Abattoir Blues” remaining.

That was just….I don’t really care for Nick Cave and I’m over listening to his albums on this list. Speaking of this list, the more average or bad albums I hear, the more I wonder why the fuck I’m following along.

Nick Cave invents goth country and considers it an abject failure. that's the type of guy you're dealing with -- in a relentless struggle with Neil Young's producer of some 20+ years, he invents a genre that seems like a no-brainer when you consider it (melding the godliness of country with the creepiness of post-punk, either by lyric or sound) and then when asked a few decades later says "oh yeah that record kinda disappoints me". something haunts "Henry's Dream", not some supernatural spirit or ideology, but rather this inescapable misery of the open road. the bass hums like a red neon sign, flickering light in the shampe of a smiling cowboy on the empty horizon. Nick wails every lyric like he's screaming for his supper of whiskey in the last bar that'll serve him, offering tales to anyone willing to spare a couple of quarters. we tour America like jittering flies on a supine coyote, too old to keep going down the road. why do childhood cancer funds always name themselves [so and so]'s Dream? do you think your son would have wanted to be the poster boy of dying children? what would it be like for a miracle from God to happen and there still being a cancer foundation named after you? how would it feel to be dead to every stranger but yourself?

I really like it when the lyrical subject matter is so different from the music. Like death metal about love. I like the grim and gross lyrics against the bluesy and theatric music.

Asking me to rate this album objectively is a lost cause. For many years, I’ve simply loved it. The songwriting and production are one of a kind, but what hypnotizes me is Nick’s delivery, so passionate and vulnerable. More than an album, Henry’s Dream is an experience. A goth tale with Dickensian characters.

Theatrical, thrilling, thought-provoking.

Magical. Loved every note.

I was initially surprised to see this particular album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on the list instead of some others. For some reason, I had overlooked this album for a long time. However, I now realize that I was completely wrong to do so. This album showcases Cave & The Bad Seeds at their best. It takes you deep inside the world of characters that Cave has created. It's sometimes haunting, sometimes boisterous, and sometimes just plain intense. Standout tracks include the opener "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry," the apocalyptic ballad "Straight To You," and "John Finn's Wife," which might have just become my favorite Bad Seeds song. A thundering and menacing story, both in terms of music and text. The setting of a wedding in Australia in the late 19th century. The bride's entry onto the dance floor: "And in she came with legs like scissors and butcher's knives, a tattooed breast and flaming eyes and a crimson carnation in her teeth, carving her way through the dance floor." It sets the tone with that incredible violin throughout. This will probably remain my favourite Cave song for a long time! Superb album.

This is my second Nick Cave album in 3 days and I gotta say, he's kinda nice with it

There is an intensity to a bad seeds album that is completely unique This is unrelenting Only kept off 5 by the greater albums they would later make

When I started this challenge almost 3 years ago, I barely recognized the name Nick Cave as "someone famous for some reason that I'm unsure, but probably related to music." Now, after noting that the list has a lot of his work (with Bad Seeds and also others), I consider myself an almost specialist in Cave's work 😅. Their works are normally very different between them, which is nice, even being very unexpected sometimes. This one I consider quite classic Nick Cave, which is pretty nice to me, so 4 stars from a new almost fan.

As much as I love Nick Cave to death, I’ve always kind of wrestled with and never been able to reconcile how to feel about the violence (and sometimes misogynistic or homophobic violence) in his (earlier) music. I think there has to be a place for storytelling of all types (including the vulgar, aggressive, uncomfortable, etc.) in art and media, but also acknowledging some of it is pretty awful to listen to and not to be celebrated or excused. As I said, I don’t really know and probably never will, but interesting to consider. Anyway, Straight to You is always gorgeous, a perfect song. (3.5 stars)

Loved the gritty, baritone singing, the use of slow and fast/quiet and aggressive dynamics within songs, the storytelling lyrics. I think this will stick in my head the same way Rain Dogs from Tom Waits did as a unique and compelling album to come back to. 4.5 stars.

Great background while scrolling Breaking Bad Reddit

The first Nick Cave album I ever heard, back when it came out. Didn't get what the fuss was about, 30 years later it still sounds like a 2nd tier album. Hopefully we get much better ones later in this list (Let Love In in particular) as he's pretty great when on form. Makes a decent cuppa too

Score-wise, this one's pretty easy: Yet another Nick Cave album; Accept the plank-lump to the head and move forward in music. That said, Henry's Dream does something constructive to the discography, goes past reinforcement of Bad Seeds tropes. The album emphasizes the polarity which drives the band through time. Papa Won't Leave You, Henry is a disintegrating, polluting, motorized contraption that all but cries to be built upon, but it isn't (in noise at least) til the record is about to end. Quieter songs, less typical of the band but also somehow its zenith, sit between. The analysis is, then, that Henry's Dream sketches the outline of a rich universe of sound. But that analysis fails by starting too big: The record itself is more of a growing thing, and its life's arrow points in both or all time-directions.

This album starts off rough, and I really wasn't in the mood for it. But as the album progresses, it's actually quite good. On a good day Nick Cave can be challenging, and this album is in line with what you might expect in a good Cave album. The songs are raw and dense, frequently unsettling and grim, but with surprising moments of haunting loveliness. Fave Songs: Straight to You; When I First Came to Town; I Had a Dream, Joe; Loom of the Land; Jack the Ripper

actually I'd have been quite okay dying not having heard nick cave's entire discography

I have never heard of Nick Cave before, but apparently he’s pretty popular and has been around forever. Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry is the opener and it’s a trip, but for some reason it gave me strong “the bones are their money” vibes (and picturing Tim Robinson singing the song is hard to come back from). “Straight to You” sounded like generic Bruce Springsteen to me. “Christina the Astonishing” had some Father John Misty vibes. “John Finn’s Wife” was mediocre but I kind of liked the end, so that’s something. It seems like his discography is all over the board, so I’m a bit curious to listen to more of his stuff. This one is not really doing it for me though. It just feels like someone doing a country western bit, I’m struggling to take it seriously. I’m hearing some similarities in the vibe with Tom Waits (who I also discovered through this, have only listened to one album, and did not like). Willing to give them both more of a chance though, maybe I’ll come around. Favorite song: Loom of the Land Other: Papa Won’t Leave You Henry, Christina the Astonishing, John Finn’s Wife

Great album! Big Cave fan.

Well — I was sure surprised. Nick Cave is another artist I thought I had a good handle on. I mean, I'd heard his song on the SHREK 2 soundtrack (yep, he's another one of those). I'd heard all about the album that song comes from, THE BOATMAN'S CALL. He's a guy who makes sad piano songs — or at least just melancholic or depressing. I knew what I'd be getting into here. My first clue that I actually had no idea what I was in for was when I read this album's Wikipedia page and saw it labelled as "punk blues." I had to read it again: "punk blues." It just didn't sound right to me. My assumption, honestly, was that this was some one-off change-of-sound album. Y'know, an experiment, maybe. Everything else probably still sounded as I expected this, but for this one album they were trying something else. And when I finally got around to giving it a shot... Oh, wowie me. The first word my mind conjured within the first three tracks was "epic." That's really how it sounded to me, with its driving riff and orchestration and how the backing vocals accentuated everything... I was a little stunned for a moment. This was incredible. Completely and truly incredible. This is some of the stuff Nick Cave & His Bad Seeds were doing, and I'm only just now finding out? Honestly now. I wanna highlight "John Finn's Wife" especially; now **that** is a song worthy of the word "epic" if I ever heard one. And to be clear, I mean in the sense of how I perceive size and scope, and not so much in the standard "meaningless synonym for amazing" kind of way. And actually, as the album went on, "epic" kind of felt insufficient to describe the album as a whole. I struggled to find the right one for a moment, but in the middle of "Loom Of The Land", it finally hit me: "cinematic." The songs on this album feel grandly cinematic. Even hardly listening to the lyrics like I normally don't, I could only imagine these songs being projected on a large theater screen, playing out as dramatically as they could without running over into straight parody. Like, goodness, I wanna emphasize again: this was all from the guy and band I knew solely for "People Ain't No Good". Who would've known they were capable of this? The answer: most people, probably. If there's anything this album taught me, it's that I got it all backwards. THE BOATMAN'S CALL, as it turns out, is where the band's sound actually changed. HENRY'S DREAM, meanwhile, is more likely what they sounded like before that point. Well, maybe a little less post-punk (yecch) than I've been reading, but still. And not that this group even has just one sound, anyway; it seems more recent albums have dived into electronic and ambient stuff. But we're talking about this album, and as an introduction to what Nick Cave & His Bad Seeds were capable of beyond that one song from SHREK 2... Well, dang. Consider me intrigued to see what the rest of their catalog has to offer. Handily a solid recommendation from me, and yet more proof after Tom Waits that the SHREK 2 soundtrack seal of approval is a real thing. Well, it's real as long as I don't listen any further to Dashboard Confessional, anyway.

goth-punk-blues magnificence incredible live too

Great fucking album, lots of good, strong choruses here

Favorite songs: "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry", John Finn's Wife, "Brother, My Cup is Empty", "I Had a Dream, Joe", Loom of the Land, Jack the Ripper, Straight to You Least favorite songs: Christina the Astonishing 5/5

After one listen, this album feels like it's right on the 4/5 border for me. It's hard to give out 5's in general, and especially when I've only heard each song once as background music. I really enjoyed my time with this album though, so I guess I'll round up. 4.5

Album number 7 for Nick with the Bad Seeds, and this is the one where it all comes together. Nick Cave is the Quentin Tarantino of Indie Rock - master storyteller of blood soaked dramas. Great songwriter - and (unlike Dylan/Cohen/Young) blessed with a fine voice. The Bad Seeds through their various incarnations have always been a blistering force of nature. Live they are a beast, and I was lucky enough to see them perform some of this album in 1993 with Nick prowling and scowling in the Adelaide heat. Have seen him a dozen times since, and the Bad Seeds have changed over time, but this incarnation features members who appear elsewhere in the 1001 - Mick Harvey (later features with PJ Harvey, Martin P Casey (Triffids), and Bliza Bargeld (Einstürzende Neubauten). Previous albums were a mixed bag. The Good Son shines with The Weeping Song and the Ship Song, and Tender Prey with Mercy Seat and Deanna. Henry's Dream is just about all winners. Arrangements are dense and lush but not at all soft. Nick does get mellow later on, but this phase for me is peak angry Nick and I'm here for all that he'll give.

Cool as fuck.

Pues muy chulo. Un 5 por las últimas canciones.

Nästan alla hans skivor skulle platsa på den här listan. Denna är inte favoriten men det finns inte en enda dålig låt på den.

I admire how Nick doesn't give a fuck about what anyone wants. He manages to do his own thing every swing out, and it's always gripping. Love the music or hate it, you have to admire how Bad Seeds albums take you to another world; a noir western world with a seedy underbelly.

What's not to love? This is brilliant.

Nick Cave is an artist that I've slowly started getting into over the past 5 years or so. I first listened to Skeleton Tree after it came out to great acclaim, and I've listened to his newest albums as they've come out and to old albums here and there. I like his new albums quite a lot, but as they are very heavy in subject matter (sadly, lots of death and tragedy in Cave's life recently) it's been hard to go back to them a lot. His earliest records with the Bad Seeds in the 80's haven't been my favorite, and probably require some more listening. As far as I can remember, I don't think I've listened to his albums from the 90's until this one. Boy, I've been missing out. Henry's Dream is easily my favorite Bad Seeds record: it's outstanding. From the moment things pick up in opener Papa Won't Leave You Henry its apparent that this is going to be a wild ride. What a tremendous opener that song is. These are dark, violent stories. They're told as only Nick Cave can, and his delivery is the best that I've heard on this album. Straight to You is a fantastic love song, and a highlight on the front half along with the opener. The back half, specifically the last three songs, is where things go from great to sublime. John Finn's Wife is possibly my favorite Nick Cave song now (along with Papa Won't Leave You Henry), what a tale it is of danger, lust/adultery, and violence. It's a masterpiece in itself that could be the basis of a good movie. Loom of the Land is also fantastic, and the closer Jack the Ripper is an audacious romper of a song about a suboptimal partner. So this is the Nick Cave I've been looking for. I'm looking forward to exploring his other 90's outputs as soon as possible.

Cave at the top of his game

Pues muy chulo. Un 5 por las últimas canciones.

Tyler Mahan Coe once said that Nick Cave is "gospel music for everyone who's mad". It's pithy but true for a lot of Nick Cave's music, and it might be most apparent on this album which manages to somehow be condensed and grandiose at the same time. It plays out like any good church service, doesn't it? Songs like "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry" and "John Finn's Wife" leave me feeling sweaty, somehow, while songs like "Straight to You" leave me reaching my hands out to heaven. If only every preacher was as good as Nick Cave.

Wasn’t sure if I’d like it but it is excellent

Good, irreverent like a fiery preacher from hell, Nick Cave tears through this record with gusto. It’s some of his most entertaining of the records on this list so far - and I could not find any fault with it. Lovely.

A work of genius, with every song showing a new side of the band. I am fully converted to the cult of Cave, and look forward to hearing more from them - either on the list or once I am finished

Pues muy chulo. Un 5 por las últimas canciones.

One of my favorite Nick Cave albums, and I love all of them.

Amazing Album, unique, raw, sensitive, punchy, profound, stupid music that makes no apologies and hits every mark

Brutal

Made up my mind that I didn’t like it but found this album fantastic. Why? I don’t know.

God damn Nick Cave does it every time, keep thinking "he's ok but not really my thing" and then the album blows me away every time.

Jeg har svært ved helt at sætte fingeren på hvad det er jeg elsker ved Nick Cave (og The Bad Seeds). Måske er det den eksperimenterende, legende tilgang til musikken. Intet er helligt her. Det kan også være at det er det dystre univers musikken fremmaner, og de fantastiske historier Cave fortæller i lyrikken. Det er nok begge dele, men at det hele præsenteres af en mand, som er så cool som ingen andre, på en måde som kun han kan være cool på.

I haven't listened to this in a long time but this might be my favorite from Nick Cave. Wouldn't skip a song.

Espetacular sentir o encantamento da criação musical.

The man does not miss. Henry's Dream strikes a perfect balance between the manic start and the more atmospheric tracks towards the end of the album. Cave's vocals have never been better.

I probably say this each time I listen to an album from their discography, but this is an absolute highlight. Cave’s vocals are mesmerizing and filled with emotions, the songwriting is brilliant throughout and the balance between The Bad Seeds being maniacs and the more calm, atmospheric songs taking over is perfect.

Loved it. Every song tells a story and they are catchy as well.

Dark, dancy and fancy.

I am afraid now.

Hearing this again sent me into a week long Bad Seeds binge and when I resurfaced my project at 1001 Albums Generator has been paused due to low activity. This is a very strange and haunting but wonderful take on accepting fatherhood and getting used to a life without addiction. That is how I saw it anyway. So much regret mixed with hope.

One of the best albums of NC & BS - non-stop classic Nick Cave songs.

It took two listens, but I can confirm this is still a great album.

This contains everything that is great about a Nick Cave record. Dark themes, raw emotion, dense story telling, and instantly striking, engaging and brilliant songs. This record is the most 'Nick Cave doing the standard Nick Cave thing' album that I've come across. Fortunately, the standard Nick Cave thing is really compelling. Rating: 5/5 Playlist track: Papa Won't Leave You, Henry Date listened: 31/01/24

10/10 at this point I’m convinced Nick Cave is incapable of making a bad album

It's been Cave month. Yesterday was The Boatman's Call while Murder Ballads was only a couple of weeks ago. This one definitely fits with Murder Ballads as he tells dark stories to a noisy, yet musical backing. The only relation to Boatman's Call is his voice and his incredible poetry. Generally the nastier the song, the more poetic the lyrics. He is a true genius.

The best I have listened to for a long time

I feel like this album especially, you can hear how much he loves Elvis and Gospel music. Especially at the beginning of the album, he seems to just switch back and forth between Elvis-y songs and a Gospel-y songs

This is our fourth Nick Cave album, so the phrasing in the first song sounded familiar, but since this LP was released before the others, I can’t say his sound or his “scab-picking” lyrics are getting stale. The song-writing is stronger than the “The Boatman’s Call” and “Murder Ballads”, though on the latter, there were many standards. “Henry’s Dream”, on the other is full of originals that sound like they could be standards, the first three tracks especially. Cave is one of the great poets of this generation, and like Dylan and Neil Young before him, a lot of the gritty characters in the songs sound like they're right out of the old west, or in Nick's case case, the outback. Michael

Another Nick Cave album on the list and of course I love it. One might wonder why it is Henry's Dream of all the albums because Nick and the band often talked about some dissatisfaction with the production as well as the musical direction. Originally, Nick wanted it all to sound like Brazilian raw street music, raw and estatic use of acoustic guitars etc. What came out of it was a bit different but still one can see the ideas behind it. Dark energy, American gothic landscapes and obscure characters. Never has Nick Cave more been the dark preacher character than here. My favourite song is one of the quietest though: "Christina the Astonishing" with its medieval vibes tells the story of a saintly woman that hates sin. But let's face it, every track is great on its own and "Straight To You" one of Nick's best love songs.

LOVE

82m Papa wont leave !, i had a dream Joe, straight to you, brother my cup !,

So Nick Cave has been pretty inconsistent for me, having said that and looking back at my scores, I've liked more than I havent. Fortunately this falls into the liked category. It starts off by kicking you in the face with Papa won't you leave and just keeps momentum the entire way. It doesn't out stay its welcome, it a 5 from me

Nick Cave has gotta be one of the most consistent songwriters around. 5 decades of music and not a single bad album. I don’t QUITE think this one surpasses murder ballads or let love in for me but still, damn.

the

Loved it.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds never go below a certain level (with very small exception). Henry's Dream is a really good album with a fantastic music and excellent lyrics and vocal, as always. Some great songs, and few at least average, but always pleasant to hear. Nick Cave and the band has a really diverse discography, which one has to admire.

After yesterday's Limp Bizkit encounter I was glad to get some Nick Cave. It's a 5 because Nick is great, but after suffering through Fred Durst almost anything would sound good. This is for real very, very good though.

So fun to listen to. There was so much to love about this album. So creative and interesting!

This was a fun wild romp, this is the Nick Cave I Nick Crave.

Well damn - thought I was familiar with all of The Bad Seeds' discography, but somehow this one slipped through the cracks and I don't think I've ever listened to it before!? It's in a similar vein to "Murder Ballads", so I am extremely well disposed towards it from the jump. Fave tracks - loved the rough edges of "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry" and "Brother, My Cup is Empty" - also liked the occult portent of "Christina the Astonishing" and "I Had a Dream, Joe". Well definitely be racking up more listens of this - it's like discovering an easter egg that's a whole new level of a game you love!

papa wont leave you, henry- 8. why did he eat so hard i had a dream, joe- 7 straight to you- 7 brother, my cup is empty- 7 christina the astonishing- its giving agnes. 7 when i first came to town- 6 or 7 john finns wife- 7 loom of the land- 6 or 7 jack the ripper- 7 thank you, nick 🙏🙏🙏

I get why this is labeled under "Punk Blues" on the Wikipedia page for this album. 4.5 bumped down to 4.

I’m at a 4. This is my first time listening to Nick Cave, who I’ve heard *of*, but never *heard* until now. For a first impression, I think this is pretty good – lots of heavier but very intentionally designed soundscapes, some good grit in the vocals, and a nice progression throughout a lot of the tracks that keeps them as captivating listens. I don’t think there’s ever a bad song here, & for the most part, I enjoyed a lot of this album. The big key issue I have with this album is about some of the storytelling on a handful of tracks on the back half, specifically Tracks 6, 8, & 9. It’s not that the songwriting is necessarily bad, but they each have their own issues that keep each track from feeling very satisfying, dragging out the 41 minute runtime of the album into something that feels longer. “When I First Came To Town” is a great listen, but the lack of a reveal for why exactly all these townsfolk have turned on the guy leaves it feeling empty for me, combined with the soundscape getting a bit sterile within the last minute or two, reaching the peak of intensity just early enough to overstay its welcome. “Loom of the Land” suffers from a lot of the same issues, enhanced further by the story in the track just not being very interesting. “Jack the Ripper” sort of suffers from these same things, but my issue there is more so that the big intense buildup in each instrumental just feels a bit overdone by that point in the album. It’s also just a bad vibe to end the album on, with the whole toxic relationship thing. They’re all good tracks to listen to, but they’re nowhere near as exciting as the instrumentals and vocals make them out to be, & that disconnect is just biting at me too much. That excitement is thankfully present on the front half of the album – I think the first 4 tracks here click really nicely, & while “Christina the Astonishing” might feel like a similar sort of drag, the calmer nature of that track worked really nicely for me as a pace breaker to the intensity of the first 4. Mileage may vary, depending on how much you want to listen to a story of a woman so saintly she can smell sin. “John Finn’s Wife” is probably my standout track of the album – just a good old-fashioned duel over a lady, with a great blend of storytelling & vocal/instrumental intensity that feels befitting of the scope & scale it’s reaching for. Overall, it’s a slightly mixed bag – if the storytelling is never captivating, this album will never really click, and it’ll probably be a 3 that’s in way over its head. If it is captivating, then it’ll click a lot of the time, and be a 4 or a 5, depending on your parameters for a good story. For my tastes, I’m at a 4, mainly because the album experience feels just a bit longer than it should on the back half, with the instrumentals / length of each track never quite matching the true scope of the storytelling. It’s still a pretty recommended listen, though, and I do hope there’s more Nick Cave on the list.

No one does it like Nick cave. Strong imagery. Cool music. Kind of mysterious. A strong album.

4.1 3x with lyrics it's quite a good story

Okay, this was actually good. Maybe I just don't like what sounds like his newer stuff

Good. Not as good as Murder Ballards, but love Nick Cave

I've never really listened to Nick Cave. I know a guy who is obsessed so I am going to be judging you, John, this whole listen... John, my guy, I gotta say: awesome taste in music! This was a great listen. Nick Cave is like this demonic pastor soaked in whiskey and cigarette smoke, delivering a gravelly sermon over gospel-inspired instrumentals. The tracks feel less written/recorded and more like a wild spirit possessed the band and this is what came out. I got similar vibes as Arcade Fire's "Neon Bible": there's an apocalyptic homily feel that gives it vitality. I guess I have to listen to more Nick Cave now.