Lately I've been listening a lot to Prayers on Fire, and I must say I like it a lot more than anything Cave has done later on. I like quite a bit of his songs, but the records are sometimes a bit uneven, I find. And his two-three latest ones are just plain boring, in my opinion. All the danger that he once stood for seems to have disappeared completely. That's called aging probably, and he's doing it badly, I believe.

Nick Cave's most recent stuff may be lacking a bit of his old edge (I'd argue you still get glimpses of it though -- "Hiding All Away?") but The Birthday Party versus all of his Bad Seeds work? There's no question in my mind.

I do like Prayers on Fire and their self titled, but there are about ten or so albums from the Bad Seeds' discography I'd take over them.

Well yeah there's of course more Bad Seeds stuff, but that also means that there is more chance of there being bad stuff amongst them. (I don't seem to get this sentence right, but anyway you get the meaning.)

Yeah, I see where you're going with that; the more often Cave dips his feet in the pool, the more chance he has at screwing something up. What I really love about Cave is for them number of albums he's put out he doesn't really have any serious low points (I can't say conclusively that he doesn't have any low points; I still haven't heard Nocturama -- although from the reviews I've read it doesn't seem like it could be that bad).

I can certainly see enjoying The Birthday Party more as a matter of taste. I just don't believe the quality of Cave stuff has suffered at all over the years.


I do have to say, I'm a little disappointed that no one else has weighed in on this. This board has to have more than two Nick Cave fans. I'd hate to see this discussion die down already...

Well I also exagerrated things a little just to spice up discussion, I guess, which hasn't really worked, it seems. I guess I like how Cave fits in with the other musicians in the Party, whereas solo it's mainly about him, which is sometimes a bit much.

This is an excellent thread idea.

Almost universally I will go with an musicians's earlier work. I can count the other ones that come to mind on one Simpson hand: Johnny Cash and I also like the solo records of Lauryn Hill and Wyclef better than the Fugees (except Hill's Unplugged record which is deplorable). Furthermore, it's even rarer that I enjoy less important music more than more important music. The bands that The Birthday Party inspired, like Big Black, The Butthole Surfers, Dinosaur and Tragic Mulatto, are among my favorite rock'n'roll bands of all time. I know it's probably my own deficiency but I never loved The Birthday Party as much as those later bands. Perhaps, it's because I was able to follow their careers in real time. I went through a phase where I greatly favored the bands of the present. Anyway, The Boatman's Call, which was released in 1997, is my favorite Cave record. 19 fucking 97! Besides Cash it's totally unprecedented. The fifteen minute Babe, I'm on Fire on Nocturama is unforgivably bad but then on Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus he must be forgiven none-the-less because it's a Goddamned masterpiece. Multiple careful listens are essential. I'll tell you what I'd like to see: Cave getting together with Rick Rubin and recording raw totally stripped-down acoustic versions of those old Birthday Party songs.

Noooo! It's the satanic rythmic spirit in it, which is so brilliant! And about his double album: if after one listening experience, you're overcome with absolute boredom, you don't really see the need for further "careful explorations" or anything of that kind, I can tell you!

I didn't want to start a new thread for this, but has anyone heard Nick Cave's new project Grinderman?

If anyone was hoping for Cave to return to his Birthday Party roots, this album is about as close as you can hope for.

I concur.