I read somewhere that this is Nick Cave's favourite among his albums. I'm afraid I haven't listened it enough to be able to give a definite opinion. Afraid and slightly ashamed, since it's far from the first time I've had to admit to not knowing the albums I've bought. It's as though, after working through the whole collection, I'll have a not-very-much-shorter list of albums, and will then need to start working my way through them all again from the beginning.
I imagine a discussion between the record company and Nick Cave where they wanted to keep all these rarities back to include them in cynical-but-profitable 'deluxe' re-issues of his albums. But Nick wanted to keep the albums as they were and to collect all the rarities together in one, separate package. The company agreed on the understanding that their promotional budget would be next to nothing, the graphic design budget would be £10, there would be no booklet, and the packaging budget would be less than 20 pence per box. This is pure speculation from beginning to end, but it would explain this no-logo, black-and-white boxed set, including three CDs, which I bought not long after it came out for under £8. And it would explain why Cave had to declare it his favourite, just to get people to notice it.
It kicks off with some excellent rare versions that I already had. Damn, that reduces their collectors' value. But the acoustic version of The Mercy Seat is better than the original, and more scary than Johnny Cash's cover. The acoustic Deanna also swings like the devil's own gospel song.
Inevitably a collection of 56 songs recorded over 20 years is a mixed bag, and that's probably what Cave likes about it. This rag bag collection are the bastard offspring of a series of ill-advised liaisons between drunks and whores and all the usual blah-di-blah. Actually all those bawdy and blood-soaked narrative ballads, which show most strongly on the second disc, are my least favourite of his songs. My favourite disc is probably the last one, which is drawn from the later period, from The Boatman's Call on. However, there are gems scattered throughout the album, and I couldn't help noticing the similarities between That's What Jazz Means to Me, a 1994 'improvised piece', and The Magnetic Fields' Love is Like Jazz, released five years later.
And I have some other Nick Cave rarities that aren't on this collection. Stay tuned for more details.
![]() disc 2 disc 3 |
Comments