There's going to be sort of "virtual" hyper text links in the following (just for a laff); so don't adjust your vertical or horizontal as we enter into the weird and wonderful world of Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds. Over a 20-year career Cave has touched base with - or been directly involved with - a slew of massively influential and musically resonant bands/acts. Quickly shaking off his early Goth hankerings and more recently ending up re-casting himself as a Neil Young figure (in that he does what he wants, when he wants), Cave's total recorded output has just been collected together and put out as a "Best Of".
He first sloped on to the stage as part of The Boys Next Door, who later mutated into The Birthday Party (regarded, and not just by John Peel, as one of the bands of the 1980s whose Junkyard (1982) album remains somewhat of a classic. To this day they are remembered for the single, Release The Bats). When they went their less than merry way, Cave formed the first line-up of the Bad Seeds and released the debut From Her To Eternity. The line-up featured Barry Adamson (who went on to have a successful solo career as a noirish writer of film-soundtrack type of material. His Soul Murder album was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize in 1992, and a new album, the acclaimed As Above, So Below, has just been released on the Mute label. He was also once in Magazine with Howard Devoto) alongside Mick Harvey (who, in a solo guise, has released two interesting albums of Serge Gainsbourg covers - Intoxicated Man and Pink Elephants) and Blixa Bargeld from Einsturzende Neubaten (Mad Berlin "art" band whose name literally means "tall collapsing buildings". Very much the prototypical "industrial" band, they once supported U2 and are, sadly, to blame for their pale American imitators, Nine Inch Nails).
Cave and The Bad Seeds went on to hit something of an artistic high with the album, The First Born Is Dead (1985) which was the beginning of his very strange fixation with Elvis Presley and The Old Testament - he was later to commit his obsession to paper in the book, And The Ass Saw The Angel - though you'd want to be a real fan to wade through it.
The Bad Seeds were soon augmented by Kid Congo Powers from The Cramps (Seminal punk/garage band fronted by Lux Interior and Posion Ivy. Recommended single: Eyeball In My Martini). After the Your Funeral, My Trial album, Cave and the Bad Seeds went on to appear in the classic Wim Wenders film, Wings Of Desire, performing The Carny and From Her To Eternity. Somewhere around this time, the band was joined by Martyn P. Casey from The Triffids (excellent group from Perth, Australia who were doing "alternative country" before it became all too fashionable among the indie set. Highly recommended: the 1984 Raining Pleasure album). Back at Chez Cave, the mighty Henry's Dream was swiftly followed by Let Love In.
The game of literal musical chairs was still being played out by the Bad Seeds as Jim Sclavunos from Sonic Youth (semi-legendary New York noiseniks, still going strong 20 years down the line) joined the band. The thrilling Murder Ballads album in 1995, where the band were joined by guest vocalists Polly Harvey, Kylie Minogue and Shane McGowan saw a bit of all-too-rare mainstream success coming their way and the impetus was kept up by last year's wondrous The Boatman's Call album, which showed Cave in full-on love ballad form as he crooned his way through instant classics like Into My Arms, Are You The One . . . and People Ain't No Good in a "Blood On The Tracks" for the 1990s. A remarkable man with remarkable musical collaborators: Greatest Hits packages don't come any greater than this.
The Best Of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds is released on Monday on the Mute label. See review in The Records.
