This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
“I saved you the best seat in the house / Right up in the front row,” says Nick Cave. That’s nice of him and all — but honestly, it might be a little closer than you want to get to old Nick.
After all, you never know whether this dark murder balladeer is gonna be preaching the blues, pitching woo, predicting your grisly demise — or doing all three, as he is on the ambitious and striking two-disc set Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus, the 13th effort from the current Bad Seeds leader and former Birthday Party frontman.
The first disc rocks it up, with Cave and his bandmates — augmented by a rich gospel choir — shaking his fist at the heavens. (“Praise Him,” he urges sardonically on Get Ready for Love, somehow crossing Polyphonic Spree, Jon Spencer’s Blues Explosion and Alice Cooper’s Under My Wheels. “Praise Him till you’ve forgotten what you’re praising Him for. Then praise Him a little bit more.”) The fire and brimstone continue to spew as Saint Nick prophesizes Armageddon and name-drops Johnny Thunders while the band (minus departed guitarist Blixa Bargeld) proffer their usual piano and hemlock-laced cocktail of blues, soul, gospel and noisy post-punk.
But while Cave comes in like a lion, he goes out like a lamb. The second disc The Lyre of Orpheus is a mellower if not milder affair of slower grooves and grandly melodic ballads culminating in the uplifting O Children. En route to the heavens, Cave recasts the myth of Orpheus, ponders whether money really is the root of all evil and breathlessly professes his love — even as he works his hand into your pants.
Hey, don’t blame me. I told you not to sit so close.
