REVIEW: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Best Of (Mute/Reprise)
- Scott Slonaker
In case you've ever been interested in the music of Nick Cave but didn't know where to start, he's got his first US best-of compilation (can't really call it a "greatest hits") that does an excellent job of sampling Nick's ten or so studio albums, from the primal wail of the title track to 1984's From Her to Eternity all the way up to the elegant, spare UK single "Into My Arms", from last year's The Boatman's Call. Gorgeous duets with Polly Jean Harvey ("Henry Lee") and Kylie Minogue ("Where the Wild Roses Grow") are also included. Since the closest any of Cave's music has ever come to the mainstream in the US outside of a 1993 Lollapalooza spot and the placement of "Red Right Hand" (included) in several movies and episodes of X-Files, he tends to appeal more to a cult audience. That said, however, he's one of the most eloquent songwriters of the last twenty years. No one, excepting maybe Leonard Cohen or Elliott Smith, covers life's dark underbelly like Nick Cave. Highly recommended, particularly for Nick neophytes.
