Nick Cave – Live 11/11/2004
Introduction
Around the year 1990 my love for Nick Cave’s music had faded into oblivion. It would take 14 years before the bond was restored. In 2004 Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus was released. Nothing less than a true masterpiece!
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
In 1984 Nick Cave and his new backing band The Bad Seeds released their debut album. From Her To Eternity was an instant favorite for me. The mania, the deep emotions were raw, honest, sinister and moving. Never before had an album overwhelmed me that much.
In 1985 the successor The Firstborn Is Dead was released, again an impressive album, deeply rooted in the blues, followed by the (at that time) highlight Kicking Against The Pricks, an album filled with covers of songs that seemed to be miles apart from Nick Cave, but were in fact the complete opposite. Cave got into the skin of all the different personas and was more convincing than ever before.
In the next years I started to lose sight of Cave. I didn’t really understand Your Funeral… My Trial, I liked Tender Prey more. I saw Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds play live in Utrecht in 1988, but I don’t remember it as particularly great. When he started to wander off into schlager territory (at least that’s how I felt at the time) on The Good Son I was done. I’d (temporarily) had it with Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds.
Once in a while I heard music I liked, like the 1996 Murder Ballads album, but it never led to a renewed acquaintance. Until 2004, when I stumbled upon a review of the latest Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, which was a double album that allegedly didn’t contain one bad song. I bought the album and was stunned. Wow!
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus
On September 20, 2004, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released the double album Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus. Two separate albums, with their own unique atmosphere, musically apart, but both possessing an inimitable beauty.
In 2003 Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds had released Nocturama, which was immediately called the worst album the band had ever released. Among fans and reviewers alike the album was far from popular. It turned out to be the last album on which Blixa Bargeld, the man of the disruptive guitar eruptions, would play with Nick Cave. Soon after the release of Nocturama, Bargeld had left the band.
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus was a major turning point for The Bad Seeds. The influence of Warren Ellis on Nick Cave and the ‘Cave muse’ was growing, at the expense of Mick Harvey, who was slowly but surely relegated to the background, ultimately leading to his leaving the band in 2009 (also see the story about Push The Sky Away).
Recordings for the new album took place in March and April of 2004 and according to producer Nick Launay the album was finished within sixteen days. The use of a genuine gospel choir immediately stands out, proving added value to the mix. Moreover, the sacral side of Nick Cave gets emphasized even more.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues – CD cover
Abattoir Blues
Get Ready For Love sets the stage for the Abattoir Blues album. Pounding drums and bass, exuberant choirs, distorted guitars and Cave declaring:
Well, most of all nothing much ever really happens
And God rides high up in the ordinary sky
Until we find ourselves at our most distracted
And the miracle that was promised creeps quietly byGet Ready For Love
The religious Cave comes by, “Praise Him!”, which slowly turns into “Praise Him till you’ve forgotten what you’re praising Him for / Then praise Him a little more”. What a way to start an album. The energy blasts through the speakers.
And that level is maintained throughout the album, it’s unbelievable, but Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds sound reborn. Has Blixa Bargeld’s leaving led to inspiration? Hiding All Away, There She Goes, My Beautiful World, the swinging (yes, really!) Abattoir Blues, the positive Johnny Cash tribute Let The Bells Ring, the album hops from highlight to highlight. Lyrically all’s more than fine as well. In Abattoir Blues Cave is old-school apocalyptic and funny:
Everything’s dissolving, babe, according to plan
The sky is on fire, the dead are heaped across the land
I went to bed last night and my moral code got jammed
I woke up this morning with a Frappucino in my handGet Ready For Love
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Lyre Of Orpheus – CD cover
The Lyre Of Orpheus
The album opens with the title song, a free interpretation of the myth of Orpheus and his lyre. A lyrical gem.
Orpheus looked at his instrument
And he gave the wire a pluck
He heard a sound so beautiful
He gasped and said O my God
O Mamma O MammaLook what I’ve made, cried Orpheus
And he plucked a gentle note
Eurydice’s eyes popped from their sockets
And her tongue burst through her throat
O Mamma O Mamma…
Orpheus went leaping through the fields
Strumming as hard as he did please
Birdies detonated in the sky
Bunnies dashed their brains out on the trees
O Mamma O MammaOrpheus strummed till his fingers bled
He hit a G minor 7
He woke up God from a deep, deep sleep
God was a major player in heaven
O Mamma O MammaGod picked up a giant hammer
And He threw it with a thunderous yell
It smashed down hard on Orpheus’ head
And knocked him down a well
O Mamma O MammaThe Lyre Of Orpheus
This album has its opening song to set the stage as well. Contrary to Abattoir Blues, The Lyre Of Orpheus is a somewhat calmer, more laidback piece of work. But, everything works like a charm here also. The calypso (!) of Breathless, the treacherous romance in Babe, You Turn Me On, the claustrophobia of Supernaturally and all the other splendor. And then the closing song has yet to start: O Children.
Pass me that lovely little gun
My dear, my darling one
The cleaners are coming, one by one
You don’t even want to let them startForgive us now for what we’ve done
It started out as a bit of fun
Here, take these before we run away
The keys to the gulagO children
Lift up your voice, lift up your voice
Children
Rejoice, rejoiceHey, little train! Wait for me!
I once was blind but now I see
Have you left a seat for me?
Is that such a stretch of the imagination?
Hey little train! Wait for me!I was held in chains but now I’m free
I’m hanging in there, don’t you see
In this process of eliminationO Children
The meaning behind O Children is a personal interpretation. To me the song is about sorrow, regret, hope, despair and future. As is the case with so many Cave songs, O Children is both comforting and sad. It possesses an indescribable beauty.
Success
The album was a success, sales wise as well. In many European countries the album made it into the top 10 (in Norway and Greece it even went to number 1). The album was certified gold in 3 countries.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues The Lyre Of Orpheus – Ad
Review
In There She Goes, My Beautiful World Cave sings about writer’s block:
Me, I’m lying here, with nothing in my ears
Me, I’m lying here, for what seems years
I’m just lying on my bed with nothing in my headThere She Goes, My Beautiful World
It seems inconceivable that Nick Cave sings about this topic. Seventeen great songs on one of the greatest album of all time, a year and a half after the preceding album, and with the knowledge now of everything that was yet to come, set up against writer’s block…
As can be surmised from my previous statements, I adore Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus. When I started my blog in 2016 I declared it my favorite Nick Cave album. At that time it ended up at position 8 in my personal top 50 of the best albums of all time. In spite of all the beautiful things that came after, that hasn’t really changed.
In short, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album number 17, Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus, comes highly recommend, essential listening!
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues The Lyre Of Orpheus – Singles
Singles
The Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus album produced 3 singles.
- Nature Boy
(released on September 6, 2004) - Breathless / There She Goes, My Beautiful World
(released on November 15, 2004) - Get Ready For Love
(released on March 14, 2005)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – 2004
Songs
All songs written by Nick Cave, unless stated otherwise.
Abattoir Blues
- Get Ready For Love (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn P. Casey, Jim Sclavunos)
- Cannibal’s Hymn
- Hiding All Away
- Messiah Ward
- There She Goes, My Beautiful World
- Nature Boy (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn P. Casey, Jim Sclavunos)
- Abattoir Blues (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis)
- Let The Bells Ring (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis)
- Fable Of The Brown Ape
The Lyre Of Orpheus
- The Lyre Of Orpheus (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn P. Casey, Jim Sclavunos)
- Breathless
- Babe, You Turn Me On
- Easy Money
- Supernaturally
- Spell (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn P. Casey, Jim Sclavunos)
- Carry Me
- O Children
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – 2004
Musicians
- Nick Cave – vocals, piano
- Mick Harvey – guitar
- Warren Ellis – violin, mandolin, bouzouki, flute
- Martyn P. Casey – bass
- Conway Savage – piano
- James Johnston – organ
- Jim Sclavunos – drums and percussion on Abattoir Blues album
- Thomas Wydler – drums and percussion on The Lyre Of Orpheus album
Guests
Åse Bergstrøm, Donovan Lawrence, Geo Onayomake, Lena Palmer, Stephanie Meade, Wendy Rose – background vocals
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Abattoir Blues Tour
After Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus
The album was followed by the Abattoir Blues Tour, running in Europe from November 2 to December 5, 2004, followed by an Australian tour and festival appearances in 2005. In 2007 a compilation of the 2004 tour recordings was released, entitled The Abattoir Blues Tour, as a double album and a deluxe package with a DVD, which contained the November 11, 2004, show in London.
In March 2005 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released the 3-cd compilation B-Sides & Rarities, consisting of 56 songs: B-sides, rarities, rare recordings, soundtrack songs, etc. Two years later the first Grinderman album was released, announcing a period of hard, uncompromising and rousing music. Read more on Grinderman here. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds would also sound more heavy on their next release. More on that at a later time.
In short
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus brought me back into the arms of Nick Cave. I haven’t left since then. I started visiting him live again as well. Ever since 11/04/2013 I have never missed another Nick Cave tour again. Every visit is a treat!
The last time I saw him play was in Istanbul, where he played no less than 3 Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus songs, including the heartbreakingly beautiful O Children.
In conclusion
What do you think of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus? Let me know!
Video/Spotify
This story contains an accompanying video. Click on the following link to see it: Video: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and the story of their masterpiece Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus. The A Pop Life playlist on Spotify has been updated as well.
