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Nick Cave & The Bad SeedsB-Sides & Rareties Mute This black box has been approximately twenty years in the making, and the songs contained here make up a pretty exhaustive list of hard-to-get b-sides, long-forgotten versions and compilation takes. It is an epic triple-CD package, almost 60 songs, spanning the decades since the Bad Seeds formed out of the wreckage of the Birthday Party in 1984. The prodigious collection reveals the underbelly of a band who were closer to the dark side than most. Cave's lyrics, though, are never far from God. From the first, slow handclaps the prayers begin, and if it is not God, then it is usually women, as the opening devotional version of Deanna proves. There are old blues songs, including Leadbelly's Black Betty (which the group imbue with some of the rollicking fervour of old), Rye Whiskey and the bizarre King Kong Kithcee Kitchee Ki-Mi-O. Through these great songs we see that Cave has traced an arc with the Bad Seeds from blues through to gospel and rock'n'roll. This project throws up some gems that rank with their first order catalogue. There is the fantastic honkytonk God's Hotel, the golden acoustic The Mercy Seat and the smacky/scary The Six Strings That Drew Blood. Mick Harvey, instigator and driver of this collection, states it is pretty much a warts-and-all collection, and there are one or two Cave excesses: love songs dripping a bit too much, such as Black Hair, and the instrumental folly Cocks'n'Asses. And there are some things that are just plain red herrings, included because they are just cool: for example, Cave and the Dirty Three with Time Jesum Transeuntum Et Non Riverentum. Completists will have this already, but 'B-Sides & Rareties' also offers a lot for the occasional fan and those who are intrigued by the Cave aesthetic but have been made wary by the last few lacklustre albums (barring the excellent 'Abattoir Blues/ The Lyre of Orpheus'). This is timely reminder of how much quality music there is amongst Cave's (unofficial) back catalogue.  |
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