Customer Reviews

Nocturama (Vinyl)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The title is misleading: this is the least goth record Nick Cave has ever made. I think that he dropped that tone with Murder Ballads. For the past five years, Cave has just concentrated on pure songwriting, and has been more like his heroes, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. There is a touch of the poet with Cave. He went into the studio this time just trying to capture the spontaneity of newly written music. Supposedly he has already written ideas for another album. Nocturama has little darkness. There is hope and tenderness instead. Why people listen to him who have been wearing black for the past twenty years is baffling. Most of these songs are about love and devotion. Warren Ellis from The Dirty Three adds his violin to memorable songs. Songs like "Bring it On" are rock and roll songs worthy of the Henry's Dream era. But ballads like "He Wants You" just seem to ring more true.

Lyrically and musically, this album is the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at there embarrassing worst. The signature poetry of Cave seems to have been flourishing in recent efforts to the point that it seemed impossible for the quality of work to continue, and the more mature and consciously intense musical effect of "The Boat Man's Call" and "No More Shall We Part" were unsurpassed. "Nocturama" is the ultimate anti-climax in Nick Cave's late career.

This is the first Nick Cave CD I've ever heard, and I'm glad I finally got around to checking this guy out. "He Wants You" is stunning, and "Still in Love", "There is a Town", and "She Passed By My Window" likewise affect me as no other "Pop" (I know -- calling this "Pop" music is silly, but what do you call it? Actually, maybe it would be more acurately described as "Popped" music: i.e.; deflated, defeated, etc.) music has for quite some time.

So Nick and the boys have grown up a little bit since the first days of the Birthday Party. How can you fault them for that? You can't just scream and bang away in the studio forever and find that experience satisfying, can you? So Nocturama is another quantum leap in maturity and sophistication for the Seeds. It is softer and wittier and sharper than anything they have done before. This doesn't mean they have sold out. It doesn't mean they don't love their black fingernail painted, spiked hairdo wearing, black trenchcoat sporting fans. It just means that they are true artists who evolve and grow in their craft. Heck, who wanted John and Paul to sing "She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" forever instead of moving on to Sgt. Peppers or Yellow Submarine. I mean, really, how many songs about finding the girl of your dreams and then clubbing her to death can you do?
Nocturama is pretty close to perfect without a bad track on the CD. Some are much better than others (with, oddly enough, the softer ballads like "Out of Your Hand" being the best) but ALL of the songs here are better than pretty much every other song you heard this week on the radio. There are still some hard tracks here but also a bit of blues and croon to mellow the harsh. Nick sounds great and the Bad Seeds play a big part musically in this effort. The lyrics are tight and sharp with the 17 minute epic "I'm On Fire" using the most complex verbage of any song in recent memory. As the last song on a pretty mild CD "Fire" is a rough and tumble ride that turns a corner somewhere from "too long" (as some here have complained) to "oh, yeah, keep it coming" (somewhere around minute 15 1/2). It seemed to me like this song is a great excuse for Nick and the Boys to remind all of us out here in listening land that it's still THEIR party and they'll play as loud and as long as they darn well please. If you don't like it, go crash someone elses birthday (Bon Jovi perhaps).
Many haven't mentioned that "I'm On Fire" is on the second disc as a DVD video and is extremely cool, possibly working better than it does on the CD itself. The band members and friends (most notably uber-comic book writer Warren Ellis) dress up as everyone who is "On Fire" to comical and shocking results. During the chorus, Nick sways and screams in his fashion and the band plays on eternally (the video is also 17 minutes long). It is very interesting to note who Nick identifies himself with in the video. The band members appear by name and without costume near the end of the song, but somewhere in the middle there, Nick just looks at you and says, "Yep, this is me." And it probably isn't who you think.
Anyway, the CD is great. And who knows, if Nick keeps "developing" as a musician, the next effort may be Gregorian Chants laced with Ska! Keep the Party Rolling!!!

There are some tracks on Nocturama that fall below Nick Cave's high standards, like the overlong and somewhat indulgent Babe, I'm On Fire and the raucous, messy Dead Man In My Bed. Fortunately these are more than compensated for by the wealth of beautiful gems like He Wants You and Right Out Of Your Hand, both gentle ballads with poetic lyrics and lovely melodies.

Bring It On is a strong rock ballad, Still In Love with its moving lyrics is another slow jewel as is There Is A Town with its mournful chorus. The masterpiece of the album is Rock Of Gibraltar, an exquisite love song where Cave rhymes "Gibraltar" with "alter", "Malta" and "altar." This is a melodic and lyrical classic, ranking amongst Nick's very best compositions.

I don't see how some reviewers can dismiss this album as a failure when it contains so many superb songs with intelligent, moving lyrics and memorable tunes, including She Passed By My Window. Yes, the last track Babe, I'm On Fire is five minutes too long but this isn't a bad song, just too raw and too long. Nocturama is a great work and it deserves four stars.

This is a typical solid Nick Cave album; not quite as good as his best (see "Let Love In)," but this is a slab of art that any TRUE Cave/Bad Seeds fan will devour. Cave's music is definitely not for everyone, especially the majority of American "listeners" who are so determined to categorize and judge EVERYTHING that they are ignorant of. This is the THINKING MAN'S/WOMAN's music; the likes of which is scarce in this great country, which is exactly why the Britney's and N'Sync's enjoy such ridiculously vacant-headed popularity. As all Cave fans know, he is Australian (I don't quite understand that whole Cincinnati thing, that some moron wrote--I'm sure that playing that lovely town,(I mean, being the cultural haven that it is) is right at the top of Cave's list)--and after playing Lollapalooza a few years back he swore never to play in America again after witnessing the idiots who were there to see any one of the interchangeable bands that litter American pop-culture. Thus, if being a freak means having a brain to think (and to be able to look beyond a cd, or book title before purchasing something that is over our heads) then let us freaks unite and enjoy the pleasure of true artistry that we real Cave fans derive from his work.

it's good to hear the boys rockin again. it gets high marks simply because we're talking about nick cave here. and it contains some fantastic songs. the album as a whole, a little random, and maybe a little too MTV for an A+ review. if you're new to mr. cave's realm of brilliance, i'd recommend "Murder Ballads" or "No More Shall We Part". if you are a nick cave fan, why the hell don't you own this record yet?

After seeing a late night live performance of Bring it on, I tracked down the album, knowing very little of Nick Cave, aside from my hipster friends constantly raving about he, the birthday party, and the Bad Seeds. Not since I was first introduced to Bowie's Ziggy Stardust have I been so moved by an album. To think that Nick Cave has been around all this time and I somehow missed out. well, I've corrected that and have gone out and bought his last three albums in the day that has gone by since I got the album then wrote this review. It features an amazing mix of moods, from the shifting elemental mists of the ballads to the harsh, repeating beats letting all hang out. There is even a lot of the inbetween, but no filler, just 110% amazing musical exploration of love, loss, and belief, or the lack there of. This is the best album to come along in a long time and doesn't stink of mainstream interferance, carving out its own nitch, not to the right or left, but far above and set apart from the usual.
Bring it on... I can't wait for more!

I love Nick Cave, and own all of his albums. This is the first one I sold. That should tell you something.

Like most NCave&theBadSeeds albums, their lates effort deserves a 5-star rating. Favorite tracks include 'Wonderful Life', 'Bring it On', 'Still in Love', and 'Babe, I'm on Fire' - but the whole album is solid. The sound of this album incorporates the sound of multiple previous releases.