Nick Cave FAQ
=============
(Version 3.5)
Last updated: January 26th, 1998
Latest Version available at: http://web.inter.NL.net/users/dvdhaven/cavefaq/
Contents:
0. Acronyms
1. Biography
2. Discography
3. Bibliography
4. Filmography
5. Other resources for Cave-related stuff
6. Related bands and their important releases
7. Original versions of songs covered by Nick Cave
8. Influences on Nick Cave's work
9. Translations of selected lyrics to English
10. Bible quotes
11. Roadmap of NCs Music
12. Hidden Tracks on the X-files CD
13. Portobello Cafe
99. Credits
---**---
0. Acronyms used in this FAQ
ATASTA - And the Ass Saw the Angel
BB - Blixa Bargeld
BND - The Boys Next Door
BP - The Birthday Party
CCS - Crime and the City Solution
EN - Einstuerzende Neubauten
FHTE - From Her to Eternity
HD - Henry's Dream
LLI - Let Love In
MB - Murder Ballads
MH - Mick Harvey
NC&BS or NCBS - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
NCTBPAOEA - Nick Cave, the Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures
(courtesy Erik)
TBC - The Boatman's Call
TFID - The Firstborn Is Dead
TGS - The Good Son
TP - Tender Prey
YFMT - Your Funeral... My Trial
1. Biography
Nicholas Edward Cave was born in Warracknabeal, Australia on 22/09/1957.
His mother's name is Dawn, a librarian; his father Colin was an English
teacher. He has two older brothers, Tim (1952) and Peter (1954) and a sister,
Julie (1959). He was raised an Anglican, which explains the apparent influence
of The Bible in his work. Nick Cave was living together with Viviane, born
in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and has a son with her, Luke, born in 1991. Nick
and Viviane split up and according to rumours, Nick has had some kind of
an affair with PJ Harvey during the MB period.
His education: Caulfield Grammar School, Melbourne and an Art School
(Art department of Caulfield Institute of Technology, now Monash University)
which he attended only two years. An example of Nick's art is on the back
of the Birthday Party's "Prayers On Fire" album, signed "Nicholas
Cave". At Caulfield Nick met Mick Harvey, with whom he founded a high
school band that would become The Boys Next Door. The first recording released
by NC was "These Boots Are Made For Walking" in 1978, a single
that was soon followed by the album "Door Door" the next year.
The band consisted of Nick, Mick Harvey, Tracy Pew, Phillip Calvert and
Rowland S. Howard (from 1979 on).
The Boys Next Door slowly dissolved into "The Birthday Party"
in 1980 when the album of the same name came out: some copies stated "The
Birthday Party by The Boys Next Door", others only "The Birthday
Party". When they changed their name, the band moved from Australia
to London. The Birthday Party had a huge impact on the British rock scene
of that time, especially because of the expression of "raw emotion, wit
and essential dumbness" (Mute Records' opinion) in their music, though it took some time for them
to really break through. The LP "Prayers on Fire" was released
in 1981, "Junkyard" in 1982. The band moved to West Berlin and
fell apart in 1983 after releasing 3 studio albums and 2 EP's. Their last
EP, "Mutiny", was the ultimate manifestation of everything punk
pretended to be. Here, Blixa Bargeld, from Einstuerzende Neubauten, appeared
for the first time with Nick Cave.
Part of the BP members continued to form The Bad Seeds, recording the
first NC&BS album in 1984: "From Her To Eternity". The line-up
at this time was: Nick Cave, Blixa Bargeld (guitar), Mick Harvey (drums),
Barry Adamson (guitar and piano), Hugo Race (guitar), Tracy Pew (bass,
only during the Australian tour), with cooperation of Anita Lane. The name
"Bad Seeds" may come either from the Bible (e.g. St. Matthew
13) or from the film "Bad Seed" by Mervin LeRoy, 1956, based
on a play by Maxwell Anderson and a novel by William March.
The year 1985 saw the release of the second NC&BS album, "The
Firstborn Is Dead". The Bad Seeds were now reduced to Cave, Harvey,
Bargeld and Adamson. The song "Tupelo" contains some of the initial
ideas for the novel Cave would publish a few years later: "And The Ass
Saw The Angel" (1989). In fact, the greater part of the songs written
during the conception of "The Ass" can be seen as parallels of the book (e.g.
The Carny and Sad Waters from Your Funeral... My Trial). It is the story of a
criminal idiot hounded by a lynch mob. The novel got very good reviews and was
translated into ten languages.
The next year, 1986, two albums were released; one album, "Kicking
Against The Pricks" was a compilation of covers of mainly blues songs.
The Bad Seeds were extended by Thomas Wydler and there are guest appearances
of Tracy Pew and Rowland S. Howard. The second album was "Your Funeral...
My Trial", released on two EPs.
In 1988, Wim Wender's film "Der Himmel Ueber Berlin" ("Wings
of Desire") saw the light of day, featuring "The Carny"
and Nick doing "From Her to Eternity" live ("I'm NOT going
to tell them about a girl..."). Other Wim Wenders films that feature
NC's music are "Bis ans Ende der Welt (Until The End Of The World"
and "Faraway... So Close", the follow-up to "Wings...".
The album "Tender Prey" was released in 1988. After this,
Cave moved from Berlin to Sao Paolo, Brazil, where he had met Viviane Carneiro
during a tour. The influence of Brazil is apparent in "The Good Son",
the album released in 1990. The music is much more melodious and friendly
than on any other album released before and is often said to express the
Brazilian feeling of "saudade". Kid Congo Powers (Cramps, Gun
Club) made his appearance as a member of the Bad Seeds on this album, although
he already played in the band for a longer period, during the YFMT and
KAtP times. In 1989, a film called "Ghosts... of the Civil Dead"
was released, co-written by Nick, the soundtrack of which was written by
Nick, acted in by Nick. It is a prison movie.
Not until 1992, the seventh album was released: "Henry's Dream",
followed by a worldwide tour. Again, the line-up was changed: Nick, Blixa,
Mick, Thomas, Martyn P. Casey and Conway Savage. The tour was used to record
their only official live CD to be released in 1993: "Live Seeds".
The CD was intended as a celebration of the ten years' existence of The
Bad Seeds and was sold together with a photo book by Peter Milne. The book
contains photographs from the 1992/3 tour.
During the spring of 1993, Nick Cave moved to London, where part of
the ninth Bad Seeds album--"Let Love In" was recorded.
In 1996, "Murder Ballads" was released. The album contains songs which
exclusively deal with the subject of murder. Record-breaker for the longest
song by NC is "O' Malley's Bar", which lasts about a quarter of
an hour. Duets are sung with P.J. Harvey and Kylie Minogue. Other artists
featured are Shane McGowan and Warren Ellis (from The Dirty Three).
Apart from this, Nick Cave features on the compilation Album "Songs
In The Key Of X", which has songs on it from the TV serial "The
X-Files". Nick does "Red Right Hand" and can be found on
a "hidden track" called "Time Jesum transeuntem et non reverendum"
(Dread the passage of Jesus for he will not return) with The Dirty Three
(see section 12).
Nick Cave was shortlisted for "Best Male Artist"
of 1996 by MTV Music Awards. He declined the honour, stating that he did
not want to compete with other people where Art was concerned.
1997 brought a new album, again, called "The Boatman's Call",
released in February. As members of the Bad Seeds, now Warren Ellis and
Jim Sclavunos are listed.
A European tour started in April in France and ran through July. Nick
Cave and the Bad Seeds will not play in the US in the next eight months
or longer.
An official B-sides album is planned for release in April, as well as
a greatest hits album.
---**---
2. Concise Discography
(After the complete discography of Maurice Maes)
A checklist of official Cave releases. This list contains all known music,
not all possible different releases of the same material. Also not
included are interviews, and ultra-rare (e.g. mail order-only) releases
like the video from Columbus 1984. Entries without a mark (CD, LP, etc.)
are songs not released on albums but only as (B-sides of) singles, in
compilations or on soundtracks. The complete discography can be retrieved
at request from Maurice Maes (maes@natlab.research.philips.com).
THE BOYS NEXT DOOR
LP/CD 1979 "Door Door"
EP 1979 "Hee Haw"
These Boots Are Made For Walking
Boy Hero
Masturbation Generation
Enemy Of State, by Torn Ox Bodies (Anagram of Boys Next Door)
TUFF MONKS
7" 1982 "After The Fireworks"/"After After The Fireworks"
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
Regular releases:
LP 1980 "The Birthday Party"
LP/CD 1981 "Prayers On Fire"
Blundertown
Kathy's Kisses
LP/CD 1982 "Junkyard"
Release The Bats
Blast Off
Dead Joe, second version
EP 1983 "The Bad Seed"
EP 1983 "Mutiny"
Pleasure Avalanche
The Six Strings That Drew Blood
LP 1985 "Compilation" (4 rare tracks) (or on CD "Drunk...")
1993 "The Fullness Of His Coming" from the Anita Lane album
Live stuff:
LP 1982 "Drunk On The Pope's Blood", a-side only
LP/CD 1982 "It's Still Living", live album
EP/CD 1987 "The Peel Sessions: The Birthday Party"
EP 1988 "The Peel Sessions: The Birthday Party II"
video 1988 "Pleasure Heads Must Burn"
All Birthday Party albums have been re-released by Henry Rollins' record
company with serial numbers CAKE1, CAKE2, etc.
DIE HAUT
12" 1983 "Der Karibische Western" (1 song has Cave whistling)
LP 1983 "Burning The Ice" (4 Cave songs)
LP/CD 1988 "Headless Body In Topless Bar" (1 Cave song)
LP/CD 1993 "Sweat" (live, 3 Cave songs)
video 1993 "Sweat"
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS or just NICK CAVE
Regular albums, plus extra tracks on CD, or b-sides
LP/CD 1984 "From Her To Eternity"
In The Ghetto
The Moon Is In The Gutter
From Her To Eternity, version from "Der Himmel..."
LP/CD 1984 "The Firstborn Is Dead"
The Six Strings That Drew Blood
Tupelo, single version
LP/CD 1986 "Kicking Against The Pricks"
Running Scared
Black Betty
LP/CD 1986 "Your Funeral, My Trial"
Scum
LP/CD 1988 "Tender Prey",
The Mercy Seat, video version
Girl At The Bottom Of My Glass
"And The Ass Saw The Angel", 4 readings
LP/CD 1989 "Ghosts... Of The Civil Dead"
(w. BB & MH)
LP/CD 1990 "The Good Son"
The Weeping Song (re-mix)
The Train Song
Cocks'n'Asses also listed as "The B-side Song"
"Acoustic Versions From Tender Prey" 3 songs
LP/CD 1992 "Henry's Dream"
Blue Bird
What Can I Give You?
Jack The Ripper (acoustic)
The Mercy Seat (live)
The Carny (live)
The Ship Song (live)
I Had A Dream, Joe (live)
The Good Son (live)
CD 1993 "Live Seeds"
LP/CD 1994 "Let Love In"
Sail Away
Do You Love Me? (single version)
Loverman (single version)
B-Side
That's What Jazz Is To Me
Where The Action Is
LP/CD 1996 Murder Ballads
The Ballad of Robert Moore and Betty Coltrane
The Willow Garden
King Kong Kitchee Kitchee Ki-Mi-O
Knoxville Girl
LP/CD 1996 To Have and to Hold, Movie Soundtrack to John Hillcoat's film.
NC with Blixa Bargeld and Mick Harvey.
LP/CD 1997 The Boatman's Call
Empty Little Boat
Right Now I'm A-roaming
Come Into My Sleep
Black Hair (Band Version)
Babe, I Got You Bad
Loose songs:
CASS 1985 NME compilation. "I Put A Spell On You"
EP 1985 "Kickabye" by Anni Hogan. Cave sings "Vixo".
LP/CD 1987 "Smack my Crack": "The Atra Virago" (a spoken-word
performance; other contributions by Einstuerzende
Neubauten, Tom Waits et al.)
LP/CD 1987 "Honeymoon In Red", by Lydia Lunch. 2 songs.
flexi 1989 "Rye Whiskey"
LP/CD 1989 "The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young": "Helpless"
LP/CD 1991 "I'm Your Fan": "Tower Of Song"
LP/CD 1991 "Bis ans Ende der Welt": "Till the End of the World"
sngle 1992 "Wonderful World", "Rainy Night In Soho", "Lucy".
2CD 1993 "Viva Eight": "Jack The Ripper", "Nick The Stripper (live)"
CD 1993 "Faraway, So Close": title track and "Cassiels' Song"
CD 1994 "Rare On Air": "God's Hotel"
CD 1995 "Batman Forever" Soundtrack: "There Is A Light"
CD 1996 "Songs In the Key of X, the X-Files Soundtrack":
"Red Right Hand", "Dread the Passing of Jesus"
CD 1997 "September Songs", Tribute to Kurt Weill: "Mack the Knife"
BOOTLEGS (Concise)
Boys Next Door boot CD's (both very good quality and recommended):
1 "Boys Next Door (featuring Nick Cave [CD])"
complete FM of Melbourne 19/8/77.
2 "Next Door", incomplete soundboards(?)
of Melbourne 3/10/79 & 4/11/79.
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds:
Recommended
1 "He Put A Spell On Us" incomplete FM radio broadcast of Rotterdam,
Pandora's Box, 12/10/85
1 "In Funeral Night" incomplete FM radio broadcast of Rotterdam,
Pandora's Box, 12/10/85 (Note:the above are the same up to two
different filler songs.)
2 "The Funeral Tour", incomplete FM radio broadcast of Bochum, Zeche,
26/09/86
3 "The Joy Of Life", complete, FM & audience recording, Hamburg, Grosse
Freiheit, 29/09/86
4 "Long Time Man", incomplete FM radio broadcast of Utrecht, Vredenburg,
10/10/88
5 "The Angel Has Blues", complete audience recording of Hechtel,
Pukkelpop, 28/08/90
6 "Murderous Ends, Collaborative Odds", various live recordings from 1989 to
1995.
7 "Where the Wild Live Roses Grow", Quart Festival, 4/7/96
8 "The Ring of Wild Roses", Bizarre Festival, 17/8/96
8 "Red Rum", same as previous CD
So-so
6 "Stranger Than Kindness", compilation of various dates, most of it is
not to be found on any of the above, but I just don't like compilation
bootlegs, especially not when the complete shows are circulating on
tape.
7 "Songs From A Diary", music ripped off the official Paradiso video.
Up to you whether you need this on CD.
To Be Avoided
8 "Viva Las Vegas" compilation of the above (1, 3, 4)
9 "Nick Cave Live" compilation of the above (1, 3, 4), same as Viva Las
Vegas
10 "Through The Black Holes Of Time 84-90" compilation of the above (1
and 6)
---**---
3. Bibliography
Books on or (partly) by Nick Cave
1982 "Inner City Sound" by Clinton Walker, (BND & BP). Wild and
Wooiley (Australia)
1986?"Forced Exposure" Massachusetts fanzine contains one-act plays by
Nick Cave.
1987 "Tape Delay" by Charles Neal, SAF (UK), interviews and pictures of
Nick Cave, EN, and others.
1987?"Judas Jesus" by Rolf Vasellari, Black Sheep Press (Zurich,
Switzerland) 1 contribution (7 lines on Dave-id of the Virgin
Prunes) by Nick Cave.
1988 "King Ink" by Nick Cave, mostly lyrics. Black Spring Press. Both
hard-cover and paperback.
1989 "And The Ass Saw The Angel" novel by Nick Cave. Hard Cover: Black
Spring Press. Since 1990 Penguin Pocket edition available.
1993 "AS-FIX-E-8", a comic by Lydia Lunch and Nick Cave. Artwork: Mike
Matthews. 35 pages. Published by Last Gasp.
1993 "Fish In A Barrel", Peter Milne's photo book contains (besides all
the great pictures) an intro and interview written by Nick.
Published by 2.13.61 (Henry Rollins) -> <http://www.two1361.com>
1995 "Nick Cave", Italian book and CD, by A. Cangioli and M.A. Scalise.
Writings by Nick, biography, interview and photos. The CD contains
readings from ATASTA. Published by Stampa Alternativa-Nuovi
Equilibri-Sconcerto/26.
1995 "Hellfire: Life according to Nick Cave" by Jeremy Dean. Very concise
and erroneous account of Nick's life and work. Published by The
Dunce Directive, London.
1995 "Bad Seed: A Biography of Nick Cave" by Ian Johnston (brother of
James - Gallon Drunk vocalist), Little, Brown and Company, London.
Relatively good book.
1996 "Nick Cave - The Birthday Party and other epic adventures" by Robert
Brokenmouth, Omnibus Press, London. Mainly about Boys Next Door and
Birthday Party.
1997 "King Ink II", sequel to King Ink, including Lyrics from TP to The
Boatman's Call. Black Spring Press
---**---
4. Films and videos
(also thanks to Maurice Maes)
Films:
1987 "Dandy" by Peter Sempel
1987 "Der Himmel ueber Berlin/Wings Of Desire" by Wim Wenders
1989 "Ghosts... of the Civil Dead"
1991 "Johnny Suede"
1995 "September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill"
1997 "Rhinoceros Hunting in Budapest" by Michel Hausman
Videos:
1987 "Kings Of Independence"
1991 "The Road To God Knows Where"
1992 "Live At The Paradiso"
1996 "Ritual Habitual", Live footage from "Big Day out".
---**---
5. Other resources
GOODSON MAILING LIST:
Subscription / unsubscription and any other admin messages should be sent
to: <majordomo@geog.leeds.ac.uk>
In order to subscribe, you should send a message containing the
following commands as the first line of the body text:
subscribe goodson [your_email_address]
In order to unsubscribe, you should send a message containing the
following commands as the first line of the body text:
unsubscribe goodson [your_email_address]
The Goodson mailing-list will send you 10-20 messages a day from all over
the world. Interesting information, opinions and related things.
NICK CAVE WWW SITES:
Mutiny in Heaven, BP Homepage: <http://www.alphalink.com.au/~kateb>
Bad-Seed.org: <http://www.bad-seed.org/>
The Cave Inn: <http://www.zephyr.net/cave/>
Skin's Cave: <http://www.xs4all.nl/~skin>
Euchrid's Cave of Nick: <http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/5248/>
Mute Records Artist's Page: <http://www.mutelibtech.com/mute/cave/cave.htm>
From 2-13-61 Publishing in the US: <http://two1361.com/people/cave.html>
Nick Cave Gallery:
<http://home.netinc.ca/~ianronda/gallery/gallery.htm>
GUITAR TABS OF SELECTED SONGS:
<http://www.nada.kth.se:80/~f91-jsc/guitar/Nick.Cave.and.Bad.Seeds.html>
or:
<http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/andyf/cave/cave.html> (For tabs from the
albums TP, TGS, HD, LLI, MB)
Many available at: <http://www.zephyr.net/cave/lyrics/>
LYRICS
The previously existing lyrics search-engine was closed for copyright-reasons.
All lyrics are available at: <http://www.zephyr.net/cave/lyrics/>
Murder Ballads Lyrics can be found at: <http://www.medio.mh.se/~mel/nick/>
CHATS
Live Chat Board: <http://imusic.com/cgi-bin/bbs/bbs.cgi?x=nickcave>
IRC channel dedicated to Nick Cave on Dalnet: #NC&tBS
TENDER PREY NEWSLETTER / THE WITNESS:
Tender Prey Merchant
PO Box 13291
London, UK E1 9FL
Tender Prey edits a newsletter entirely devoted to Nick and closely related
bands. It is published about three times a year and is free or will only
cost you a stamp.
A new "Official" newsletter from Tender Prey is called "The Witness".
The Witness may be subscribed to by sending an addressed and stamped
envelope to:
The Witness
PO Box 13291
London, UK E1 9FL
NICK CAVE BOOKS:
Last Gasp, P.O. Box 410067, San Francisco CA. 94141-0067, USA
MUTE RECORDS:
Mute has a bulletin board, said to be accessible by telnet:
<telnet mutelibtech.com>
There is also an ftp-site at the same address, with info on most Mute
artists, including (of course) Nick:
<ftp://mutelibtech.com>
To complete the whole thing, there is a WWW page at:
<http://www.mutelibtech.com/mute>. This contains about the same
things as the ftp site.
NO WWW, NEWS AND FTP ACCESS?
Try the following: send a message to the following address:
containing the message:
send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email
This contains info on how to access these services by E-mail.
---**---
6. Related bands and their most important releases
I. Einstuerzende Neubauten
EN is the band founded on April 1, 1980 by Blixa Bargeld (also member of
The Birthday Party and nowadays of The Bad Seeds), N.U. Unruh, F.M Einheit
("Mufti"), Alexander Hacke (Once in Crime and the City Solution) and Mark
Chung. EN created music making use of diverse appliances, such as chain
saws, drills, metal percussion sculptures, tape, amplified guitar noise
etc. Every release is unexpected, not only because of the time between
them, but also because the music changes with every album.
Concise discography:
LP 1982 Kollaps;
LP 1983 Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T.;
LP 1984 Strategien gegen Architektur I;
LP + 1985 Halber Mensch;
Video
LP 1987 Fuenf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala;
LP 1989 Haus der Luege;
CD 1991 Die Hamletmaschine;
2CD 1991 Strategien gegen Architektur II;
CD 1993 Tabula Rasa;
CDS 1993 Malediction;
CD 1996 Faustmusik;
CD 1996 Ende Neu.
CD 1997 Ende Neu Remixes (Tracks from Ende Neu remixed by other artists).
A biography of EN is Klaus Maeck's "Einstuerzende Neubauten: Hoer mit
Schmerzen (Listen with Pain)", new edition released in 1996, ISBN
3-88030-028-3 (old edition) or 3-931126-09-9 (new edition), Die Gestalten
Verlag. A complete discography is available at:
<ftp://cs.uwp.edu>,
<ftp://tp.maths.tcd.ie>
and on EN's Homepage,
<http://www.icf.de/EN/>
unofficial, better
<http://www.uib.no/People/henrik/neubauten/index.html>
Blixa Bargeld Homepage: <http://www.blixa-bargeld.com>
There is an EN mailing list, the "Einstuerzende Adressiermaschine",
which is manually maintained and has about 80 members. Subscriptions can
be sent to: oafergus@watarts.uwaterloo.ca
II. Mick Harvey
Mick Harvey has played with Nick Cave since The Boys Next Door and has as
solo-projects written the soundtracks for the films "Alta Marea" and
"Vaterland". He produced many of the Bad Seeds' albums, although he's not
credited for this... In autumn 1995, he released his second solo album,
"Intoxicated Man", containing Serge "Je t'aime" Gainsburg covers in
English translation. He recorded his second album devoted to Serge
Gainsbourg this year. He lives in Melbourne. See also under Crime and the
City Solution. A Mick Harvey Homepage can be found at:
<http://cc.usu.edu/~slqqc/mick/harvey.html>
III. Anita Lane
Anita Lane, once Nick's girlfriend, appearing on (the cover of) "From Her To
Eternity" and having been given the credits for writing "Stranger than
Kindness", has worked with Einstuerzende Neubauten singing the English
version of "Blume" (Flower). Shealso collaborated with other bands like Die
Haut and with Barry Adamson (Covering "These Boots Are Made For Walking").
Her first solo release was a 12" "Dirty Sings", featuring Nick Cave. Now, she
has her first solo album out, "Dirty Pearl", the CD version of which contains
the aforementioned 12" and a song she did with the Birthday Party.
Another project was her collaboration with Mick Harvey on his second album,
as mentioned above.
IV. Crime and the City Solution
C&CS already existed in the late seventies. The albums are from later
dates and are played on by Simon Bonney, Mick Harvey, Rowland S. Howard,
Harry Howard and Epic Soundtracks. The Howard family and Epic Soundtracks
quit in 1986 to form "These Immortal Souls". The new line-up consisted of
Simon Bonney, Mick Harvey, Alexander Hacke (Einst. Neub.), Bronwyn Adams,
Chrislo Haas and Thomas Stern. Their latest album contains a track for Wim
Wender's film "Bis ans Ende der Welt" ("Until The End Of The World")
called "The Adversary". Officially, their status is that they dissoluted.
Simon Bonney has 2 solo CDs: "Forever" and "Everyman" and is recording a
third.
See the following URL for some more information:
>http://www.trouserpress.com/bandpages/CRIME_AND_THE_CITY_SOLUTION.html<
Concise discography:
1985 The Dangling Man (EP);
1986 Just South of Heaven (Mini LP);
1986 Room of Lights;
1988 Shine;
1989 The Bride Ship;
1990 Paradise Discotheque;
1993 The Adversary - Live
V. Barry Adamson
Barry Adamson discovered the bass guitar in 1977 and joined the Manchester
band "Magazine" the day after. After releasing five albums, the band
collapsed in 1981 and Barry joined the Birthday Party several times. After
the BP became The Bad Seeds, Barry recorded the first four albums with them,
after which he decided that rock music wasn't exactly what he wanted to play.
He started a solo career making film-music for non-existing films and for
real films, such as Carl Colpaert's "Delusion" and "Delayed Shock". Barry has
recently released the album "Oedipus Schmoedipus", with Nick Cave singing
"The Sweetest Embrace".
He recently collaborated with Trent Reznor and Angelo Badalamenti on David
Lynch's movie "Lost Highway", as well as has done a remix for Depeche
Mode's "Useless" single. Latest activities include a remix of EN's
"Installation No. 1" on their "Ende Neu Remixes" album.
Concise discography:
1989 Moss Side Story;
1991 Delusion;
1992 Soul Murder;
1993 The Negro Inside Me;
1996 Oedipus Schmoedipus
VI. The Dirty Three
A (mainly) instrumental band, formed in 1993 by Warren Ellis (Violin), Jim
White (Drums) and Mick Turner (Guitar). They performed several times with
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis appears on the LLI, MB and TBC albums. They
play on the two hidden tracks of the X-files album, one of which together
with Nick Cave. Their style was somewhere described as "folk-rock-punk
drinking songs". Warren Ellis is listed as member of the Bad Seeds on TBC.
A D3 homepage is located at: <http://members.tripod.com/~leh/d3main.html>
Concise Discography:
1994 The Dirty Three
1995 Sad and Dangerous
1996 Horse Stories
---**---
7. Original versions of songs covered by Nick Cave
Versions with "!" are definitely (among) the versions that inspired Nick.
Versions with "1" are first recordings of the song.
(BND) Door, Door:
These Boots Are Made For Walking * Nancy Sinatra
(BP) The Birthday Party (LP):
Catman * Gene Vincent
(BP) Drunk On The Pope's Blood:
Loose * The Stooges
(Die Haut) Sweat:
Sad Dark Eyes * Loved ones
(NC&tBS) From Her To Eternity:
Avalanche ! Leonard Cohen
In the Ghetto ! Elvis Presley
(NC&tBS) The Firstborn Is Dead:
Wanted Man 1 ! Johnny Cash (written by Bob Dylan)
(NC&tBS) Kicking Against The Pricks:
Jesus Met The Woman At The Well * Mahalia Jackson
Jesus Met The Woman At The Well * The Five Blind Boys of Alabama
Jesus Met The Woman At The Well * Fam. Blue Jay Sing. Birm. Alab.
Weeping Annaleah 1 Mickey Newbury
Weeping Annaleah ! Tom Jones
Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart 1 ! Gene Pitney
Long Black Veil * Johnny Cash
Long Black Veil * Lefty Frizzell
Long Black Veil * Les Paul And Mary Ford
Long Black Veil * The Band
Running Scared 1! Roy Orbison
Black Betty 1! Leadbelly
Muddy Water ! Johnny Cash
All Tomorrow's Parties 1! The Velvet Underground
I'm Gonna Kill That Woman 1! John Lee Hooker
The Folksinger 1! Johnny Cash
The Carnival Is Over 1! The Seekers
The Carnival Is Over (Stenka Rasir) * Schwarzmeer Kosaken Chor
By The Time I Get To Phoenix * Glenn Campbell
By The Time I Get To Phoenix * Johnny Rivers
By The Time I Get To Phoenix * Tom Jones
Hey Joe * Jimi Hendrix
Hey Joe ! Tim Rose
Hey Joe 1 The Leaves
The Hammer Song [Kicking] 1! Alex Harvey Band
(NC&tBS) Your Funeral... My Trial:
Long Time Man * Tim Rose
(NC&tBS) Tender Prey:
I'm Gonna Run To The City Of Refuge * Inspired by: Blind Willy Johnson
(NC&tBS) Henry's Dream:
When I First Came To Town * Inspired by Herdman, Hills & Mangsen
When I First Came To Town * "Katy Cruel" (Traditional)
(NC&tBS) Live Seeds:
Plain Gold Ring * Nina Simone
(NC&tBS) Murder Ballads:
Death Is Not The End * Bob Dylan
Stagger Lee * Stagolee (traditional)
Kitchee-Kitchee Ki-Mi-O * Froggy Went A-Courting, Bob Dylan
Henry Lee * "Young Hunting" (Traditional)
The Willow Garden * "Down in a Willow Garden" (Traditional)
Knoxville Girl * "Oxford Tragedy" (Traditional)
Other releases:
Fever * Little Willy John
I Put A Spell On You * Screaming J. Hawkins
500 Miles * The Seekers
Rye Whiskey * Tex Ritter
I Just Dropped In (To See ...)(Die Haut) * Mickey Newbury
Helpless * Neil Young
Cindy, Cindy * Elvis Presley
Tower of Song * Leonard Cohen
Rainy Night In Soho * The Pogues
What A Wonderful World * Louis Armstrong
---**---
8. Influences on Nick Cave's work
In a 1995 interview with an Israeli newspaper, Nick was asked to name
nine things that had changed his life, so may be called influences on
his work, too. These are:
1. Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita, read to him by his father when 12 years old.
2. Dostoyevskiy - Crime and Punishment, especially for the murder scene...
3. The Bible, influenced many of his songs.
4. Painting, having been an Art student for two years. Nick likes
religious painting, especially German Gothic art (Gruenwald, Lochner)
and in modern art Giorgio de Chirico, Francis Bacon and L. Freud.
5. Bob Dylan, Nick seems to admire "Slow Train Coming".
6. John Lee Hooker, all-time favourite.
7. Badlands, a movie directed by Terence Malick, a loose retelling of the
story of Charles Starkweather and Caril Anne Fugate, who went on a
killing-spree.
8. Anita Lane, once his girlfriend and Bad Seed, seemed to have changed
his life thoroughly.
9. Luke, his son. Has filled a gap in his life.
* Other assumed influences from music are: Elvis Presley (consider
"Tupelo"), early punk bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Saints, The
Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, Madonna, The Stranglers, John Cale,
The Carpenters.
* Straub's "The Juniper Tree," and Nick's song "Do you love me? part II),
in which the narrator of the story recounts his molestation in a movie
theater seem to be related. You'll also find Straub's influence in "The
Curse of Millhaven"--Millhaven is the fictional town in Straub's novel
"The Throat" (and in several ancillary pieces).
---**---
9. Translations of selected lyrics to English
THE TRANSLATION OF 'Foi na Cruz'
Foi na Cruz, foi na cruz, It was on the cross, on the cross,
Que um dia, That one day,
Meus peccados castigados em Jesus My sins were punished in Jesus.
Foi na cruz, que um dia, It was on the cross, that one day,
Foi na cruz... It was on the cross
The above text is a Brazilian Protestant Church-song. It features in
the film 'Pixote'.
THE TRANSLATION OF the Latin part of the text on the inner
sleeve of "From Her To Eternity"
The text is in absolutely crap Latin, saying this:
"Nocti eternus in faece cloaca, in exsilium cum catarax
optici. Corpus leperum, oh, corpus leperum similis albino
papyrus vexillum. Ego surrendus. Deus non capit captivum.
Deus non capit captivum. Ego exceptum."
It is supposed to mean something like this:
"The night is eternally in the sewer, in exile with an
optical waterfall. Lovely body, oh, lovely body like a
white paper flag. I've surrendered. God does not take
captive. God does not take captive. Except for me."
Better suggestions are welcome!
---**---
10. Sources of Biblical and other quotes in Cave-songs
"A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands at rest" (Foi na Cruz, The Good Son)
Proverbs 24:33, Proverbs 6:10
"We walk through the valley of the shadow of death"
(Hard On For Love, YFMT)
Psalms 23:4
"And the ass saw the angel"
Numbers 22:23, Numbers 22:25, Numbers 22:27
"Kicking against the pricks"
Acts 26:14
Also: "Prometheus Bound" by Aeschylos (lines 318-327)
"The firstborn is dead"
???
"Red right hand"
John Milton, Paradise Lost 2:160
"The Mercy Seat"
cf. Exodus 25
"I walk through the valley of the shadows of death"
Psalm 23:4
---**---
11. Roadmap of NCs Music (or "I like this, what to buy next?")
* The Road from NC&TBS to The Birthday Party:
Q1: I like NC&TBS, but haven't got any Birthday Party. What should I start
with?
A1: There is little consensus on the mailing list about which is the
best BP album, so there is no obvious answer.
A2:'Hits' is a good compilation that covers the whole of their career,
and has some good sleevenotes. However if you buy it you'll probably
then decide that you want to buy all the original albums as well...
A3: If you want to hear BP stuff that sounds most like NC&BS, then it is
probably best to work backwards, so start with the 'Bad Seed / Mutiny
In Heaven' album
(Thanks, Oliver).
* As most people seem to start with the last NC Album, a suggested route
through the rest of the albums in terms of accessibility might be:
The Boatman's Call -> Murder Ballads -> Let Love In -> The Good Son ->
Your Funeral...My Trial -> Henry's Dream -> Tender Prey -> Kicking Against
The Pricks -> The Firstborn Is Dead -> From Her To Eternity ->
Bad Seed/Mutiny -> Prayers On Fire -> Junkyard -> Hee-Haw -> Door, Door
* On the other hand, logical links in the sense of "I like this, what
album should I buy next?" might be:
Door, Door -> Hee-Haw
Hee-Haw -> Prayers On Fire
Prayers On Fire -> Junkyard
Junkyard -> The Bad Seed/Mutiny
The Bad Seed/Mutiny -> From Her to Eternity
From Her... -> The Firstborn Is Dead/Tender Prey
The Firstborn... -> Kicking Against the Pricks/Tender Prey
Kicking... -> The Firstborn.../From Her...
Your Funeral My Trial -> The Bad Seed/Mutiny / Murder Ballads
Tender Prey -> Henry's Dream / The Bad Seed/Mutiny
The Good Son -> The Boatman's Call
Henry's Dream -> Tender Prey / Let Love In
Let Love In -> Tender Prey / Murder Ballads
Murder Ballads -> The Boatman's Call / Your Funeral...
The Boatman's Call -> The Good Son / Let Love In
Note that this is my personal opinion!
---**---
12. The hidden tracks on the X-files CD
"Songs in the key of X" contains two tracks on which Nick
Cave features: track 6 (Red Right Hand) and the first of two hidden tracks
(Time Iesum Transeuntem et non Reverendem - Dread the passage of Jesus
for he will not return). The hidden tracks can be found by rewinding from
track 1 into negative time till -9:14. The Dirty Three do a second hidden
track after this first one. Note that the CD states that "This compact
disc does not fully conform with Philips' "Red Book" specifications,
in that the "pre-gap" may not play on all CD players", meaning
that your CD player may not be able to find the hidden tracks.
---**---
13. Portobello Cafe
Between 1995 and 1997, Nick Cave and the departed Michael Hutchence
(late singer of INXS) were co-owners of the Portobello Cafe on Portobello
Road, one of the most famous and trendier spots in London. Nick and Michael,
along with Madness' Carl Smith and Andy Ross, the man who discovered and
signed Blur, invested in an 'alternative Planet Hollywood' in London, England.
Their finances helped fund a so-called 'acoustic back room' at the Portobello
Cafe where some of Britain's top stars could perform.
The cafe was located at 305 Portobello Road
Reports from visitors were somewhat disappointed about the cafe's
atmosphere. It has since closed, presumably shortly after Hutchence's
death.
Notes in 1998 point to Nick having some stake in a restaurant called
Jimmy Beez, located just next to the old Portobello Cafe. It's address
is 303 or 307 Portobello Road.
---**---
99. Credits
Compiled and edited by: Dolf-Jan van der Haven, dvdhaven@nl.ibm.com
Further edits by Ross Olson, rosso@zephyr.net and Skin, skin@xs4all.nl.
Thanks to all members of the goodson-list for input.
Return to the Info page.