It's Nick Cave's Birthday!

Couldn't help overhearing on NPR this morning that today, September 22nd, is Nick Cave's birthday. Being that I consider Mr. Cave to be a high ranking member of that elite pantheon of individuals who are effortlessly way cooler than just about everyone else on the planet, I thought I'd take a quick moment to sing his praise. There are too many albums to cite that singularly demonstrate the greatness of Nick Cave. From his days as a frightwigged hellion fronting the ferocious Birthday Party in the early `80s through his more sophisticated incarnation as a sharp-dressed crooner with the Bad Seeds today, Cave's oeuvre runs the gamut between feral confrontation and poignant balladeering.  If I had to pick one single album, however, I'd probably choose The Good Son.

Purists might balk. "B-b-b-but Alex, surely you mean From Her to Eternity or The First Born is Dead...or maybe Tender Prey, right?" Nope. My favorite album by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds is The Good Son. I first heard it as an advance cassette in the Spring of 1990. I'd been working paylessly at an independent music magazine which shall remain nameless alongside a slightly bedraggled veteran British music journalist named Kris Needs (himself a huge Cave fan).  Kris would hoist many a 40 ounce of Olde English and play this tape on a constant rotation while we did our best to piece together the magazine. I'd been a passive Cave fan by way of Tender Prey and earlier tracks like "Tupelo", but this album was different, revealing a calmer and gentler Nick Cave. Sure there were still moments of harrowing exhortation and hellfire, but for the most part, The Good Son was more steeped in smoldering atmospherics and understated elegance rather than bug eyed savagery (as typified Cave's earlier stuff with the mighty Birthday Party). At first came the scoffs. "Ooh, Nick's lost his balls", etc. Wrong. Nick simply grew up. But he could still whip things up into a hellbent frenzy (notably on "The Hammer Song" and "The Witness Song"). While I adore those tracks of foaming-mouthed fury, it's the quieter, more cinematic pieces like the elegiac "The Ship Song" and the quietly mournful "Lucy" (later covered sloppily by Shane MacGowan on a split single with Nick) that bring this album home for me.

From The Good Son onward, I became a huge Cave fan, going back to his earlier records with the Bad Seeds and discovering the rollicking, teatherless rampage of the Birthday Party, a strikingly original gaggle of post-punk pirates well worth seeking out.  I regret to say that I've failed to keep up with Nick Cave following the somewhatt dreary No More Shall We Part in 2001, which found the Aussie bard spinning his wheels. He's put out a couple of more records since then, but I've yet to catch up. While I'll continually cite The Good Son to the uninitiated, I'd also heartily endorse the live album, Live Seeds, recorded on the tour for the 1992 album, Henry's Dream. Many of the performances on Live Seeds actually improve on the album renditions, notably the explosive treks through "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry", "John Finn's Wife" and the pounding "From Her to Eternity". The Birthday Party are similarly worthy of seeking out (as I mentioned above), though pointedly less accessible than the Bad Seeds.  A fine place to start would be with the ironically titled compilation, Hits. It might not be music ripe for every occaision, but if you enjoy plumbing the darkest depths of squalid human depravity, you might just fall in love with it. In any case, crack open an Australian beer and hoist to the birthday boy.