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Reviews

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - No More Shall We Part

Throughout his career, Nick Cave has projected a larger than life image. He has willfully played the part of the pale thin harbinger of the apocalypse, drawn straight from the mythic world his lyrics created. His obsessions — God, love, violence — have been writ large in his work, projected onto the various characters who people his world.

Having reached an apotheosis with 1996's excessive Murder Ballads, Cave set aside his vengeance of God persona and embarked on a quieter, more introspective journey. The Boatman's Call, released a year later, was a somber album, filled with the most personal and revealing lyrics in Cave's history. By his own admission he turned away from Old Testament wrath to the love and compassion of the Gospels.

No More Shall We Part, while not as sparse, continues Cave's exploration of those themes. Now, instead of creating a world of extreme personalities to give voice to his ideas, Cave sings directly from his heart and life. Gone are the hellfire pronouncements and orgiastic wallowing in the mire. His priorities have changed, as have the challenges that life presents. As a husband and a father he has opened himself to the needs of others, of becoming part of something greater than himself. The analogy to the Divine is intentional on his part. The Bad Seeds — with the addition of Kate and Anna McGarrigle — are more in evidence on this album as well. There are places where the album slows down, where a perennial fan wants to hear some lingering explosion of that old-time religion. But in the end, it's Cave's continuous growth and exploration that keeps him interesting. (Reprise)

— Wayne Wise

(Reprinted from In Pittsburgh Weekly, 05/25/01, by permission of the author.)

The Pixies, as a band, exuded an energy and charisma that the members have not been able to reproduce individually. Frank Black's solo career has been filled with solidly written pop-rock tunes, and Kim Deal found some success with the Breeders (less so with the Amps). But something has always been missing. Whether it was the talent and drive, or the headbutting and creative tension, the Pixies were an example of all the right elements coming together to create magic. The magic is still evident on Complete B-Sides, a collection of their lesser known, and previously hard-to-find, songs.  The CD includes all of the B-sides from the British singles, alternate versions of known songs, live tracks and their cover of Neil Young's "Winterlong" (previously released on the Young tribute album The Bridge). Black contributes new liner notes for each song, which puts them into perspective and offers anecdotes of the time in which they were recorded. The enhanced CD also includes the videos for "Allison" and "Here Comes Your Man." Maybe it's nostalgia, but for a fan, it feels like after a decade long hiatus there is finally a new Pixies album. (4AD)

— Wayne Wise

(Reprinted from In Pittsburgh Weekly,  07/14/01, by permission of the author.)