I ain't down here for your love or money, I'm down here for your POLL: The ILM Nick Cave Poll RESULTS Thread (#106 in a series)

https://www.theredhandfiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Picture1-2.png

I thank you all very much for taking the time to vote.

We had 26 ballots in total, all of which (of course) specified 20 Bad Seeds tracks.

24 ballots included a list of albums, while 17 ballots included a selection of non-Bad Seeds tracks.

So, here we go!

Let's start with a Top 10 list of ALBUMS.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Nick_cave_and_the_bad_seeds-the_boatman%27s_call.jpg
10. The Boatman's Call
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
128 points (7 votes)

TOO HIGH

https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/540x540/58540.jpeg
9. Henry's Dream
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
134 points (6 votes, two number ones)

LOL @ thread title!

I believe I gave #9 a small number of points.

i also voted for Henry's Dream, my easily my favourite of his 90s albums

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Kickingagainstthepricks.jpeg
8. Kicking Against the Pricks
139 points (7 votes)

https://img.discogs.com/WGl9DhMZpwrE8uIYA6f0tHSuBZk=/fit-in/402x394/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-370564-1104729105.jpg.jpg
7. Murder Ballads
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
144 points (7 votes, one number one)

i'm definitely surprised that kicking against the pricks made the top 10

yes, me too really if you think about how many albums are vying for a spot!

https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/540x540/58543.jpeg
6. The Good Son
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
146 points (8 votes)

this is where i ranked the good son too, remarkably solid but doesn't quite have the same highs as some of his other work

The Good Son was the first album he released while I knew who he was. So that and Tender Prey will always be What Nick Cave Sounds Like to me, rightly or wrongly. I like and gave points to both.

Kinda wonder how The Birthday Party might fit in here now, if they do at all...

I recall being very taken by The Good Son in my younger years, but upon revisiting it for the purposes of this poll, not a huge amount of it seriously grabbed me. but yes, full of robust, evocative songs.

https://img.discogs.com/82NuMjDVeyHcWqALLLqT6fUai0s=/fit-in/600x601/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-484894-1516089202-4723.jpeg.jpg
5. From Her to Eternity
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
177 points (9 votes, one number one)

Had to check whether I voted for this one! 10th place apparently. I think I listen to it way less frequently anything else he did in the 80s. Such long track durations to commit to. :)

Yer da's looking well.

https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51OyLw%2BPCDL.jpg
4. Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
225 points (11 votes, three number ones)

Healthy number of 1st-place votes! I can... appreciate this one, while not really loving it.

I didn't vote, so I'm not really entitled to an opinion, but I gravitate to the late 1980s and early 1990s - I would have had Henry's Dream and Good Son much higher.

This next one was my number one:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51YehBiru0L._SY400_.jpg
3. Let Love In
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
252 points (10 votes, four number ones)

Ranked Abattoir Blues and Lyre separately - unlike Your Funeral and My Trial, they do feel persuasively like sibling records, rather than simply two physical chunks of the same material.

I've always thought Henry's Dream much better than Nick & Mick do, but it got edged out of my album ten in favour of loading the tracks ballot with individual Dreams.

From Her to Eternity has two fantastic, immense tracks in the title track and "Saint Huck" but the rest doesn't really do much for me

Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus was my #1, it's kind of a culmination of everything he'd done in the 15 years prior, it's fantastic the whole way through, it has the band in absolute top form and it has really rich arrangements

Let Love In didn't quite make my ballot but it's very good the whole way through and I can certainly understand why some might have it at #1

YES! I enjoyed how eclectic your ballot was, particularly with respect to albums. x-post

and yeah Henry's Dream is very very good and I don't really understand why they disliked the production so much, it's one of their better sounding albums up to that point.

Let Love In is my favourite on the grounds of it being the first one I really sunk my teeth into. but it's more than that; it's a pure, emotional and damning record. it's sincere & nuanced in a way that say, Murder Ballads was not.

Nick's vocals on Henry's Dream are some of his all-time best imo.

Thinking of Henry -> Let Love In -> Murder Ballads as a single phase of the band, the weakness of Henry's Dream becomes apparent. If those songs had the immense sound of LLI, or the clarity of the varied arrangements on Ballads, they'd be much better served.

i agree that the production on Let Love In and Murder Ballads is much better than Henry's Dream, and if Henry's Dream had the immense sound of LLI it would be even better, but i'm mostly comparing it to production-wise what had come before and i think Tender Prey and Your Funeral My Trial were hurt much more by their production than Henry's Dream was, so for that point in their career Henry's Dream sounds very good to me. helps that the songs are so strong too

Yeah, listening in order it just sounds like a next transitional step from the ravaged 80s records and more sedate clarity of The Good Son. But presumably the band had the sound of LLI in mind already, and were frustrated to be forced into a Neil Young-shaped hole instead of realising it.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/quietus_production/images/articles/13474/NickCave_tender_prey_edit_1380537645.jpg
2. Tender Prey
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
303 points (15 votes, two number ones)

https://img.discogs.com/o5Z3iLQiChhaUGs3OP_0fTkPWLM=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-4705533-1552172964-2995.jpeg.jpg
1. Your Funeral... My Trial
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
310 points (13 votes, five number ones)

Your Funeral My Trial was my number one but I’m very surprised it won

Also surprised by high placing of Murder Ballads which Id always thought of as a throwaway

When I voted I had pretty much forgotten the existence of Let Love In, despite listening to it a lot back in the 90s - it was pretty good I now recall!

:D

Seems TP was my #5. I don't really know if any of my top 4 will place now, but am also struggling to think of other contenders...

XP: Scratch that! Hahahaha. #1 is my own #1 after all. Phew. Nice work people.

tender prey is one of the weakest bad seeds albums imo, i'm not surprised to see it do so well as i know of its reputation, but i really don't get it. it's not bad or anything but just not particularly strong, not many of the songs have ever really stuck with me and the production is pretty bad, very muddy and cavernous - even "the mercy seat", which is a classic of course, isn't really done justice by the recording there. it took me a while to get into nick cave really as i'd often see tender prey cited as his best and didn't find that much to like there, so it ended up being push the sky away that was my entry point.

your funeral my trial is decent and has some pretty good moments ("sad waters", "stranger than kindness", and "hard on for love" especially), but it never really compares to their very best material and "the carny" is such a dirge and drags it down. to me it's fairly middle of the pack as far as bad seeds albums go

push the sky away that was my entry point

!

So was YFMT highly regarded amongst those in know in the '80s? It has no super-obvious hits to draw in the casual observer and frankly I don't think I'd heard a note of it anywhere before picking up a copy on a whim from a JB HiFi discount bin circa 1998. I did however immediately find the vibe captivating when I did hear it.

YF... MT has an atmosphere unlike any other Nick Cave album. it has a suspended, meditative sort of feel to it that renders it quite foreboding somehow.

I can never remember the final 3 tracks of Tender Prey when they're not playing, but everything else is good to great IMHO.

The complete absence of the Birthday Party from the top 10 is a disgrace though. Disgusting savages, etc, etc. :)

Anyway, thanks charlie rex for the first instalment of this jamboree!

Agree with ufo on the relative strengths/weaknesses of Henry's Dream and its production, it sounds fine to me. Let Love In was my #1 and I'd probably pick the first half of the '90s as Cave's strongest era.

I should say that I'm not a hardcore Nick Cave fan but another board I post on has recently been doing a project going through his albums week-by-week and it's been quite revelatory revisiting some of them - Your Funeral... My Trial was one I wasn't particularly keen on before but it's become one of my favourites (apart from 'The Carny', yeah).

RESULTS

10. The Boatman's Call 128 points (7 votes)
9. Henry's Dream 134 points (6 votes, two number ones)
8. Kicking Against the Pricks 139 points (7 votes)
7. Murder Ballads 144 points (7 votes, one number one)
6. The Good Son 146 points (8 votes)
5. From Her to Eternity 177 points (9 votes, one number one)
4. Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus 225 points (11 votes, three number ones)
3. Let Love In 252 points (10 votes, four number ones)
2. Tender Prey 303 points (15 votes, two number ones)
1. Your Funeral... My Trial 310 points (13 votes, five number ones)

THEY COULDA BEEN CONTENDERS:

11. Skeleton Tree 108 points (6 votes)
12. Mutiny! (The Birthday Party) 104 points (5 votes)
13. Live Seeds 102 points (5 votes)
14. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! 96 points (5 votes, one number one)
15. Junkyard (The Birthday Party) 79 points (4 votes, one number one)
16. Prayers on Fire (The Birthday Party) 73 points (3 votes, one number one)
17. The Firstborn is Dead 62 points (3 votes)
18. Push the Sky Away 52 points (3 votes)
19. No More Shall We Part 50 points (3 votes)
20. The Bad Seed (The Birthday Party) 46 points (2 votes)
21. Ghosteen 41 points (2 votes)
=22. Grinderman (Grinderman) 22 points (1 vote)
=22. Live @ KCRW 22 points (1 vote)
=24. The Birthday Party 18 points (1 vote)
=24. Acoustic Versions From "Tender Prey" 18 points (1 vote)
26. What A Wonderful World 16 points (1 vote)
27. The Proposition OST 13 points (1 vote)

No love for Nocturama. and the second Grinderman also copped a bagel.

OK, I'm going to post some non-Bad Seeds tracks !

here's how my (probably pretty controversial) ranking of the Bad Seeds albums ended up, sorted into tiers. the top 5 was my albums ballot of course

Abbatoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
Ghosteen

Henry's Dream
Push the Sky Away
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Let Love In
The Good Son
The Boatman's Call

Your Funeral... My Trial
Skeleton Tree
Murder Ballads
No More Shall We Part

From Her to Eternity
Tender Prey
Kicking Against the Pricks
Nocturama
The Firstborn is Dead

I admittedly found it quite hard to rank albums, but I did know that I wanted to find a pretty even spread across Bad Seeds & Birthday Party releases.

Phase 2! (this is a TOP 20 list)

https://s3.amazonaws.com/quietus_production/images/articles/16018/birthdayparty_1408362944_crop_550x336.jpg
20. Swampland
The Birthday Party
Mutiny!
117 points (5 votes)

Ooooh. Cool. Possibly too low though!

Shocked but delighted to see "Your Funeral My Trial" at no. 1. I've always loved the production on it so surprised to see that come up. "Wings Of Desire" won me round to "The Carny".

So was YFMT highly regarded amongst those in know in the '80s?

it really felt at the time as if it fell through the cracks. The choice to release it as a 2 x 45 meant a lot of people skipped buying it or didn't really think if it as a fully formed album release per se, at least among Cave fans I knew.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2e/15/b5/2e15b5daab69e99f9e80e853ca92762d.jpg
19. Blast Off
The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party EP
121 points (5 votes)

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18. Junkyard
The Birthday Party
Junkyard
126 points (5 votes)

Let's try an image that'll work:

https://www.monsterchildren.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/04530545-dd66-4ded-a5e5-0641408c10ac-460x307.jpeg
18. Junkyard
The Birthday Party
Junkyard
126 points (5 votes)

Oh wow, I'm in the habit of thinking of "Blast Off" as Junkyard's opener, as on CD issues. It wasn't originally so. Did I know that? Not sure I did.

the rightful homes of some of these songs can be tricky to navigate!

Here's the beginnings of a Spotify playlist if anyone wants to listen along:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0rrYRg0kGeZdjpSEGDEWqF?si=REYC7eWTTNKjY-m3F2pN2Q

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5-VjsiMsKSI/Vfc9KJbY6FI/AAAAAAAACjw/gXwgJsGnOgY/s1600/birthday.jpg
17. Dead Joe
The Birthday Party
Junkyard
134 points (5 votes, one number one)

(Blast Off was the b-side of Release The Bats, released between Prayers On Fire and Junkyard)

ah gotcha!

I'm currently recovering from dental surgery. "Dead Joe", it turns out, is not particularly soothing in this state. It actually kinda sounds the way an aching jaw feels.

https://dch81km8r5tow.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Nick-Cave-08-LR-1-958x559.jpg
16. Jennifer's Veil
The Birthday Party
Mutiny!
138 points (6 votes)

x-post oh dear!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cf/51/49/cf5149eb089b0d6c8bf0a953fa37f04e.jpg
15. Wild World
The Birthday Party
The Bad Seed
156 points (5 votes, one number one)

I am doubting any non Birthday Party tracks will make it in here. Maybe Grinderman.

if i'd put together a ballot for the non-bad seeds projects "(i don't need you to) set me free" would have been the grinderman track i'd have voted for, but i didn't manage to spend enough time with either grinderman or the birthday party

Maybe the Aus contingent voted "Shivers" to the top 14!? (If one even distinguishes between BND and BP)

"shivers" would almost certainly have been my #1, surely it will place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ewBCtBG6BI

anyway here's the 2003 bad seeds arrangement of "wild world"

https://pm1.narvii.com/6820/00225e6812a3bb87ea35af9f8d5d25eafc2dce86v2_hq.jpg
14. Deep in the Woods
The Birthday Party
The Bad Seed
160 points (6 votes, one number one)

too low! i voted for "shivers".

really dig that reinvention of Wild World, particularly once it kicks in around the one-minute mark

https://alchetron.com/cdn/tracy-pew-cca4a432-e84b-41cc-8935-65a4899c3cc-resize-750.jpeg
13. King Ink
The Birthday Party
Prayers on Fire
168 points (7 votes)

https://www.heraldscotland.com/resources/images/9266984.jpg?display=1&htype=0&type=responsive-gallery
12. Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)
The Birthday Party
Junkyard
170 (6 votes, one number one)

Last one before sleep:

https://i0.wp.com/free-zg.t-com.hr/JesusLovesTheStooges/057.jpg
11. Zoo-Music Girl
The Birthday Party
Prayers on Fire
180 points (6 votes, two number ones)

RECAP:

20. Swampland (The Birthday Party) 117 points (5 votes)
19. Blast Off (b-side of Release the Bats) 121 points (5 votes)
18. Junkyard (Junkyard) 126 points (5 votes)
17. Dead Joe (Junkyard) 134 points (5 votes, one number one)
16. Jennifer’s Veil (Mutiny!) 138 points (6 votes)
15. Wild World (The Bad Seed) 156 (5 votes, one number one)
14. Deep in the Woods (The Bad Seed) 160 (6 votes, one number one)
13. King Ink (Prayers on Fire) 168 (7 votes)
12. Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow) (Junkyard) 170 (6 votes, one number one)
11. Zoo-Music Girl (Prayers on Fire) 180 (6 votes, two number ones)

I didnt vote for YFMT but I think more as dumb oversight than deliberate choice. Arg! I did listen to it again & marvelled at the way it filled the room & overtakes you. it is an incredible album and it is right for it to be #1. Nothing else really sounds like it - it really perfects, and elevates, their early sound imo.

I was a #1 for OH GOD! PLEASE LET ME DIE BENEATH HER FISTS

I don't think I've seen ANY of these photos before, really great

i had so much fun re-listening to Birthday Party & Boys Next Door, excited to see the top 10 of this side-poll

Hamlet should be higher tho!!

catching up. wow at YFMT beeing #1!! didn't crack my top 5 tbh. while relistening i just needed the one two punch of jacks's shadow - hard on for love to kick in fast. always does! those 2 songs 4ever

shouts to the other three #1 let love in voters

tried to have a broad non-seeds tracks ballot, and failed. all the birthday party songs in my ballot

zoo-music girl too low! my #1

I just looked back at my submission certain I’d placed YFMT on the albums list and was genuinely surprised I hadn’t. Always seemed like the perfect bridge album for 80s era and the more recent material.

Good album results! I'd half-imagined the recent run doing well, but happy to

Did not vote for YF…MT basically because I hate The Carny and the whole thing is a bit of pain on vinyl so it didn't get played as much as it should have during my teen/20s Nick Cave imprinting period. But pleased to see it winning - I love the woozy drowning sound of it.

I just said 'everything unranked', but Tender Prey would have been my number one. Came out just as I was getting into him but was not mad on the back half for a few years & would have put it behind From Her to Eternity. At some point tho Sugar Sugar Sugar hit me hard & that pulled the whole stretch into place (This might have something to do with having one of those CDs that merged Sunday's Slave and Sugar Sugar Sugar).

Sentence fragment!
…but happy to see the things I love on top

YFMT was my #1! somehow i managed to conjure ilm's hivemind and voted the top 3 in the same order. Let Love In is actually a new one for me (*ducks*) but i was so impressed on my first and second listens that it made my top 3

wow, hating The Carny is kinda mindblowing to me! each to their own though :)

YF/MT was long my favorite bad seeds record until Kicking has gradually displaced it. It was in the college radio basement and I dubbed it to minidisc in the 90s, and got the order of the 4 sides mixed up, so the Sad Waters / Carny side came last, and title track / Stranger than Kindness came first. Was one of those situations like the U.S. Revolver cassette where hearing the correct order years later took some getting used to, the Carny still feels like an album closer to me, not a track 2. I see from wikipedia that some CD issues had the order screwed up in a different way, I wonder if that was someone trying to push the Carny to a more reasonable position ending the first half. Anyway it sounded great dubbed from vinyl, with the extra spaces between sides adding to its disjointed yet meditative vibe. The Harvey-led backing choruses on disc 2 (Jack's Shadow, Hard on for Love, Long time man) have a very similar feel and this helps the whole album cohere for me.

Speaking of rearranged albums, the inclusion of Blast off as track one on Junkyard is indeed strange, I mean it sounds good there but sort of drastically rethinks the album's pacing and maybe diminishes the impact of Dead Joe, being somewhat similar in rhythm, tempo, and feel, although Joe is of course a bit weirder and more minimalistic. I can only think of a few other cases where a contemporaneous single a-side was tacked onto all reissues of an album and appears to have the approval of the artist... Raincoats first lp which sounds better starting with Fairytale, and Split Enz' fairly lame Frenzy, which would be really lame without I See Red.

I wonder if Mutiny/The Bad Seed had been an LP voting option, how far it would have infiltrated the top ten - probably around #7, although probably a lot of voters of one ep voted for the other (but not me, the bad seed might be my least favorite of any BP releases apart from the Nick the Stripper single).

I did not know that about "Junkyard" with "Blast Off" added at the start. How queer! That is all sorts of wrong.

If "Mutiny/The Bad Seed" had been an LP voting option I'd have placed it at no. 2, particularly as 3 of my top non Bad Seeds choices were off "The Bad Seeed" EP. "Nick The Stripper" is in there too. :-)

My partner is Nick Cave agnostic but after recently hearing me play "The Carny" is now veering towards Nick Cave atheism. What is wrong with people?!

people just aint no good iirc

:D

I'm guessing it's the oom-pah-pah rhythm that annoys people? (Some seem to find waltzes/etc distressing on a visceral level these days, inexplicably.)

hmm... i suppose

Sort of - stuff about creepy circuses, carnivals etc either bores or annoys me - so the oompah music and the lyrics work together to make me switch off.

I think Wings of Desire is also somehow to blame.

And it's obviously rather long. Interesting that it made it to The Best of of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

Fun Wikipedia tangent:

Cave asked each of the Bad Seeds, past and present, to choose their favourite tracks from the ten albums—their lists would then be discussed until a final list was produced. Only guitarist and founding Bad Seed Mick Harvey responded, and it is his listing, unchanged, that makes up The Best Of.

Cave later said, "That particular record, which is my favourite of the records we've done, is very special to me and a lot of amazing things happened, musically, in the studio. There are some songs on that record that as far as I'm concerned are just about perfect as we can get really- songs like "The Carny", "Your Funeral, My Trial", and "Stranger Than Kindness", I think are really quite brilliant."[10]

lol, i love that wikipedia tangent! is he not on good terms with several of the bad seeds, or are they just so cool that they don't care? at least one person (kid congo) is definitely that cool, they're the best

Kid Congo had left the band 8 years before

I think it's 100% that nobody else cared at all, and as manager (& sole consistent band member who'd played on & therefore knew all the records) Mick knew that having songs on it would help the best-of sell more, and keep everyone's wages paid

Harvey might be the most sensible person evah. In the event of him running for public office I could totes see myself voting for him, lol.

Mick is such a god, yeah

We stan Mick

In the event of him running for public office I could totes see myself voting for him, lol.

He'd make a great mayor or MP, but would have to be parachuted into a safe seat given his total lack of interest in publicly exhibiting self-regard or charisma.

Always got to wonder about potential of accidents creating recontextualisation and things.
Like how different would the world be if somebody hadn't left the completed versions of the tracks on the 83 eps as rough versions on the tube.
& how one feels about Nick's tribute to his dead dad not being relegated to lower position by being moved backwards a space on the cd.

But amazing the interplay of those specific random souls in a band. Speshly as ex public school boys.

Oh and is that Mufti facing the birthday party boys in the photo for Hamlet above.

HANDS UP WHO WANTS MORE RESULTS !!

btw, I forgot to mention last night in my fatigued state that a total of 76 songs were voted for in the non-Bad Seeds tracks category.

and yes absolutely re. Mick. the man exudes shrewdness even when planted in the thick of disorder.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/DwDNyPFrtuHAkaARtjj27Td1w3Sv5IPxQgsKlLcztp3ytA6fzeQwjygADFe7SMA2tevFBD9VzAgrkagWiZfJR5GiM-D8zil9ilDCWuKFVNkoWapYo6UfK63sz9fCZYJMdA
10. She's Hit
The Birthday Party
Junkyard
201 points (8 votes)

xxxp looks like rowland's brother harry in the hamlet photo

https://rowland-s-howard.com/gallery/img/bp/030_Boys_Next_Door,_1978_-_Photos_by_Jeff_Busby.jpg
9. Shivers
The Boys Next Door
Door, Door
208 points (8 votes)

Ooh, it did make it!

I was heartened by some enthusiasm for "Dive Position" in the other thread. That can't be still higher, can it?

cmon Brave Exhibitions 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

https://s3.amazonaws.com/quietus_production/images/articles/28079/TheBirthdayParty_Credit_BleddynButcher_1586330949_crop_550x690.jpg
=7. Big-Jesus-Trash-Can
The Birthday Party
Junkyard
210 points (7 votes)

https://e.snmc.io/i/600/w/02daeb90c9e807bba5548c90c6e93cf4/7812706
=7 Sonny's Burning
The Birthday Party
The Bad Seed
210 points (7 votes)

"shivers" is a perfect song

XXPOST re 'BJTC': Terrifying pic. Likely my highest Junkyard track. That off-kilter countermelody thingy at the start of each verse does weird things to my brain.

Shivers is the classic, but it’s always been a big amusing/bemusing how so many people who cover it seem to oversing it

After the original i think I love Courtney Barnett’s version the best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkG3TI9W31U

you don't need to look far to find a staggeringly excellent Rowland guitar track, but B-J-T-C is one.

the Screaming Jets cover of Shivers still haunts me, and probably subconsciously challenges my enjoyment of the original.

haha it is v scarring

https://64.media.tumblr.com/5f083f386af7694b9e086b19acd5c669/08358264374cd59d-43/s500x750/82e4cc9396c3fdce641b23575583f1090448eff7.jpg
6. Release the Bats
The Birthday Party
Single
211 points (8 votes, one number one)

good ol' "if I wanna get onstage and talk about gooks and faggots, no-one's gonna stop me" D4ve Gl33son, bringing every gram of his sensitivity to that song

er xpost

oh god

I know someone who is dismissive of this band because "Release the Bats" is silly. Well, yeah. But it also slaps. I didn't vote it, from memory. But this feels like about the right ranking.

goths are silly, that's part of the fun

Into the Top 5:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b5/82/73/b58273bbeca5efd048df5328bd2407dc.jpg
5. The Friend Catcher
The Birthday Party
Single
218 points (8 votes)

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aLG0KsA9t2Y/Ugd8lyJpAZI/AAAAAAAAg08/S66HDoE0m7U/s1600/0b22b959be975348db6b2e6dfc39fd7a.jpg
4. Nick the Stripper
The Birthday Party
Prayers on Fire
226 points (8 votes, one number one)

wouldn't be fair not to also post this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5I2vEcVC_I

Release The Bats rules so much

Also: best time of the late night/early AM viewing of “Rage” music videos was always when the “Nick the Stripper” video showed up HELLO WELCOME THE WITCHING HOUR

https://iv1.lisimg.com/image/7794290/500full-rowland-s.-howard.jpg
3. Mr. Clarinet
The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party
241 points (8 votes, two number ones)

lol tons of artists have programmed Nick the Stripper on Rage over the years. it's the done thing.

the Grinderman contingent repped pretty hard for this one:

https://static.gigwise.com/gallery/1146442_Grinderman-01.jpg
2. No Pussy Blues
Grinderman
Grinderman
254 points (8 votes, two number ones)

If you're only going to hear one Grinderman song, that's the one

it was the one i was going to vote for until i said fuck it & voted birthday party & boys next door only

(xp @ me: Though it conceals some of their more distinct stuff, and alternatively the degree to which they were just a more-profitable-to-tour Bad Seeds)

yep that's my Grinderman vote

i like about 3-4 Grinderman songs & I'm afraid that isn't one of them. the thing I enjoyed most about the whole Grinderman experience was seeing them live & digging the show quite a bit without feeling like I couldn't mooch off & grab a drink or something whenever the mood arose.

(like, I was saying upthread or in the other one that the 97-2003 period could have been solo or The Nick Cave Quartet: Dig Lazarus Dig might as well be The Grinderman Big Band.)

This fan animation for No Pussy Blues plays on the Bad Seeds TeeVee channel amongst the official videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLOOSWP26_U

lol @ age-restricted embed

https://i.pinimg.com/474x/01/fd/92/01fd9298fe00a9fc22c961eb165333ef--nick-cave-band-photos.jpg
1. Mutiny in Heaven
The Birthday Party
Mutiny!
311 points (11 votes, two number ones)

this is a great result

but yr all fired for not voting for Nick-as-Bryan Ferry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhVtBQiR6aE

yes, I very much agree! the definitive BP song for me. x-post

love the idea of Nick as Bryan Ferry, and you know what, I'm hearing it !

re. Grinderman: while I agree that the project sound-wise had its origins in what was happening circa D,L,D!!!, it had a kind of vapid looseness/aw fuck it feel that suggests Nick et al saw the moniker as a vehicle for goofing around a bit more (for lack of a better description).

iirc the big shift in approach was that they wrote Grinderman songs largely by jamming as a band which wasn't really how the Bad Seeds operated much otherwise. there's some stuff on AB/TLOO and DLD that originated from the same jamming as a quartet approach, and the AB/TLOO tracks written like that were what directly lead to Grinderman

Babe, I'm On Fire is the first song in that phase imo

while I agree that the project sound-wise had its origins in what was happening circa D,L,D!!!

Grinderman was first! they brought that energy back to the Bad Seeds for Lazarus, which is why I bracket the middle album with the two Grindies

yeah there's some clear stylistic precedents on Nocturama with "Babe, I'm On Fire" and "Dead Man Walking".

the four tracks on AB/TLOO credited to Cave/Casey/Ellis/Sclavunos are the first that were credited to the Grinderman quartet and came from them jamming together when they had some spare studio time after recording some songs with Marianne Faithful that Cave was producing & co-writing, having enlisted Casey, Ellis and Sclavunos as the backing band. this feeling like a fresh artistic approach is part of what lead to Grinderman

ahhh shit, I got the order skewed in my head. x-post

RESULTS:

20. Swampland (The Birthday Party) 117 points (5 votes)
19. Blast Off (The Birthday Party) 121 points (5 votes)
18. Junkyard (The Birthday Party) 126 points (5 votes)
17. Dead Joe (The Birthday Party) 134 points (5 votes, one number one)
16. Jennifer’s Veil (The Birthday Party) 138 points (6 votes)
15. Wild World (The Birthday Party) 156 points (5 votes, one number one)
14. Deep in the Woods (The Birthday Party) 160 points (6 votes, one number one)
13. King Ink (The Birthday Party) 168 points (7 votes)
12. Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow) (The Birthday Party) 170 points (6 votes, one number one)
11. Zoo-Music Girl (The Birthday Party) 180 points (6 votes, two number ones)
10. She’s Hit (The Birthday Party) 201 points (8 votes)
9. Shivers (The Boys Next Door) 208 points (8 votes)
=7 Big-Jesus-Trash-Can (The Birthday Party) 210 points (7 votes)
=7 Sonny’s Burning (The Birthday Party) 210 points (7 votes)
6. Release the Bats (The Birthday Party) 211 points (8 votes, one number one)
5. The Friend Catcher (The Birthday Party) 218 points (8 votes)
4. Nick the Stripper (The Birthday Party) 226 points (8 votes, one number one)
3. Mr. Clarinet (The Birthday Party) 241 points (8 votes, two number ones)
2. No Pussy Blues (Grinderman) 254 points (8 votes, two number ones
1. Mutiny in Heaven (The Birthday Party) 311 points (11 votes, two number ones)

THE BEST OF THE REST:

21. Palaces of Montezuma (Grinderman) 76 points (3 votes)
22. Happy Birthday (The Birthday Party) 70 points (3 votes)
23. Fear of Gun (The Birthday Party) 67 points (3 votes)
24. Go Tell the Women (Grinderman) 66 points (3 votes)
25. Kathy’s Kisses (The Birthday Party) 61 points (3 votes)
26. Capers (The Birthday Party) 59 points (2 votes)
=27. Je t’aime… moi non plus (Nick Cave & Anita Lane) 53 points (2 votes)
=27. Worm Tamer (Grinderman) 53 points (2 votes)
29. Six Strings that Drew Blood (The Birthday Party) 50 points (2 votes)
30. Ho Ho (The Birthday Party) 49 points (2 votes)

obviously that should be FEARS of Gun. i find that song title hard to write for some reason.

this has been a fun appetizer rollout before the main course

my #3, but really it's just as good as Zoo-Music Girl or Sonny's Burning imo, top tier shit

RATS IN PARADISE

i'll be back in an an hour so to start off the Bad Seeds rollout.

:D

we’ll start some kind of prepartory bonfire ritual befitting the rollout .. or score some heroin .. whichever is quickest

no rest for the wicked

the four tracks on AB/TLOO credited to Cave/Casey/Ellis/Sclavunos are the first that were credited to the Grinderman quartet and came from them jamming together when they had some spare studio time after recording some songs with Marianne Faithful that Cave was producing & co-writing, having enlisted Casey, Ellis and Sclavunos as the backing band. this feeling like a fresh artistic approach is part of what lead to Grinderman

good intel, and especially thanks for the reminder - I had the Marianne CD* and didn't hold onto it, will track those 3 songs down for my virtual Bad Seeds box set

*mostly otherwise done with a lineup of PJ Harvey that included Portishead third man Adrian Utley

=27. Je t’aime… moi non plus (Nick Cave & Anita Lane) 53 points (2 votes)

shout-out to my lone fellow non-sausage party voter

(obv still p sausagey, although Mick's translation is more oblique than "I come between your kidneys")

Gee, I didn't anticipate Grinderman that high! Didn't really anticipate "Mutiny" at #1 either but that's just fine by me!

having enlisted Casey, Ellis and Sclavunos as the backing band

I dropped out of the soundtracks after Proposition and Coward Robert Ford, but looks like Casey plays on a few of them, whereas TAOJJBTCRF is the only one with the same quartet, made in the same year as the first Grinderman album.

OK, here we go.

139 Bad Seeds tracks were voted for.

This will be a Top 40 rollout.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/_IFUFjWfLllmWGqd-OiDUnEr7jQzY6lgNM9gz-y9-oK54Is4keZm-1hMixqvacTC5B5d23jovXfDaSDsiRbaoalJRZSM2YYJPNMnrXJr4CeNuAZorR66YKSKC5qfIEQ
40. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
109 points (6 votes)

ah, dig yourself.

like this song a lot. the delivery, the lyrics & especially the tempered groove of the whole thing.

https://nickcavefixes.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/nick-and-blixa-loverman-glastonbury-19941.png?w=640
39. Loverman
Let Love In
110 points (6 votes)

too low tbh

https://leosigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/nick-cave-into-my-arms.jpg
=37. Into My Arms
The Boatman's Call
112 points (5 votes)

https://dangerousminds.net/content/uploads/images/made/content/uploads/images/NiCkMESShaNEWMwonEOENNFieeiei093933993ONEFOEFNWnnfenfiiiii_465_444_int.jpeg
=37. Up Jumped the Devil
Tender Prey
112 points (6 votes)

If the tracks that are only heard in Rough versions on the 1983 eps cd had not had their completed versions left on a tube train by somebody would they be better liked.
Pretty visceral live staples in a couple of cases and a song that only got official release in a slowed down c&w version before Peel sessions got releases. Where would they have fit if they had been released.

shocked "Loverman" isn't higher, it's the clear standout on Let Love In to me

didn't vote for DLD!!! but it's a fun track. basically just a great groove for Ellis to make noise all over

i'm not really surprised that "Into My Arms" isn't higher since ILM doesn't seem too enthusiastic on The Boatman's Call, or his quieter material in general, but it really is a gorgeous song. The Boatman's Call is a bit much for me as a whole but it does have a few absolute gems on it

"Up Jumped the Devil" just doesn't really do much for me, like a lot of their 80s material in this sort of mode

Into My Arms works well, but it's not strictly what I want out of the Bad Seeds.

always found Loverman overwrought, but came round to it during my recent listening.

Another tie!

https://a1000mistakes.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/4032775.jpg?w=600
=35. O Children
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
114 points (5 votes)

https://64.media.tumblr.com/1317e7b9506e0072bae1734b3a098e74/tumblr_nd5hiyA84N1sgkswjo1_500.jpg
=35. Mercy
Tender Prey
114 points (6 votes)

for me the fairly broad stylistic range is a huge part of their appeal as a band, even if i think their albums have generally gotten much more consistently strong later in their career

i had "o children" quite high. "mercy" is fine but not a favourite or anything

Always got to wonder about potential of accidents creating recontextualisation and things.
Like how different would the world be if somebody hadn't left the completed versions of the tracks on the 83 eps as rough versions on the tube.
& how one feels about Nick's tribute to his dead dad not being relegated to lower position by being moved backwards a space on the cd.

― Stevolende, Monday, December 21, 2020 12:31 PM (seven hours ago)

If the tracks that are only heard in Rough versions on the 1983 eps cd had not had their completed versions left on a tube train by somebody would they be better liked.
Pretty visceral live staples in a couple of cases and a song that only got official release in a slowed down c&w version before Peel sessions got releases. Where would they have fit if they had been released.

― Stevolende, Monday, December 21, 2020 7:26 PM (fifty-four minutes ago)

Is this a thing? They recorded the Bad Seed EP at Hansa in October 1982, and brought an acetate of it when Nick & Tracy moved onto the living room floor of the Go-Betweens' squat after returning to London from Berlin that month. That came out in February (at which time Robert & Lindy Go-Be found a new squat with room for Rowland & Gen in the attic).

They went back to Hansa in April 1983 and recorded Mutiny!, meeting up (platonically) with Blixa in the studio, and Mick gave notice during the session. The rest of the band went to Australia, then met back up in London for overdubs & mixing with Mick and Blixa (guesting) in August, and the EP came out in November.

It would seem careless if somebody lost the final mixes of each EP, ten months apart, on the London underground. Especially when one wasn't even mixed in England.

Mercy is the first thing I voted for, I believe. The endlessly cycling rumbling piano warrants a few points all on it's own.

O Children is definitely a favourite of mine.

loved it since the first time I heard it. only realised recently it has quite an enormous following.

https://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/badseeds.jpg
34. Brother, My Cup is Empty
Henry's Dream
118 points (6 votes)

scuse mo, got to spend a penny

one of the weaker tracks on henry's dream but that means it's still pretty good

Must be scope for somebody to compile a set of Birthday Party outtakes and misplaced tracks on a physical medium.
I thought the band got the rights back to their material a few years ago, possibly around the time the live compilation thing came out.
I don't think I've seen any new titles being added to the catalogue since or remasters or anything unless there were remastered cds in vinyl packages.
Somebody could go down to Baker st and see if there were any tapes still there in the lost property office or try the Berlin Ubahn equivalent, like.

https://songssmiths.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/nick-cave-paris-1985.jpg
=32 Wanted Man
The Firstborn is Dead
121 points (5 votes)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5f/19/9c/5f199c15d2355c7217f1febd5402acdf.jpg
=32 Henry Lee
Murder Ballads
121 points (6 votes)

Henry Lee is a very charming song. think it was bang in the middle of my ballad.

ballad = ballot

Murder Ballots would have been a good thread title actually...

The video for Henry Lee is a very lovely thing.

ha! if people want to post their full ballots after the rollout, someone should start a Murder Ballots thread.

Brother My Cup is Empty is the only song I have ever played/sung on acoustic guitar from start to finish to impress a girl (it is a very very easy song to play).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnlEliidt8

npt sen this before, I don't spend time looking through thoe available videos all the time.
Does leave me wondering how much scope there is in reinterpretation of a song one would readily perceive, and not be lost in the mpment etc.
I think the Birthday party were a pretty improvisatory band at times.
Do also womder what they felt they were oblkiged to keep playing or were they legendarily a band that didn't give an f about audience expectations.

Oh yeah one thing I hae wondered about does anybody know what happened to Bingo the band bouncer/Nick cave Bodyguard/generally ggodf guy who I knew a few years later

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lc4bna6XKE

Wanted Man one of my favourite cover versions by anyone - the tension, the organ, the drum crashes.

such excellent clips, both! re. Birthday Party

yes, Wanted Man has a thrilling sense of doom about it.

https://live.staticflickr.com/3522/3912583221_22fa7959aa.jpg
31. Jack's Shadow
Your Funeral... My Trial
123 points (5 votes, one number one)

a crawlspace above a door that Nick used as a residence/office for a creative period wow

That's a quite a mix so far. 10 tracks from 9 different LPs.

last one for today coming up.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a7/a3/c2/a7a3c2aa8695c3ca41f6037b66ff7f42.jpg
30. Loom of the Land
Henry's Dream
124 points (4 votes, one number one)

Those must be four heavily weighted votes there! As someone who used to know Henry's Dream really well, I'm embarrassed to be desperately refreshing my memory here...

yes, four very heavily weighted votes! in fact in my tallying, this song got a strong start & then kinda stalled altogether.

I personally love the song & find it quite majestic.

I had never seen the music video to “Henry Lee” until last night and kinda feel that it would’ve helped bumped the song into my top 20.

I’m not sure how many people’s first hearing of “Loverman” was from Metallica’s “Garage Inc.” but would not be shocked if that toothless cover clouded the original’s monstrous terror.

haha I guess I should’ve expected the nick cave poll to run on aussie time

anyway, i voted for four of the tracks so far, I think all in the lower half of my ballot:
- “dig lazarus dig” - this album is one of the most gleefully depraved documents in a career full of gleeful depravity. the title track is an excellent intro, I love the relentlessly burrowing guitars and mantra-like chorus, just a tremendous amount of fun.
- “up jumped the devil” - tasty piano licks, striking (and strikingly funny) lyrics throughout
- “mercy” - someone mentioned that cyclical piano, and there’s something about the chorus that reminds me of a chain gang chant. stuck in my head like no other song in the poll. “my death, it almost bored me”
- “brother, my cup is empty” - my only Henry’s dream vote. simmering intensity. are there more than 2 consecutive seconds during these three minutes that cave isn’t singing?

great point there about Brother...

such distilled, frantic energy in Cave's delivery.

THE STORY SO FAR:

40. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! 109 points (6 votes)
39. Loverman 110 points (6 votes)
=37. Into My Arms 112 points (5 votes)
=37. Up Jumped the Devil 112 points (6 votes)
=35. O Children 114 points (5 votes)
=35. Mercy 114 points (6 votes)
34. Brother, My Cup is Empty 118 points (6 votes)
=32. Wanted Man 121 points (5 votes)
=32. Henry Lee 121 points (6 votes)
31. Jack’s Shadow 123 points (5 votes, one number one)
30. Loom of the Land 124 points (4 votes, one number one)

As I expected and rather hoped: the results are including many songs that I didn't even consider, even getting number one votes. Hoped, because I'm looking forward to re-listening to the tracks knowing someone felt a lot where I hadn't noticed as much. I'd guess this is a function of so many lyrics that work like elliptical prose - scenes and specific imagery that resonate with one's own experiences.

The Birthday Party just swing so hard, uniquely among their peers. Like, the grinding riffs and verbiage aren't too different from The Fall, but Pew's bass makes the dirges wobble and spin. It must be Pew, because none of Cave, Howard or Harvey's subsequent adventures ever strike that balance between unhinged and controlled, even if there's plenty of skronk.

Jack’s Shadow is incredible, my favorite by far of this lot. Up Jumped the Devil was really fun to sing at karaoke.

re: Brother My Cup Is Empty

ufo noted upthread that he thought it was one of the weaker tracks on Henry Dream. Disagree wholeheartedly mainly because I dont think there are any weak tracks on that album!

Brother for me is one those great Cave songs that are sold through the performance as much as the writing, and I am definitely a sucker for his violent narrators. (in this period you kind of had to be bc thats all there was! lmao)
It comes across like a one-act play & the rat tat staccato cadence of the verses is so great


I am the captain of my pain
Tis the bit, the bridle
The trashing cane
The stirrup, the harness
And the whipping mane
The pickled eye
And the shrinking brain

And the alliteration here - finger spurt/flies swarm - plus that added onomatopeia of the Click/Crack

To see her accusing finger spurt
To see flies swarm her hateful eye
To watch her groaning in the dirt
To see her clicking tongue crack dry

Thank you for attending my TED talk - i love this song & i put it at #4 on my ballot bc i wanted to give it a big push

lol Into My Arms was like my #2 or #3, FINE WHATEVER ILM

<3

Thank you for attending my TED talk - i love this song & i put it at #4 on my ballot bc i wanted to give it a big push

It is so good! I had it at 9, thinking, its excellence was obvious enough I didn't need to put it as high as a couple others I wanted to push. Part of why I love it is that it really conveys the character so well of the dude who doesn't want to leave the bar but just keeps getting trashed but also can't afford all the drinks he wants ... I have been at the bar with this guy.

Also, sorry for whoever it was who was at the dentist for Dead Joe -- that was my #1 and was the first Birthday Party song I heard, and was like, whoaaaaaaaa

loved yr TED talk VG

lol thx

xpost: to be fair I could conceivably have voted for "Dead Joe" myself. Apparently painkillers wearing off prematurely is all it takes for me to become the dreaded "why even listen to such ugly music?" co-worker, etc. LOL.

it was an interesting process putting a songs ballot together - like I strongly self-identify as digging Nick Cave but I struggled sliiightly to get 20 songs that I thought were in the absolute top rank - like there were probably 10-12 that were on the list without thinking about it, and then the rest were objectively pretty good songs but not ones I would die for

of those so far only Mercy really pings my synapses, I remember he played it in live in Sydney 1997 or so and Warren Ellis guested on violin before he was a proper Bad Seed - and we were all really into the dirty three at that point and it was a big deal! and a lovely version of that song as the sun was going down - real good Loverman at that show as well

anyway very intrigued to see if my #1 was anyone else’s

I'm most curious about '10s tracks. Hard to imagine that all that many can squeeze into the top 30. My weirdly bimodal ballot included at least 5 late tracks but I've no real idea whether they are broadly beloved ones.

i had the greatest hits but the first album i connected with -- probably because i got a promo back in the times when that mattered -- was 'no more shall we part'

so i'm the guy who voted for all those mid-period tracks no one knows the names of

alright, let's get going again!

https://i1.wp.com/41.media.tumblr.com/41ff49f971a95a83cb72d52f4a1ba838/tumblr_njk810yGj41rxbe9eo1_540.jpg
29. By the Time I Get to Phoenix
Kicking Against the Pricks
129 points (5 votes)

such body

I fucking love that this thread rolls on West Coast/Aus time

real Warracknabeal hours

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQAkvPGkfD8vhwFL5Ywq-8AJFNYo0gGW1nKxA&usqp=CAU
28. Jack the Ripper
Henry's Dream
131 points (6 votes, one number one)

afraid I had to FP sleeve for racism btw

tiny pic (wtf?), giant song. full of menacing snarl & completely enthralling throughout. I should have voted it higher.

such a hugely ballsy choice for a cover & Nick sings the hell out of it

like he isnt the same kind of singer as Hayes at all (obv) but can still find a way to inhabit the character & convey the same emotion in his own way

its like i said upthread about Brother My Cup Is Empty - he has a really immense ability to act out/“perform” a song vocally & when he connects it’s really jawdropping

xxposts jeez

I didn't even revisit Pricks for this exercise because of my typical "limited slots--exclude all covers" stance, but it's possibly the best song in the history of popular music, and it's a decent rendition. Thumbs up!

XP: Oh, I did briefly consider "Jack"! Nice that others took care of it.

lol sic IDGI but accepted

Jack the Ripper is so fucking great, really great to kick out the jams to after a shitty day at work

also facemelting live

btw has anyone alerted king boy pato to this poll and therefore the endless opportunity to shit on wangaratta

lmao

WANG

for me, there's quite a few Bad Seeds songs in the same theme/ style as Jack (some of which are also on Henry's Dream, funnily enough). you know, the repetition, the layering of imagery, the gathering menace. but, I think Jack nails the mood best.

rat wang

yeah, Jack also balances the repetition / hooks vibe of Henry's to have felt like a real hit single at the time

lol sic IDGI but accepted

(it is summer so there are currently five time zones in Australia)

But it's 2:25pm in all the states that matter. *ducks*

Wang luvs Nick
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/fd/22/e2/fd22e2d8d431cf4dca5a3fcc48bf2e35.jpg

https://www.portrait.gov.au/files/7/9/4/a/i522-wd.jpg
27. I Let Love In
Let Love In
132 points (7 votes)

i dunno that this would feature in my personal 20 but i’m not mad to see it here

maybe a -little- mad that it’s higher than jack the ripper lol

https://seelebrenntarchive.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/blixanick_joe-dilworth-1997-london.jpg?w=584
26. Lime Tree Arbour
The Boatman's Call
135 points (6 votes, one number one)

Too low! Kudos to the #1 voter.

I'll do one more then break for a few hours.

Lime Tree Arbour above Into My Arms makes up for any Boatman's tracks getting in at all.

https://nostalgiacentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/badseeds002-640x398.jpg
25. City of Refuge
Tender Prey
139 points (7 votes)

I certainly agree with that! x-post

so many angular-featured white guys in the band, and Barry's chin & cheekbones effortlessly putting them in the shade there

LOL

This was a late ommission for me. Thanks to those 7 people for doing the sensible thing.

omission

Barry was too goddamn handsome for the Seeds, v beautiful looking man

the ache in Lime Tree Arbor is so palpable, love it so much

just listened to the Live Seeds version of Jack the Ripper for the first time in many years. my my does it pack a punch.

lots of good videos but this one’s my own fave bc i had it on dvd & watched at least seven billiontytwo times

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x-PD170vUs

Mick's the coolest in that vid for mine.
Martin's hunchy tip-toed swagger is vaguely annoying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r911eFy9y5w

geez city of refuge is a real good one

listening again now in the context of some of these other tunes, i hadn't realised how much it foreshadows the Henry's Dream sound, to my ears at least - esp those rolling drums and the dominant acoustic guitar

speaking of things i watched alot

WHEN I LIVED IN WYOMING

“City of Refuge” was a late cut but very glad to see it in about the tier I would’ve had it.

^^ same

love “lime tree arbour,” one of his best ballads and the only boatman track i voted for (or even considered)

the melody is so beautiful

My top Boatman track- everything the album is going for in a tight, 3 minute track

this is the final tie of the rollout (thankfully).

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/40/1c/e4401cf50bdf9774710b9d85ba0e4b89.jpg
=23. Cabin Fever!
From Her to Eternity
140 points (6 votes)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/80/b9/d0/80b9d0a27af28774fbdf32f929e0b433.jpg
=23 Red Right Hand
Let Love In
140 points (8 votes)

'Lime Tree Arbour' was my #1, really happy to see it place - I think Boatman's Call is a bit mixed as an album but that's such a beautiful song.

Loving the results in general so far, nice variety in terms of eras and sounds, glad to see the love for 'Jack's Shadow' too, that was one of the tracks that won me over to YFMT.

glad you're enjoying it, Gavin ! nice, interesting call on Lime Tree Arbour as no. 1. can't believe I've overlooked this song since virtually day 1 !

"Cabin Fever'! I definitely gave that a few points. Not sure I've ever actually parsed many of these lyrics, it occurs to me, on re-listening. It could probably still pass for a Birthday Party track really.

huge, staggering bassline on Cabin Fever!

Red Right Hand is like a song without a fixed home. it's been appropriated so liberally & arbitrarily that I'm not quite sure where it fits anymore.

It's making me long for the Barossa Valley for some inexplicable reason...

Also: great image selections, btw! I keep meaning to say that.

https://images.static-bluray.com/reviews/20101_4.jpg
22. (I'll Love You) Till the End of the World
Until the End of the World OST
142 points (6 votes)

thank you! x-post

last one for today:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a7/96/2d/a7962d91ee752841db5a69e33074b30a.jpg
21. O'Malley's Bar
Murder Ballads
144 points (6 votes)

it's hard to feel much about "red right hand" these days. the live versions are significantly better, due to the band letting things explode much more, but it wasn't at all in contention for my ballot

i voted for two other 14 minute epics but not "o'malley's bar" which doesn't really do much with its run time

SEZ YOU

Here's the 20-minute radio session version, downloadable for two weeks

Two in a row for me! I think I used to be sceptical about "O'Malley's Bar" average thrills per minute myself. Not sure when that changed.

We haven't seen anything at all from The Good Son, have we? The opportunities for '10s tracks really seem to be running out. :(

OMB was my number six, what a behemoth. pleasantly surprised at how consensus-y ballot is turning out to be.

which doesn't really do much with its run time

such disrespect for the memory of poor mrs. richard holmes

I love that insane rhythm on Cabin Fever, def one of my alltime faves from that album.

Red Right Hand is still great tho somewhat overplayed, but lately I have been appreciating the sound of it, the theremin, the moviehall-sounding organ, the bells!! the percussion.
when you play it loud the sounds just envelop you, it’s v impressive

and Til The End of The World

ugh! LOVE

posting the intro lyrics in bold bc they deserve it


It was a miracle I even got outta Longwood alive
This town full of men with big mouths and no guts
I mean, if you can just picture it
The whole third floor of the hotel gutted by the blast
And the street below showered in shards of broken glass
And all the drunks pourin' outta the dance halls
Starin' up at the smoke and the flames
And the blind pencil seller wavin' his stick
Shoutin' for his dog that lay dead on the side of the road
And me, if you can believe this, at the wheel of the car
Closin my eyes and actually prayin'
Not to God above, but to you, sayin'

Cabin Fever placed!! This was one of the songs I pushed up for strategic reasons. It is maybe the most No Wave song of Nick's (outside of work w/Lydia Lunch lol) -- definitely reminds me of DNA .

I dropped Cabin Fever at the last minute but delighted to see it place. i'm starting to think i live a more culturally ascetic life than i perhaps imagine, as apart from Dumb and Dumber i don't think i have ever encountered "Right Red Hand" anywhere.

X Files movie - also it was kind of the go to Nick Cave song they played on the radio, at least in Aus

X-Files TV show 1994
Dumb And Dumber 1994
was on (and Chris Carter said the inspiration for) the Songs In The Key Of X 1996 album of music mostly otherwise recorded for the album, rather than used in The X-Files - Nick Cave and the Dirty Three had new recordings hidden in "track 0"
Scream 1996
Box Of Moonlight 1996 (by Johnny Suede writer-director Tom DiCillo. I don't know if I'd ever heard of this movie until 10 seconds ago)
Scream 2 1997
Telmisseomding 1999, SK
Scream 3 2000
Hellboy 2004
Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant 2009 (me neither)
Hollyoaks promos 2010
Jack Irish 2012-present - main theme to telemovies and series starring Guy Pearce
Peaky Blinders 2013-2019 - used as the theme song, and various cover versions used in the show
StalkHer 2015
Slash 3 2015
Ladbrokes World Grand Prix (one ep 2016)
Wentworth (Prisoner {"Cell Block H} remake from 2013, song apparently used in a 2019 episode)
Herr und Frau Bulle (one ep 2019, DE)
Ahora Me Ves... Parte 1 (2019, MX)
The Great British Menu (one ep 2020)

and of course the South Australian tourism ad.

Slash 3 2015

It's in all 3 Slash films, which appear to be am-dram Scream tribute movies, so I meant to slash it from the list

Pesky Blinders has been a big one for pushing that song lately.

I started watching Pesky Blinders but didn't get too far. The only other one on that list (apart from the the South Australian tourism ad posted here) i have seen is Hellboy but have zero recollection of it in it. Blowing my mind that this song is such a thing.

The first Grinderman record is really good, I think easily maybe the 'most fun' thing he ever did. There are some really funny lyrics on that one. Those tunes probably are going to fall a bit between the cracks in the shadow of The Birthday Party on this poll.

I never read the instructions well enough, but these were the five records I voted for mostly as I think together, they are a pretty complete overview of Cave's music.

The Birthday Party- Prayers on Fire - I like tracks on other records more, but this one is the one where it seems like it covers best what The Birthday Party was about.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- Live Seeds - Did not really get why Cave hated the sound on 'Henry's Dream', but I get it more now and these versions do kinda slay that record. This is pretty much an ideal introduction to what the Bad Seeds were like to that point and I saw them live around that time.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- Tender Prey - This was the first one I heard and one I found doing radio in college. (FYI...Jason Gross of Perfect Sound Forever's show came on after mine that semester.)

Grinderman- Grinderman- I think this record both rocks and it is really funny.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds- Live @ KCRW - I think these versions of some of those later songs are far superior and captures best in one place the later more ornate sound of the Bad Seeds.

One reporters opinion...

HOW THINGS LOOK:

40. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! 109 points (6 votes)
39. Loverman 110 points (6 votes)
=37. Into My Arms 112 points (5 votes)
=37. Up Jumped the Devil 112 points (6 votes)
=35. O Children 114 points (5 votes)
=35. Mercy 114 points (6 votes)
34. Brother, My Cup is Empty 118 points (6 votes)
=32. Wanted Man 121 points (5 votes)
=32. Henry Lee 121 points (6 votes)
31. Jack’s Shadow 123 points (5 votes, one number one)
30. Loom of the Land 124 points (4 votes, one number one)
29. By the Time I Get to Phoenix 129 points (5 votes)
28. Jack the Ripper 131 points (6 votes, one number one)
27. I Let Love In 132 points (7 votes)
26. Lime Tree Arbour 135 points (6 votes, one number one)
25. City of Refuge 139 points (7 votes)
=23 Cabin Fever! 140 points (6 votes)
=23 Red Right Hand 140 points (8 votes)
22. (I’ll Love You) Till the End of the World 142 points (6 votes)
21. O’Malley’s Bar 144 (6 votes)

Huh, whatever happened to Tom DiCillo?

find it hard to get excited about RRH - when it came out, i thought it was a bit hokey and I guess I still do - my impression was that his Baaaad Man character sketches were getting less effective/convincing/fun around that time - culminating I suppose in Murder Ballads as a bit of a capstone on that mode of songwriting (not definitively I'm sure)

it's a show-stopper live which I'm sure is a big part of its canonisation - but it's effectiveness live is mostly based on some cute dynamic moments - eg the band absolutely destroying those big hits after the title phrase - it's one of those songs that you'd absolutely play if you had it in your repertoire because it's going to send 85% of your audience home talking about how they've seen a next-level live band - and they absolutely have - but if you've seen it done once then subsequent times become a little bit dull to be honest, compared to other "warhorse" songs like Tupelo and From Her To Eternity that still have the power to actually warp the gravity in the room

yeah i completely agree with that

it's a show-stopper live which I'm sure is a big part of its canonisation

100%. i paid little attention to it before hearing it live and was genuinely blown away, but yes, gimnme Tupelo or From Her To Eternity over it any day.

addendum - Red Right Hand is one of only 2 Bad Seeds tracks i know of that will rock a crowd of disco lovers.

https://www.soniceditions.com/library/nick-cave-JYZ2_o_tn.jpg
20. Nobody's Baby Now
Let Love In
147 points (6 votes)

^^ this is one of the few Bad Seeds songs that is emotionally poignant in a way that I can relate to my own life.

all of a sudden I'm feeling pretty good about my high placement of Tupelo and FHTE :)

btw "Pesky" Blinders haha. PEAKY.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fe/9f/83/fe9f839bce6e95400763e1c8dbd0c1d8.jpg
19. Saint Huck
From Her to Eternity
160 points (7 votes)

banger

made my ballot, total banger, a real peak of his early solo period IMO

Gee, neither of these were on my "more likely <20 than >40" list of (seemingly) strongest 20 contenders!

hey it was my #6, I tried

https://novosti.hr/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Nick-Cave-Henrys-Dream-1992-Si.jpg
18. Straight to You
Henry's Dream
161 points (7 votes, one number one)

my #1 because why not, the orchestral bombast works for me here

such a great song regardless, that feeling of tumbling breathless desperation

Just put on "From Her to Eternity" in the kitchen, wondering how long I'll make it before my family forces me to turn it off.

"saint huck" didn't quite make my ballot but it rules, one of their best 80s tracks

i did vote for "straight to you" though which is such a huge, shimmering anthemic moment

it ain't background music. x-post

https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F02211fb7-8fc6-4441-a215-f6d0cd7753c7_726x566.jpeg
17. We Call Upon the Author
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
167 points (8 votes)

Aaah. Glad some relatively late stuff is making it. I didn't vote for (nor predict) this one, but I dig it.

i voted for this but really wasn't expecting it to show up, great to see it. a real highlight from DLD!!!, so krauty

yep I put that on as well, a real highlight of that album when I listened for the first (!) time as poll research

Nick's delivery is spot on in that one. perfect measures of urgency & drawl.

https://nickcavefixes.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/ncatbs_1985_fid2_jutta_henglein.jpg?w=690
16. Sad Waters
Your Funeral... My Trial
185 points (7 votes, one number one)

Yay!

Respeck to the first-place voter.

Yes to Sad Waters.

Peaky Blinders will now forever be known as Pesky Blinders in my house.

that jangly refrain that slightly offsets the melancholic verses gets me every time. (re. Sad Waters)

lol stirmonster!

https://mojohandle.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/nick-cave-2004.jpeg
15. There She Goes, My Beautiful World
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
186 points (7 votes)

strongly considered putting this at number one, sacred and profane and what not.

wound up my number 3

I heard this album for the first time like 2 weeks ago and this STILL made my #8 alongside songs I've loved for 25+ years

really grateful to this poll for introducing me to AB/TLoO and DLD, I am one of those fans who just tuned out after Nocturama so all of this has been a real eye-opener. It also confirms that I don't like his work w/o Harvey nearly as much.

xpost It's just such an undeniable assault of an anthem.

(I should say, I tuned out everything after Nocturama except the 1st Grinderman)

I did have some "crises of wokeness" when doing my ballot tbh... okay not really "crises" just "do I choose this, that, or something else" and the method of tiebreaking for a few tracks were language politics ... in other words, Saint Huck and Jack the Ripper were songs I probably would have voted for had I been able to vote for 30 songs, but I left them off because of the N-word in the former and a little too much misogyny in the latter

Red Right Hand is one of only 2 Bad Seeds tracks i know of that will rock a crowd of disco lovers.

don't leave us hanging!

sarahell it's interesting that you bring that up because while none of that early stuff pushes my buttons, Nick's recent whiny take on "cancel culture" made me roll my damn eyes. don't wanna derail too much but "edgy" lyrical content is def something you have to grapple with to enjoy some of these tracks imo

iirc Reynolds/Press "The Sex Revolts" (which deals partially with "problematic" music) has a bunch abt Cave in it

i left saint huck off for the same reason. jack the ripper was never a contender.

nick cave just loves the culture wars, doesn't he? he just can't stop picking at it when he'd be much better just stfu.

had never paid enough attention to the lyrics on "saint huck" to notice that, thankfully

that edgy side of his lyrics really does very little for me and it's a shame bc he's very capable of good lyrics without resorting to shock value stuff

stir otm about "picking at it"

Of course I was also upthread repping for Brother My Cup Is Empty which also has misogynistic elements but ... it's a fine line. And as far as Saint Huck goes, the use of the N word was something that just didn't really push my buttons tbh though yeah, I'm white, and yeah, I'm American, and yeah, I read all the Mark Twain as a child so my take on the lyrics were more of an adaptation of a literary work from the 19th century but now, like, I was driving around listening to Nick Cave this past week in preparation for voting in this poll like a good ilxor and this song came on, and I definitely took stock of where I was, and I hit "skip" ...

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6d/af/55/6daf5532796fea9c6cf1c0b06d1d933a.jpg
14. Higgs Boson Blues
Push the Sky Away
192 points (9 votes, one number one)

that was the only post-Harvey track that made my ballot

Holy shit I did not expect “We Call Upon the Author” to place. Had that very high on my list. Bad Seeds trying to make a Modern Lovers song. Has maybe my favorite funny bit in any song of his-

now hang on!!! my friend Doug is tapping on the window
(hey Doug, how you been????????????????????)

lol I don't think I voted for a single song that came out after I was legal to buy alcohol ... considering so many songs on my ballot are about drinking

Excellent. This is one of the later tracks I hoped and felt fairly confident would place. Phew!

HBB would have soared even further with a few more higher rankings.

Exceedingly easy track to bring up on Spotify, it turns out. Four characters is enough. #ProTip

I pushed There She Goes My Beautiful higher up my ballot to #2 to hopefully help it along, glad it placed nice and high - it’s such a great track

And same w Nobody’s Baby Now which I had #5 on my ballot ... that piano melody is just gorgeous & the song itself is almost perfect to me

ha Nobody's Baby Now was one of those "it shouldn't need my help" songs that I left off, having faith-uh that other ilxors would show it love-uh

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/97/4f/cc/974fccc38abb91ddd08a5b2d0f4cb645.jpg
13. The Weeping Song
The Good Son
203 points (9 votes)

fuck yea higgs boson, another top fiver for me. it’s his “on the beach”

I'm not really a Good Son fan but that is a highlight for sure

Cave's vocal entry on the Live Seeds version of The Weeping Song is chill-inducing.

another poll lesson: I need to listen to Live Seeds

https://www.nonsiamodiqui.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/nuck-cave-jubilee-street.jpeg
12. Jubilee Street
Push the Sky Away
207 points (7 votes, two number ones)

I feel like I might have seen the promo clip for "The Weeping Song" more times than any other song, ever. I guess it's crucial Ragecore. Didn't vote for it, but it's pretty durable. Also feel like I've been pondering the distinction made here for pretty much my entire life, lol:

O, are they merely crying, father?
Yes, true weeping is yet to come

I think I thought out loud a bit about jubilee street in the pre-poll thread, where I probably said I don't really understand how it works but it really does - & particularly on the Push The Sky Away tour definitely an all-time great live song

the footage at the end of '20,000 days on earth' filmed at the Sydney Opera House is stunning - the way it's intercut with cave talking about the process of protecting tiny vulnerable ideas until they're strong enough to survive as songs, or artworks for whatever - I dunno I mean it sounds trite when I write it out like that but it felt pretty profound watching it - especially the synergy with this song, which is both structurally a reflection of that, and compositionally - what? an okay riff from Warren Ellis? a masterful controlled build? a couple of great phrases at the end? and yet somehow has undergone this alchemical transformation into a really memorable song

to that point re creativity discussions - it's something that I think is quite cool about later period nick cave, the plain talk about the creative process - that whole "I go to my office and sit down at the typewriter from 9-5" angle felt pretty fresh at the time, I don't think I'd seen anyone in the rock & roll game talk about songwriting as hard graft in quite that way before

My number #1 and kudos emsworth for highlighting the ending of “20,000 days on earth.” That was a big reason for helping put it on top.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/41/24/b0/4124b00fd2e600026fb5946de55d072e.jpg
11. The Ship Song
The Good Son
208 points (10 votes)

Another of the "I cut this from my ballot because I felt enough other people would rep for it" songs!

I feel like it's a less than a sum of its parts kinda song (at least as it appears on The Good Son).

ship song is alright but a little saccharine? higgs boson blues and jubilee street are fantastic, the latter was my #1, mostly for the transcendent live versions

which is why I can imagine a good cover version outshining the original. x-post to myself

Ship Song is another that was transformed for me from seeing it performed live.

XP: Denis Walter covered "The Ship Song" almost immediately, I seem to recall. (Childhood memories suggest that it didn't fit that bill though, lol.)

Oooh, not sure if this is his turn-of-the-nineties recording, but... Mr Denis Walter

the ship song sounds great with less production on Live Seeds

I doubt any skeleton tree songs will make it, I rate the album but maybe there aren't any big consensus tracks

I didnt put Ship Song on my ballot but not bc i dont love it, only bc ITS A TWENTY SONG BALLOT

i will still stan for it.

Earnest, simple love songs are hard to write! Cave succeeds in an incredible way by using imagery that isnt cliched or overused so lyrically it’s quite unique - yet i think maybe melody & tempo manages to make ~also~ feel like a standard. Which is kind of crazy. No idea exactly how or why it works but it really does.

Dude has written so many love songs, v few of them fail to land, but when they do it’s like he’s shooting an arrow around the moon. I think it gets taken for granted a little now, especially during the mellowing years but my god it’s really masterful, poetic, truly beautiful work.

It’s really quite a feat when you step away from it & look at it.

If my #1 makes the top 10 (doubtful) i will return with another TED talk lol sorry but i just fucking love him HOW GREAT IS HE YOU GUYS I MEAN HOLY SHIT

The Ship Song has also been in an ad campaign, featuring Neil Finn, Kev Carmody, the Australian Ballet, the Bell Shakespeare Company, the Bangarra Dance Theatre, various orchestras, Opera Australia, Paul Kelly, Martha Wainwright etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG7wbAfcKUI

i stand by everrything i said

The Ship Song does indeed bear the hallmarks of a standard.

great post about ship song vg

(I wasn't reacting to your post Veg, let alone debunking it!)

lol just joshin ya :)

http://img2-ak.lst.fm/i/u/avatar170s/d5985c7be5b24095ac4614dfe93a69fd.jpg

<3

i feel like with the right performance "the ship song" could move from being decent if a little saccharine to really good but none of the arrangements they've done have ever quite made it there for me, they're all a little floaty?

no pun intended

hee

The Leatherface cover is surprisingly nice!

Normally, I would’ve thought 20 song limit was fine but as I have a feeling a lot of the stuff that will crack the top 10 is stuff that fell off I. The last few rounds of cuts for me.

*fell off in

Always surprised at how low The Firstborn is Dead tends to gets ranked among Nick Cave albums, but 17th position in this poll is baffling. It's probably my favourite Bad Seeds record, along with Your Funeral... My Trial, after which Cave's albums get a bit patchy for me.

Yes, I found that baffling too and it seems the case any time anyone does a list of his best albums. I put it at no. 2 but really it was a dead heat for being my favourite along with Your Funeral... My Trial. Also, it would seem not to be an age related thing as From Her To Eternity consistently polls high in Nick Cave album rankings.

Tupelo must be a top 5 contender though, surely?

TBF that album poll counts 3 Birthday Party and a live album ahead of it, so if you went studio albums proper it being in the upper teens doesn’t strike me as that off.

And that really speaks to the fantastic consistency of the groups output. I think if we’d submitted top 10 albums we’d probably have seen a lot of the same but in wildly different orders.

Mostly a lurker but it was me picked Sad Waters for Number 1 and I was one of those whose top pick was Your Funeral, My Trial. I fired my ballot off a little hastily: having re-listened to Ghosteen which until recently I owned solely because it's one of Nick's albums and I have to have a copy that would've been up there in the top five.

It speaks to what a remarkable artist Cave is that my two favourite periods of his work are Birthday Party - Your Funeral, My Trial then Push The Sky Away - Ghosteen. For a large part it's because like Blixa Bargeld I didn't get into rock'n'roll to rock'n'roll. I like a lot of material between these two periods, in fact Henry's Dream was well represented on my list, but what I'm getting at is that for me his two best statements are 30 years apart and it just leaves me awestruck.

The Ship Song is surely the closest thing he's ever made to a Christmas record, right? It's the bells that do it for me.

Dead Joe is his Christmas record

Big Jesus Trash Can surely?

that's the Easter record

"What A Wonderful World"?

that's the Easter record

ha ha. of course!

I think if we’d submitted top 10 albums...

Wait, isn't that what we did? I mean, I know I did.

(I trust you recorded rankings out to 10th place in the end, Charlie?)

yes. there was a points scheme all the way down to 10th place.

HOW IT SITS:

40. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! 109 points (6 votes)
39. Loverman 110 points (6 votes)
=37. Into My Arms 112 points (5 votes)
=37. Up Jumped the Devil 112 points (6 votes)
=35. O Children 114 points (5 votes)
=35. Mercy 114 points (6 votes)
34. Brother, My Cup is Empty 118 points (6 votes)
=32. Wanted Man 121 points (5 votes)
=32. Henry Lee 121 points (6 votes)
31. Jack’s Shadow 123 points (5 votes, one number one)
30. Loom of the Land 124 points (4 votes, one number one)
29. By the Time I Get to Phoenix 129 points (5 votes)
28. Jack the Ripper 131 points (6 votes, one number one)
27. I Let Love In 132 points (7 votes)
26. Lime Tree Arbour 135 points (6 votes, one number one)
25. City of Refuge 139 points (7 votes)
=23 Cabin Fever! 140 points (6 votes)
=23 Red Right Hand 140 points (8 votes)
22. (I’ll Love You) Till the End of the World 142 points (6 votes)
21. O’Malley’s Bar 144 points (6 votes)
20. Nobody’s Baby Now 147 points (6 votes)
19. Saint Huck 160 points (7 votes)
18. Straight to You 161 points (7 votes, one number one)
17. We Call Upon the Author 167 points (8 votes)
16. Sad Waters 185 points (7 votes, one number one)
15. There She Goes My Beautiful World 186 points (7 votes)
14. Higgs Boson Blues 192 points (9 votes, one number one)
13. The Weeping Song 203 points (9 votes)
12. Jubilee Street 207 points (7 votes, two number ones)
11. The Ship Song 208 points (10 votes)

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a82845bb7411cbbaf736525/1584986769105-NG6BDLGYJOKFLQEBNG6I/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kI9n4n1LRESS8k7-dLT7h3hZw-zPPgdn4jUwVcJE1ZvWQUxwkmyExglNqGp0IvTJZUJFbgE-7XRK3dMEBRBhUpwwOnjt0OdYIDLoivJeuZB2RkYTY6aZ7NcTLDKWLUmrTMGXUyuVbB9Ku8cfgSmnjXA/92e7463bcf0533a130fe155ef2ad5d5c.jpg
10. Deanna
Tender Prey
215 points (9 votes, two number ones)

i think my planned early night tonight is about to go out the window.

I bought a Nick Cave tshirt from an opp shop years ago and the guy was all “this shirt belonged to the actual Deanna” and i was like “... uhuh sure it was... here’s your $2 thx for the shirt”

OH HOHHHH DE ANN NAAAAAA

I was DJing a party the night Princess Diana died and playing Deanna was the closest thing i could think to play in tribute, though as an avowed republican (true meaning of that word, i hasten to add), i'm not sure why i felt the need.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e3/92/58/e392588c607175987972974d19aacbc1.jpg
9. Babe, I'm On Fire
Nocturama
217 points (8 votes, one number one)

xpost lmao

Perfect picture for the Nocturama track

"babe, i'm on fire" is so relentless. that bassline! the bursts of organ!

rather deliberate too! x-post

(& yes, it's a terrific song)

Forgot this one! Another of my "surely can't be out beyond #40" guesses gets bumped, OMG, OMG.

Interesting that the number of votes hasn't necessarily increased *that* much between #40 and #10, and it's still less than a twofold increase in points. Sooooooo much to choose from. 139 distinct tracks represents a pretty long tail for 26 voters, methinks...

https://i.redd.it/ehaa19umwxm21.jpg
8. Stagger Lee
Murder Ballads
236 points (9 votes, one number one)

a thought that occured to me is that Stagger Lee is a better more realized version of RHCP’s sir psycho sexy

but also not that at all and i am sorry for bringing it up

its been a long day

it's certainly better -- you're right there!

This track is perhaps where my own vulgarity-o-meter is pushed uncomfortably into the red. LOL. (Though the body count and misogyny is possibly mid-range in reality.)

Agreed, docked it for the cursing even though I love it dearly.

https://www.kultmucke.de/wp-content/uploads/formidable/2/0002381_nick_cave.jpeg
7. Papa Won't Leave You, Henry
Henry's Dream
249 points (11 votes)

I love Stagger Lee for its sound & attitude, but it's quite a lazy song in some respects.

stagger lee is mindblowing live, just pure grand guignol mode

never not worth watching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbe5RERDh4k

this one would have kept its place even if the votes weren't merged

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/72/19/e5/7219e5de8d30122bb2ac90400ca4dacd.jpg
6. Do You Love Me?
Let Love In
Part 1: 256 points (11 votes, two number ones)
Part 2: 48 points (2 votes)
= 304 points

my number one. beautiful, disturbing, and a hell of a lot of fun to sing along with.

(voted for pt 1 but i like the two parts together as one big scary song)

There are 5 songs I thought would for sure make the top 20 that have yet to place. I can't wait to see how this pans out.

Papa Won’t Leave You Henry is such a deep fave for me, that spiralling descent into nightmare is so great

AND THE WALLS RAN RED AROUND ME
A WARM ARTERIAL SPRAY

i had no idea "do you love me" was such a favourite. it's good and all but there's plenty of other LLI tracks i prefer

"stagger lee" is one that's so strong musically it makes up for it being pretty eh lyrically

three of the remaining five seem fairly obvious to me but the other two could be pretty much anything

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1JBqLcxvi0w/UL0lvHBKnuI/AAAAAAAALFM/RmC6VLIoHK0/s1600/tumblr_l55669B4kX1qcnak9o1_500.jpg
5. Your Funeral My Trial
Your Funeral... My Trial
400 points (13 votes, three number ones)

Yes!

https://img.discogs.com/g8WHfK9WOUfdqSSIixYnf05P5fk=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-11452703-1516572941-3271.jpeg.jpg
4. Tupelo
The Firstborn is Dead
424 points (18 votes)

Yes!

"Your Funeral..." is a such pleasing chord progression n' stuff. I would probably have voted for it even if was about sunshine, lollipops and rainbows.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1f/5a/79/1f5a7990b558009fe911772d535f2f12.png
3. Stranger Than Kindness
Your Funeral... My Trial
431 points (14 votes, three number ones)

surprised there were only 2 votes for "do you love me" pt 2! i voted for both.

Stranger Than Kindness my no. 1.

That was my #1 too. Way fewer raw votes than "Tupelo" so high-five to the other first-place voters! :)

stranger than kindness my #3.

https://media.apoplife.nl/nl/2019/06/Nick-Cave-And-The-Bad-Seeds-Live-1984.jpg
2. From Her to Eternity
From Her to Eternity
467 points (19 votes, one number one)

I’m the third Stranger voter. It’s got so many ephemeral elements- not his lyrics, but a brilliant reading of them, the barely there guitar that holds it all together, the weird bubbling keyboards. Yet it all comes together to feel like a torch song standard.

Stranger definitely strikes me as the most ghostly, enigmatic piece in the whole Bad Seeds repertoire.

I WANNA TELL YA ABOUT A GIRL

x post - indeed, and written by Anita Lane and Blixa Bargeld. I love how over the years it has slowly crept up and gained more and more popularity. No surprises at no. 1 then!

FHTE definitely high on my list of all time faves

Tupelo also: that rhythm is so addictive

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/static/uploads/2019/03/Remembering-when-Nick-Cave-met-Kylie-Minogue1.jpg
1. Where the Wild Roses Grow
Murder Ballads
496 points (19 votes, three number ones)

The “Tupelo” rhythm, along with the thunderclap: is it a conscious or unconscious take on Can’s “Oh Yeah”?

wait what

???

:-)

what year is it

ilm u crazy

Poptimist victory

The Minogue seat is waiting

how long is charlie rex going to keep this up? hysterical!

THIS TIME FOR REAL:

https://www.nme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/GettyImages-172460736_nick_cave_2000-696x442.jpg
1. The Mercy Seat
Tender Prey
500 points (18 votes, one number one)

deserving winner

i was starting to question my sanity there for a moment. great work charlie and thanks very much for doing this. loved it.

Feel like Mercy Seat was the inevitable number one, but surprised that Roses was outside the top 40. It was the first Cave song I heard so maybe I have a sentimental attachment...

1. Stranger Than Kindness
2. Tupelo
3. Wanted Man
4. From Her To Eternity
5. Sad Waters
6. The Mercy Seat
7. Your Funeral My Trial
8. Knockin’ On Joe
9. The Carny
10. The Ship Song
11. Red Right Hand
12. Into My Arms
13. City Of Refuge
14. In The Ghetto
15. Black Betty
16. Stagger Lee
17. The Weeping Song
18. There She Goes My Beautiful World
19. Higgs Boson Blues
20. Get Ready For Love

1.Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Your Funeral My Trial
2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Firstborn Is Dead
3. The Birthday Party - The Bad Seed EP
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Kicking Against The Pricks
5. The Birthday Party - Mutiny! EP

The Birthday Party - Sonny’s Burning
The Birthday Party - Wild World
The Birthday Party - Deep In The Woods
The Birthday Party - Mutiny In Heaven
The Birthday Party - Zoo Music Girl
The Birthday Party - Big Jesus Trash Can
The Birthday Party - Release The Bats
The Birthday Party - Nick The Stripper
The Birthday Party - The Hair Shirt
Die Haut - Pleasure Is The Boss
Lydia Lunch / Honeymoon In Red - Done Dun
Lydia Lunch / Honeymoon In Red - Dead In The Head
Grinderman - No Pussy Blues
Boys Next Door - Shivers
Anita Lane - Lost In Music

i'm not sure it was inevitable! it was only 33 points ahead of the the second-place entry.

my #2! the mercy seat rules

thank you stirmonster. glad you enjoyed it!

I forgot how much of a blast these are to run. I'll do another one anytime (anytime I have the time, that is).

FHTE & Mercy Seat were kinda nipping at each other's heels the whole way.

btw Roses got two votes (36 points)

Your Funeral My Trial
The Mercy Seat
Stranger Than Kindness
I Need you
Jack’s Shadow
Slowly Goes the Night
Do You Love Me? (part 2)
O Children
From Her to Eternity
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Ain’t Gonna Rain Anymore
The Good Son
Stagger Lee
Deanna
Sad Waters
Do You Love Me?
Henry Lee
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
City of Refuge
The Ship Song

Your Funeral... My Trial
Tender Prey
Let Love In
Skeleton Tree
Murder Ballads

40. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! 109 points (6 votes)
39. Loverman 110 points (6 votes)
=37. Into My Arms 112 points (5 votes)
=37. Up Jumped the Devil 112 points (6 votes)
=35. O Children 114 points (5 votes)
=35. Mercy 114 points (6 votes)
34. Brother, My Cup is Empty 118 points (6 votes)
=32. Wanted Man 121 points (5 votes)
=32. Henry Lee 121 points (6 votes)
31. Jack’s Shadow 123 points (5 votes, one number one)
30. Loom of the Land 124 points (4 votes, one number one)
29. By the Time I Get to Phoenix 129 points (5 votes)
28. Jack the Ripper 131 points (6 votes, one number one)
27. I Let Love In 132 points (7 votes)
26. Lime Tree Arbour 135 points (6 votes, one number one)
25. City of Refuge 139 points (7 votes)
=23 Cabin Fever! 140 points (6 votes)
=23 Red Right Hand 140 points (8 votes)
22. (I’ll Love You) Till the End of the World 142 points (6 votes)
21. O’Malley’s Bar 144 points (6 votes)
20. Nobody’s Baby Now 147 points (6 votes)
19. Saint Huck 160 points (7 votes)
18. Straight to You 161 points (7 votes, one number one)
17. We Call Upon the Author 167 points (8 votes)
16. Sad Waters 185 points (7 votes, one number one)
15. There She Goes My Beautiful World 186 points (7 votes)
14. Higgs Boson Blues 192 points (9 votes, one number one)
13. The Weeping Song 203 points (9 votes)
12. Jubilee Street 207 points (7 votes, two number ones)
11. The Ship Song 208 points (10 votes)
10. Deanna 215 points (9 votes, two number ones)
9. Babe, I’m On Fire 217 points (8 votes, one number one)
8. Stagger Lee 236 points (9 votes, one number one)
7. Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry 249 points (11 votes)
6. Do You Love Me 304 points (13 votes, two number ones)
5. Your Funeral My Trial 400 points (13 votes, three number ones)
4. Tupelo 424 points (18 votes)
3. Stranger than Kindness 431 points (14 votes, three number ones)
2. From Her to Eternity 467 points (19 votes, one number one)
1. The Mercy Seat 500 points (18 votes, one number one)

Great work, charlie rex, thanks!

"The Mercy Seat" was almost certainly his first track to pique my interest, when I was... 13 or something. So that's all perfectly agreeable, even though I left it to others to vote for it.

thanks for this charlie, it's been both illuminating and fun

top 5 is great, some surprises in 6-10 for me!

your funeral my trial was my #1 song (not my #1 album as I mistakenly stated upthread) - it's just got an atmosphere like nothing else, this stately torch-song vibe but with a textual weirdness that pretty much disappeared after tender prey or so - the perfect mid-point between his post-punk art tendencies and later classicism - and the bass playing (Barry Adamson I'm pretty sure) is absolutely immortal

the mercy seat is the proper number one isn't it - I remember JJJ (Australian national "indie" station) did a 100 best songs of all time countdown at some point in the 1990s and The Mercy Seat came in at 97 or something - they spoke to Nick Cave and the exchange went something like this:

CLUELESS YOOF DJ: Hey Nick! The Mercy Seat just got voted the 97th greatest song of all time by JJJ listeners! How do you feel about that!?!
NICK CAVE: Pretty shit actually
CLULESS YOOF DJ: Oh? Why is that?
NICK CAVE: Well, do you really think there are 96 songs that are better than The Mercy Seat?

My ballot:

Songs:

1. Your Funeral, My Trial
2. Stranger than Kindness
3. The Mercy Seat
4. Abattoir Blues
5. Jubilee Street
6. Until The End of the World
7. Hiding All Away
8. City of Refuge
9. New MOrning
10. Mercy
11. Tupelo
12. Brompton Oratory
13. From Her to Eternity
14. Night of the Lotus Eaters
15. Deanna
16. Lucy
17. The Train Song
18 The Ship Song
19. Messiah Ward
20. Lime Tree Arbour

Non-Bad Seeds songs (only 11):

1. Wild World
2. Sonny’s Burning
3. Shivers
4. Nick The Stripper
5. She’s Hit
6. In The Woods
7. Mutiny in Heaven
8. Pleasure Heads
9. Big Jesus Trash Can
10. Hamlet (Pow Pow Pow)
11. Mr Clarinet

Albums:

1. Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
2. Your Funeral, My Trial
3. The Boatman's Call
4. Tender Prey
5. The Good Son

BABE I'M ON FIRE was my #1 obvs

also any votes for songs from 'no more shall we part' were probably from me

thank you king charles!

I rarely vote in ILM ballot polls ... partly because my preferences always seem at odds enough with everyone else's for me to feel weird and out of sorts ... this was another of those.

mercy seat is a little predictable at #1, but it's a good enough song that i can't complain too much

here's my tracks ballot:
Jubilee Street
Galleon Ship
Hollywood
Stagger Lee
From Her to Eternity
Babe, I'm On Fire
O Children
Bright Horses
Hiding All Away
Higgs Boson Blues
Loverman
Messiah Ward
Straight to You
There She Goes, My Beautiful World
Into My Arms
Night Raid
I Had a Dream, Joe
Push the Sky Away
Lie Down Here (& Be My Girl)
We Call Upon the Author

My non-placers were fairly numerous this time around:

BAD SEEDS
Slowly Goes the Night
Push the Sky Away
Ghosteen
She Fell Away
Girl in Amber
Scum
Knockin' On Joe
I Had A Dream, Joe
Lament
Song of Joy

Non-BAD SEEDS:
Dead Song
Cry
Dive Position
Just You and Me

Top LP was Prayers on Fire. (I misremembered earlier. Your Funeral...My Trial was #2.)

Thanks for running this, charlie rex!

Ballot

Tracks
1. Jubilee Street
2. Lovely Creature
3. Your Funeral My Trial
4. Lime Tree Arbour
5. We Call Upon the Author
6. Lay Me Low
7. TheLyre of Orpheus
8. SkeletonTree
9. Do You Love Me (Part 2)
10. Brompton Oratory
11. Loverman
12. (Are You) the One That I've Been Waiting For?
13. Death is Not the End
14. There Is a Town
15. Up Jumped the Devil
16. The Good Son
17. Tupelo
18. Jack the Ripper
19. Sun Forest
20. The Carny

Albums:
1. Let Love In
2. Skeleton Tree
3. The Boatman's Call
4. Murder Ballads
5. Ghosteen

btw 'tower of song' was robbed

I didn't vote for Tower of Song because it was a cover and we're gonna do a separate covers poll!!! Then Tower of Song can battle Avalanche

It’s really amazing that there’s only a 100 point spread between tracks 10-40. Just reviewing my ballot I can already see 5 or 6 tracks I could’ve easily swapped before submitting my ballot.

OTHER LOVED TRACKS:

41. Hiding All Away 108 points (5 votes)
42. I Had a Dream, Joe 106 points (5 votes)
43. Long Time Man 100 points (4 votes)
44. (Are You) the One That I’ve Been Waiting For? 99 points (4 votes)
45. The Carny 97 points (6 votes)
46. Slowly Goes the Night 93 points (4 votes)
47. Thirsty Dog 88 points (5 votes)
48. Scum 84 points (5 votes)
=49. Brompton Oratory 83 points (5 votes)
=49. Hard On for Love 83 points (5 votes)
=51. Lay Me Low 79 points (4 votes)
=51. Get Ready for Love 79 points (4 votes)
53. The Good Son 74 points (4 votes)
=54. I Need You 72 points (3 points)
=54. Knockin' On Joe 72 points (4 votes)
56. Push the Sky Away 71 points (4 votes)
=57. Train Long Suffering 64 points (3 votes)
=57. Skeleton Tree 64 points (3 votes)
=59. As I Sat Sadly By Her Side 62 points (3 votes)
=59. Lucy 62 points (4 votes)

No More Shall We Part really bombed.

strange because this is the one that really used to get played a lot at social gatherings in my university years. probably because it was released around that time.

mein ballot

i tried v hard to get Love Letter into the countdown, but alas to no avail lmao (mookie i got u)

i do kind of hate my ballot still

Tracks:

1 Love Letter
2. There She Goes My Beautiful World
3. Mermaids
4. Brother My Cup Is Empty
5. Nobody’s Baby Now
6. Little Janey’s Gone
7. From Her To Eternity
8. (I’ll Love You) Til The End of The World
9. Are You the One that I’ve Been Waiting For?
10. The Carny
11. Papa Won’t Leave You Henry
12. The Weeping Song
13. Tupelo
14. Deanna
15. Bring It On
16. Scum
17. Straight To You
18. Mercy Seat
19. Brompton Oratory
20. Red Right Hand

Nick Cave other projects etc Top 15 Tracks

1. Hamlet (Pow Pow Pow) – The Birthday Party
2. Brave Exhibitions – Boys Next Door
3. Wild World – The Birthday Party
4. After a Fashion -Boys Next Door
5. Release the Bats – The Birthday Party
6. Shivers – Boys Next Door
7. Nick the Stripper – The Birthday Party
8. Jennifer’s Veil – The Birthday Party
9. Somebody’s Watching – Boys Next Door
10. Mutiny in Heaven - The Birthday Party
11. Deep In The Woods - The Birthday Party
12. Junkyard – The Birthday Party
13. Happy Birthday – The Birthday Party
14. Nightwatchman - Boys Next Door
15. Friend Catcher - The Birthday Party

Top 5 Albums

1. Henry’s Dream
2. From Her to Eternity
3. Tender Prey
4. The Good Son
5. Boatman’s Call

No More was a huge gateway album for him, coming after the Boatman's radio hits (and Wild Roses) which opened his appeal to olds and normies. but if you stick around to dig deeper it's obv not as rewarding as literally anything else in his catalogue

The Minogue seat is waiting

A+ bendy

Thanks for running the poll Charlie! good fun.

are people interested in a voting/listening thread for the covers poll picking up fairly straightaway, or wait until after Christmas?

also an a+ thread title

Nice poll, great title! I briefly considered participating, as I was a big NC fan in the early-to-mid-90s, but I lost track over the years & now I can’t really even listen to him — just something about the melodrama & the theatricality that puts me right off.

Still, I have plenty of fond memories, obnoxiously busking The Mercy Seat & Deanna & Papa Won’t Leave You Henry & Jack the Ripper to bewildered downtown shoppers.

Live Seeds was always a favourite — my OPO — & that B-sides & rarities collection that came out in the early 2000s was a real treat. People give Stagger Lee a bit of shit, but I love how he took his lyrical cues less from previous musical versions than from an early jailhouse toast version (late 60s?) straight out of the oral tradition... and then mixed it up with a bunch of Cormac McCarthy slasher gore.

For The Birthday Party, I always really gravitated to “Happy Birthday.” It just makes me feel awful and glad all over — one of the great postpunk songs IMO.

Songs

Stranger Than Kindness
Tupelo
Jubilee Street
The Mercy Street
Idiot Prayer
Long Time Man
There She Goes, My Beautiful World
Babe, I'm On Fire
Saint Huck
Up Jumped the Devil
Papa Won't Leave You Henry
Say Goodbye to the Little Girl Tree
Do You Love Me
She Fell Away
Supernaturally
Magneto
Cabin Fever
We Call Upon the Author
Scum
Jack the Ripper

Other projects, all Birthday Party unless otherwise

Mutiny in Heaven
A Catholic Skin
Big Jesus Trashcan
The Friend Catcher
Junkyard
Mr Clarinet
Dive Position (BND)
Blast Off
Capers
Swampland
Release the Bats
Nick the Stripper
Dead Joe
Jennifer's Veil
Depth Charge Ethel (Grinderman)

Albums

Your Funeral My Trial
Tender Prey
Mutiny EP
Junkyard
Abattoir/Lyre

Enjoying seeing other peoples ballots, because even though I feel like I know the discography well there’s a few songs that have touched people that don’t ring a bell. Looking forwards to listening to those. I knew “Higgs Boson Blues” is a favorite, but I’m yet to connect with it.

I think “Love Letter” is a perfect song, but it’s so tied to the deep disappointment I felt with NMSWP, it fell off my ballot. I can replay every nuance of “Deanna” in my head, and “black and smoking Christmas trees” is one of his best interjections of imagery. Yet it’s so familiar, I couldn’t boost it past songs that I’m more invested in now.

Relistening, Dig Lazarus Dig rose in my esteem the most. The Good Son slipped the most compared to my memory.

I’m right there attitude wise with hardcore dilettante, I admire the work but can’t connect with it much any more. In recent years the elder statesman schtick and Warren / no Mick have put me off considerably. I can still listen to The Birthday Party all day long, I guess in my mind that’s equally Rowland’s and Tracy’s and Mick’s band.

i think we’ve been watching a more naked version of scott walker’s career.

great poll, charlie! here's my ballot:

TRACKS
Do You Love Me?
The Mercy Seat
There She Goes My Beautiful World
Stagger Lee
Higgs Boson Blues
O’Malley’s Bar
Tupelo
Saint Huck
As I Sat Sadly By Her Side
Lime Tree Arbour
Dig Lazarus Dig!!
Let The Bells Ring
Jubilee Street
Up Jumped The Devil
Oh My Lord
More News From Nowhere
Thirsty Dog
Hard On For Love
Mercy
Brother My Cup Is Empty

ALBUMS
Tender Prey
Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
Let Love In
Dig Lazarus Dig
From Her To Eternity

In recent years the elder statesman schtick and Warren / no Mick have put me off considerably. I can still listen to The Birthday Party all day long, I guess in my mind that’s equally Rowland’s and Tracy’s and Mick’s band.

i relate to this a lot. i probably listen to rowland's music more than nick's, but nick singing "shivers" at the rowland s howard pop crimes show earlier this year in london (hard to believe it was in 2020) was very moving and felt that he was somehow acknowledging rowland's importance. of course mick was all over that show and i like to think if he had still been with us tracy would have been there too. the personalities that comprised the birthday party are quite incredible really and "cool" as cave might have been he was only ever the fourth coolest member imo.

Rowland didn't write a ton of songs, but everything he released was excellent. Teenage Stuff Film and Get Lost Don't Lie are tied with Your Funeral, My Trial in my book.

Always surprised at how low The Firstborn is Dead tends to gets ranked among Nick Cave albums, but 17th position in this poll is baffling. It's probably my favourite Bad Seeds record, along with Your Funeral... My Trial, after which Cave's albums get a bit patchy for me.

Firstborn is the album where he sticks to exploring the blues, and White Guy Explores the Blues isn't the most fascinating avenue of musical styling for the last twenty years. I got into Firstborn is Deadand Get Lost Don't Lie at the same time, and what entranced me about both the Bad Seeds and Immortal Souls was that both were exploring the blues in different ways, and both ways were unique to the history of white guys doin' the blues (at least up to that point.).

THERE IS A WAR COMING

Huh, whatever happened to Tom DiCillo?
He's still around NYC making art. I've run into him twice within the last 8 years, once at a screening of what was then a newly restored print of Howard Brookner's Burroughs: The Movie (DiCillo shot it), and another time at an art fair where he was exhibiting his work.

Theres currently a torrent war on the birthday party on dime just in case you;re interested like

Covers poll / listening thread is halfway through, if anyone missed it: TOWERS OF SONG: a Nick Cave Sings Covers listening thread and poll

CAVE COVERS as voted by a vast swathe of the ILM audience:

bubbling under

23. Patripassian
21 points, 2 votes
closing track of Current 93 album, 1996

21= What A Wonderful World
23 points, 2 votes
Nick Cave & Shane MacGowan single, 1992

21= She’s Not There
23 points, 2 votes
Neko Case & Nick Cave soundtrack contrib, 2011

and

20. All The Pretty Little Horses
23 points, 3 votes
title track of Current 93 album, 1996

lullaby
Current 93 with Nick Cave

19. The Hammer Song
25 points, 3 votes
Kicking Against The Pricks, 1986

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
Bad Seeds

18. Long Time Man
26 points, 3 votes
…My Trial EP, 1986

Tim Rose
Bad Seeds, RFH 1999 (audience video)

love the Ling Time Man cover so much ... so eerie & cool sounding

*Long

Lingam Man

yay, glad my C93 votes made it

17. Helpless
27 points, 3 votes
tribute album The Bridge, 1989

Neil Young, Massey Hall 1971
Bad Seeds, KCRW 1989

ugh so great!

16. Disco 2000
27 points, 2 votes
B-side to Bad Cover Version by Pulp, 2002

Pulp video, 1996
Pulp reunion, 2011
Nick Cave
Nick Cave (Pub Rock Version)

15. Lost In Music
28 points, 2 votes
Dirty Sings EP by Anita Lane, 1988

Sister Sledge / Chic, 1979/84
Anita Lane with four Bad Seeds

14. Hey Joe
30 points, 2 votes
Kicking Against The Pricks, 1986

Billy Roberts demo, 1961
Tim Rose, 1969
Billy Roberts & Grits, 1975
Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Toots Thielemans, Charlie Haden, David Sanborn, Hiram Bullock, Philippe Saisse and Omar Hakim, 1990

I didnt vote for Hey Joe but I love how creepy it is

Better believe that last one was from a Hal Willner TV series. Here's Nick & Mick doing The Mercy Seat on the same episode with Don Alias, Tom Barney and Saisse.

And just in case anyone wants to see Paul Shaffer wailing on organ with Nick, Mick and the CBS Orchestra on another song about Joe

Somehow it only dawned on me RIGHT NOW that the Bad Seeds recorded a cover *and* an original composition both named "The Hammer Song." That'll learn me for not knowing "Pricks" all that well.

The worst part of it is that Nick renamed "Hammer Song" to "The Hammer Song" and then went and wrote his own "The Hammer Song."

That "Hey Joe" rendition is kinda amazing, no? I'm belatedly wishing I'd studied for this exam now, dammit.

It seems the collaborations on that Night Music program were frequently a bit bonkers. (Not *entirely* off-topic, given the title of the initial polling thread, lol.)

I haven't ever seen that Hey Joe performance. Fucking brilliant. He looked so cool around then.

The sound is bizarrely excellent for a 1990 TV appearance on YouTube as well.

Nick Cave & Charlie Haden. *head explodes*

13. Stagger Lee
31 points, 2 votes
Murder Ballads, 1995

Stack o' Lee Blues by Waring's Pennsylvanians, 1923
Skeeg-A-Lee-Blues by Lovie Austin, 1924
Stagolee by Mississippi John Hurt, 1928
Stagger Lee by Lloyd Price, #1 on US R&B and pop charts in 1959
Bad Seeds, Austin City Limits, c. 2014

12. Cosmic Dancer
31 points, 3 votes
tribute album AngelHeaded Hipster, 2020

T Rex, Wembley Arena, 1972
Nick Cave video

11. Wanted Man
39 points, 3 votes
The Firstborn Is Dead, 1984/85

(c.2019 remix of) 1969 demo by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash at San Quentin, one week later
Johnny Cash on his own variety TV show, six months later
Bad Seeds in Marseilles 2008, Cave on guitar (audience video)

my no. 1.

Entering the top ten with a tie.

9= Long Black Veil
40 points, 3 votes
Kicking Against The Pricks, 1986

Lefty Frizell, 1959 - plus sequel record by same writers, unissued until 1994
Johnny Cash & Joni Mitchell, 1969 (also on Cash's TV show)
Bad Seeds

9= Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart
40 points, 3 votes
Kicking Against The Pricks, 1986

David & Jonathan, 1967
Gene Pitney, 1968
Olivia Colman, Ben Whishaw, John C. Reilly, Nick Cave & Garry Mountaine

I loooove Somethings Gotten Hold of My Heart so much!! so much drama, terrific cover

i love the Pitney/Marc Almond version too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZTX0RBlqnM

8. By The Time I Get To Phoenix
40 points, 4 votes
Kicking Against The Pricks, 1986

Johnny Rivers, 1967
Glen Campbell c. 1969 on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
songwriter Jimmy Webb, BBC 1971
Isaac Hayes live in Atlanta, 1973 (22 minute video)
Bad Seeds, Philadelphia 7//2/1989 (audience audio)

yesssss <3

7. Avalanche
41 points, 3 votes
From Her To Eternity, 1984

Leonard Coheh, 1971 (from his 1966 poem)
Bad Seeds
Nick Cave 2015 version for "Black Sails"

Seemed a tad peculiar to open your band's first LP with someone else's song. I may even underrate this as a result. (Peculiar post-punk, at least; obviously not at all peculiar if you're, say, Barbra Streisand.)

I think it’s a baller move & a great cover

6. The Singer
45 points, 3 votes
Kicking Against The Pricks, 1986

The Folk Singer by Johnny Cash, 1968
Bad Seeds, live on The Tube 1986

5. Black Betty
45 points, 4 votes
b-side to The Singer, 1986

Iron Head, 1933
Leadbelly,
Looky Yonder by Odetta, 1954
Bad Seeds at Pinkpop, 1990

4. Tower of Song
50 points, 4 votes
tribute album I'm Your Fan, 1991

Leonard Cohen, 1988
Laughing Len on Night Music, 1989 with David Sanborn, George Duke, and Robben Ford, plus his own backing singers Perla Batalla & Julie Christensen
Bad Seeds, 1991

The full episode of Sunday Night / Night Music includes perfs by Was (Not Was), Ken Nordine, and a Cohen / Sonny Rollins collab.

Seemed a tad peculiar to open your band's first LP with someone else's song.

what about your first solo single

3. In The Ghetto
54 points, 4 votes
single, 1984

Elvis Presley, April 1969
Bobbie Gentry, April 1970
Bad Seeds, April 1984 at the Electric Ballroom in Camden
Nick Cave video
The Blizzard King, 3am somewhere

Ha!

i have zero idea what the top 2 will be.

Bad Seeds in Amsterdam, 1992, from the Paradiso VHS, is also good.

I don't think anyone would have predicted the #1 tbh, though it's the only one with a big vote jump! Back in an hour or so for the reveal.

I just remembered a GREAT Nick Cave cover version, which is Don't Go Home With Your Hard On, the studio version unlikely ever to be released, but I had a tape of it in 2004-2005 so it definitely exists. Can't find any trace of it online.

Is it possible it was a napster-like misnamed copy of the David McComb & Adam Peters (plus Martyn Casey and Will Sergeant) version from I'm Your Fan?

(Or a bootleg from the Came So Far For Beauty concert, and Nick traded verses with Jarvis Cocker, Rufus Wainwright and Teddy Thompson? I'd love to hear either that or a real studio version, obv)

2. All Tomorrow's Parties
55 points, 5 votes
Kicking Against The Pricks, 1986

The Velvet Underground And Nico single, July 1966
Nico & The Invisible Girls at Preston Warehouse, November 1982 (inc Martin Hannett and future Primal Scream drummer Toby Tomanov)
Bad Seeds

Sleeping Annaleah?

Gee, that image in the "Tower of Song" vid is great/faintly unsettling.

Ben Smith is apparently the artist.

There are 12 covers on the Kicking Against The Pricks LP. All but the first two and last two placed in this poll.

1. Sleeping Annaleah
68 points, 5 votes
Kicking Against The Pricks, 1986

Weeping Annaleah by Mickey Newbury, 1968
Weeping Analeah by the Box Tops, 1968
Weeping Annaleah by Tom Jones, 1968
Bad Seeds

trophy goes to stirmonster!

woooo such a great one for the top spot

i shall display it with pride.

i thoroughly enjoyed this. a small turnout but perfectly formed. thanks veyy much sic for putting it together and for all the effort you put in.

yeah thanks sic - above & beyond!!

Sleeping Annaleah and Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart were covers that made me rethink and start to love 60 showbiz pop extravaganzas. Or maybe re-love, because that was the sound of TV variety shows like Bobby Vinton and Tony Orlando that are fixed in the dawn of my memory.

i should've voted for "get ready for love"