Am I looking forward to the Bad Seeds Rarities Box? (Do not read if you hate Nick Cave)

I'm sure this one's a keeper.

Sure did. Saw him do just that in 98

God's Hotel from the first disc is worth the price of entry though - a drunk-sounding Bad Seeds having a laugh on Australian TV.

It's an instrumental with occasional noises and grunts from Mr. Cave -- it's also more or less an attempt to do some sort of weird synth/industrial thing, kinda. It's only Cave, Harvey and Victor Van Vugt on the track, and the latter only played the drum machine while Harvey provided some samples here and there -- otherwise there's guitar, synth and piano, and that's it. Bemusing enough and very clearly a B-side as opposed to some rare masterpiece.

"Did I mention the Gene Loves Jezebel reissues and the Cure reissues and the.."

That reminds me: does anyone know if there's any truth behind the rumours of an expanded 2CD version of The Scream?

Can't imagine what they might put on there other than Voices and maybe Love In A Void unless they go back to pre-Polydor demos / sessions / live recordings - but that doesn't mean that I don't want.... no need it urgently!

(As with The Cure) I think I'm only really likely to be interested in the first one.

Hey, who sings on "What a Wonderful World"? This friend of mine used to swear up and down that he'd heard a deliciously twisted version of that song sung by Blixa, and I could never find it & wondered if he dreamed it up.

Well, damn. More and more I suspect this friend of mine just wished that every song in the world was sung by Blixa Bargeld.

Anybody else, after listening to this, kinda getting the feeling they've maybe given the last few a raw deal?

It was more expensive that I thought ($27 with tax) but as soon as I heard the back-to-back trio of the Roy Orbison cover, the Leadbelly cover, and "Scum," it was already worth every penny. I was suddenly reminded of why I was such a big fan for many years (opposite reaction to the Pavement reissue, which left me wondering what the hell I saw in the band all those years)

"God's Hotel" has been a mixtape favorite of mine since high school - the version here sounds a tad different - maybe remastered? I mean, it doesn't have the false start - and I definitely don't remember the "what did he say" ad libs in the right channel during the "Everybody is deaf" verse.

One complaint - why the crap packaging? I mean, I know it kept costs down, but really - paper sleeves?

Anyway, this made my weekend. On to disc two!!

Jim White?

And I think Blixa may have done Wonderful World at live shows.

That 3rd disc is amazing, tis true. I loved the new album, but was somewhat indifferent over the last two, so having these additional b-sides is making me wonder if I shouldn't give them another spin.

Can I tell everyone that I'm loving "Rye Whiskey" and "The Train Song". And I'd forgotten how much I love "Scum"...

I'm definitely thinking that now. I mean geez, this REALLY is something of a revelation.

I was a bit bemused by the packaging sparseness, but the basic black/silver/white presentation is kinda cool, and it gives you all the liner note info you could want, so hey.

It's been a ridiculously good year already for rarities comps, reissues and the like, whether single artist like this or overviews like I.M.'s 1981 box. That and lots of great new stuff as well! I'm extremely pleased by this year, one of the best for me in a while.

First disc still my favorite though

So should I single out "Cocks And Asses" first? Or just start from the beginning.

Best previously unheard song: "I'll Love You Till The End of the World" (wow!!)

Ah, you'd not heard that? I was familiar with it from the movie soundtrack, which is rather better than the movie itself, according to donut debonair.

So I've had this great box since it came out and only just discovered that some of the tracks were edited to make everything fit! After just a cursory inspection, I've found that "Shoot Me Down" and "Swing Low" were both faded about 30 seconds early. Anyone know if any other tracks suffered similarly?

I got it, a quick bit of research led me to one of the Discogs.com entries. Here's the affected tracks and the correct lengths and sources:

1-11 The Train Song - 4:46 (The Ship Song)
1-14 Helpless - 4:30 (The Ship Song)
1-15 God's Hotel - 3:16 (Rare On Air)
1-16 (I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World - 4:40 (Loverman)
1-19 What Can I Give You? - 5:31 (French promo)
2-4 Jack The Ripper (acoustic version) - 4:51 (Straight To You)
2-5 Sail Away - 4:40 (Do You Love Me?)
3-13 Shoot Me Down - 4:02 (Bring It On)
3-14 Swing Low - 6:02 (Bring It On)
3-17 Nocturama - 4:37 (Rock Of Gibraltar)
3-18 She's Leaving You - 4:16 (Nature Boy)

Very annoying! I'll be replacing my digital copies with the proper versions.