I knew of this collab from the time I spent exploring Minogue's discography (I've heard quite a bit from Nick Cave too, but not everything). Interestingly enough, before Minogue blew up as a dance pop star, she had a brief period as an alternative artist on the album Impossible Princess, which is really one of my favorite albums of the 90s. Surprisingly, it wasn't any of the material on that album that caught Nick Cave's attention; it was actually one of her songs from even before her alternative period, where she was just a singer/performer for the hit songwriters Stock-Aitken-Waterman. Cave had commented on their song The Devil You Know, calling it: "one of pop music’s most violent and distressing love lyrics” and saying how Minogue's "innocent" voice was chillingly effective against those lyrics. This song was from several years after that song, around the time of Minogue's alternative period. A few years later she'd switch to dance pop and be the artist primarily responsible for bringing back disco. As for this track itself, it's a good one and I've always felt their voices went well together. Of course, it's more in Cave's wheelhouse than Kylie's, but I know from Impossible Princess she's definitely capable of doing dark, "serious music" rather than bright, happy, dance pop.
Thank you, Brian. Enjoyed your analysis as always. This song was the most successful single Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds produced. Given its relatively palatable nature and Kylie’s presence, I guess that’s not so surprising, though I think she was between her 80s one-hit wonder and world pop icon phases at the time. I always assumed the collaboration was the product of the Australian music scene being a relatively small community.
If you read my comment I tell the story of how Cave knew of Minogue because of his love for her song The Devil You Know, and Kylie had her own "alternative" period around this time with the album Impossible Princess (a great album, btw). Of course, it's possible the reason Kylie was on Nick's radar was due to them being Australian as well, but I think he genuinely liked at least some of her music.
One of my favorite duet so when I saw the notification, I couldn't rush anywhere else. I love Nick Cave's dark creativity and bass voice, and this song is particulary "pernicious" because of the image of Kykie Minogue at that time. I've always thought Kylie's sweet voice fits well with Nick's one, but I might prefer Nick's ballad when he sings alone.
I think there are a few live recordings out there with Blixa Bargeld (of Einstürzende Neubauten), when he was still a member of The Bad Seeds, singing Kylie Minogue's part. (That's actually how I discovered Nick Cave, I came from Neubauten 😀)
What a perfect fit for this week! Their voices really come together in a beautiful way. The lyricism might be quite simple but that's what makes it effective as you mentioned, Bryan. Something I'd disagree with (not about this song but about folk in general), is that the lyrical work isn't always that surface level. It's definitely something that works with the genre, but folk lyricists can get pretty complex and poetic, even pretty out there with the imagery they use. Bob Dylan is a pretty good example, in fact, even if the song you've been exposed to was a bit more straightforward. Or the vocabulary can be pretty out there, as it happens with The Decemberists for instance. Great insight as always!
The sort of simple approach partly made for the bigger success I presume. The rest of the concept album and Nick Cave in general may not be that accessible. I love their harmony, the progression of the song and their respective parts. 😊 Also, the instrumentation is quite pulled back I think, really letting the voices shine. Still, the violin is just enough to create atmosphere and melts into the background. Beautiful.
This takes me back to my teen years, still really immersed into all the metal culture, but also slowly beginning to branch out to vaster reaches of music out there. I was reading the interviews, seeing all my favourite musicians drop these left of field names alongside the more expected ones made me go into some interesting rabbit holes at the time, especially considering music was nowhere as available in 1996. This, however, was, and this song had quite a bit of airtime which was surprising given the subject matter. As it stands, it's a good if misleading greeting to the album, which is in equal parts both darker and more tongue in cheek than this song would suggest. Which, in turn, makes this song, when viewed in context of an album that is very much sprinkled with irony and a dark sense of humour, a bit less face value than it appears. That Nick Cave managed to follow this very performative and ironic album with the very stripped down and heart on sleeve Boatman's Call earned Nick Cave my enduring respect, even if I didn't allways follow every turn of his career. It also gave me, and I suspect quite a few other metal fans, an appreciation for this folksy americana.
This was interesting. I've never heard of murder ballads. And I am not familiar with Nick Cave so I did a quick Google search. I only know Kylie from the one song in the 90s maybe. Anyway, learned something new today.
Nick Cave is a pretty awesome mix of post-punk styles and folk music. Kylie Minogue's had a pretty diverse career, but her best period (IMO) were the two darker, alternative albums she made in the 90s with her self-titled and Impossible Princess, the latter being one of my favorites. She had a string of dance pop hits in the early 2000s (Spinning Around, Can't Get You Out of My Head) but her best stuff was before that: Confide In Me, Too Much, etc.
I've been a Nick Cave fan since the 90s. I think this track is pretty good, but isn't one of my favourites. His back catalogue is so extensive. There's a lot of highlights. Considering he's gone in so many different directions with his music, he's still kept a great level of quality when there's' the obvious risks when trying something new. And he hasn't alienated his audience in the process. It's quite remarkable. There's nothing like seeing him live though so if you ever get the chance I highly recommend it. The first time I saw him and the Bad Seeds still ranks as the top performance I've ever seen. I walked out of there and felt like I was hovering. It's a transcendent experience. I saw him back in November and he's still jumping into the audience and connecting with us. There's not many artists still doing that
As much as I love this song (and I _do_ love this song), the best thing about it is the b-side, "The Ballad of Robert Moore and Betty Coltrane" which I challenge you to listen to without laughing.
This is the song that every youtube reactor does. Please react to one of the really amazing Nick Cave songs like Bright Horses, or Weeping Song, or Skeleton Tree. This is one of his poppy songs and it doesn't do justice to his artistry.
That would be terribly unfortunate. Lucky for me it's something I have to actively engage. Most of my listening off camera is a mix of active and casual listening.
I knew of this collab from the time I spent exploring Minogue's discography (I've heard quite a bit from Nick Cave too, but not everything). Interestingly enough, before Minogue blew up as a dance pop star, she had a brief period as an alternative artist on the album Impossible Princess, which is really one of my favorite albums of the 90s. Surprisingly, it wasn't any of the material on that album that caught Nick Cave's attention; it was actually one of her songs from even before her alternative period, where she was just a singer/performer for the hit songwriters Stock-Aitken-Waterman. Cave had commented on their song The Devil You Know, calling it: "one of pop music’s most violent and distressing love lyrics” and saying how Minogue's "innocent" voice was chillingly effective against those lyrics. This song was from several years after that song, around the time of Minogue's alternative period. A few years later she'd switch to dance pop and be the artist primarily responsible for bringing back disco.
As for this track itself, it's a good one and I've always felt their voices went well together. Of course, it's more in Cave's wheelhouse than Kylie's, but I know from Impossible Princess she's definitely capable of doing dark, "serious music" rather than bright, happy, dance pop.
Thank you, Brian. Enjoyed your analysis as always. This song was the most successful single Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds produced. Given its relatively palatable nature and Kylie’s presence, I guess that’s not so surprising, though I think she was between her 80s one-hit wonder and world pop icon phases at the time. I always assumed the collaboration was the product of the Australian music scene being a relatively small community.
If you read my comment I tell the story of how Cave knew of Minogue because of his love for her song The Devil You Know, and Kylie had her own "alternative" period around this time with the album Impossible Princess (a great album, btw). Of course, it's possible the reason Kylie was on Nick's radar was due to them being Australian as well, but I think he genuinely liked at least some of her music.
Nick Cave was close friends with Michael Hutchence, who once dated Kylie Minogue.
One of my favorite duet so when I saw the notification, I couldn't rush anywhere else. I love Nick Cave's dark creativity and bass voice, and this song is particulary "pernicious" because of the image of Kykie Minogue at that time. I've always thought Kylie's sweet voice fits well with Nick's one, but I might prefer Nick's ballad when he sings alone.
I think there are a few live recordings out there with Blixa Bargeld (of Einstürzende Neubauten), when he was still a member of The Bad Seeds, singing Kylie Minogue's part. (That's actually how I discovered Nick Cave, I came from Neubauten 😀)
What a perfect fit for this week! Their voices really come together in a beautiful way. The lyricism might be quite simple but that's what makes it effective as you mentioned, Bryan.
Something I'd disagree with (not about this song but about folk in general), is that the lyrical work isn't always that surface level. It's definitely something that works with the genre, but folk lyricists can get pretty complex and poetic, even pretty out there with the imagery they use. Bob Dylan is a pretty good example, in fact, even if the song you've been exposed to was a bit more straightforward. Or the vocabulary can be pretty out there, as it happens with The Decemberists for instance.
Great insight as always!
The sort of simple approach partly made for the bigger success I presume. The rest of the concept album and Nick Cave in general may not be that accessible. I love their harmony, the progression of the song and their respective parts. 😊
Also, the instrumentation is quite pulled back I think, really letting the voices shine. Still, the violin is just enough to create atmosphere and melts into the background. Beautiful.
Kylie Minogue appears in another song ( Death is not the end) on Nick Caves “Murder Ballads” album
Such an underrated song! It's beautiful, morbid, and funny.
This takes me back to my teen years, still really immersed into all the metal culture, but also slowly beginning to branch out to vaster reaches of music out there. I was reading the interviews, seeing all my favourite musicians drop these left of field names alongside the more expected ones made me go into some interesting rabbit holes at the time, especially considering music was nowhere as available in 1996. This, however, was, and this song had quite a bit of airtime which was surprising given the subject matter. As it stands, it's a good if misleading greeting to the album, which is in equal parts both darker and more tongue in cheek than this song would suggest. Which, in turn, makes this song, when viewed in context of an album that is very much sprinkled with irony and a dark sense of humour, a bit less face value than it appears. That Nick Cave managed to follow this very performative and ironic album with the very stripped down and heart on sleeve Boatman's Call earned Nick Cave my enduring respect, even if I didn't allways follow every turn of his career. It also gave me, and I suspect quite a few other metal fans, an appreciation for this folksy americana.
This was interesting. I've never heard of murder ballads. And I am not familiar with Nick Cave so I did a quick Google search. I only know Kylie from the one song in the 90s maybe. Anyway, learned something new today.
Nick Cave is a pretty awesome mix of post-punk styles and folk music. Kylie Minogue's had a pretty diverse career, but her best period (IMO) were the two darker, alternative albums she made in the 90s with her self-titled and Impossible Princess, the latter being one of my favorites. She had a string of dance pop hits in the early 2000s (Spinning Around, Can't Get You Out of My Head) but her best stuff was before that: Confide In Me, Too Much, etc.
@@jonathanhenderson9422 thanks, I'll have to check them both out. 🙂
I've been a Nick Cave fan since the 90s. I think this track is pretty good, but isn't one of my favourites. His back catalogue is so extensive. There's a lot of highlights. Considering he's gone in so many different directions with his music, he's still kept a great level of quality when there's' the obvious risks when trying something new. And he hasn't alienated his audience in the process. It's quite remarkable. There's nothing like seeing him live though so if you ever get the chance I highly recommend it. The first time I saw him and the Bad Seeds still ranks as the top performance I've ever seen. I walked out of there and felt like I was hovering. It's a transcendent experience. I saw him back in November and he's still jumping into the audience and connecting with us. There's not many artists still doing that
DO HENRY LEE FT P J HARVEY
As much as I love this song (and I _do_ love this song), the best thing about it is the b-side, "The Ballad of Robert Moore and Betty Coltrane" which I challenge you to listen to without laughing.
Can you please react to
Slow motion by Blondie
Music video version please
that's a cute song, but of all Blondie's songs, why that one?
Sir I beg you to react to George Harisson - Art of Dying
This is the song that every youtube reactor does. Please react to one of the really amazing Nick Cave songs like Bright Horses, or Weeping Song, or Skeleton Tree. This is one of his poppy songs and it doesn't do justice to his artistry.
It must be unfortunate to not be able listen a song without having to overthink and pick every single thing apart.
That would be terribly unfortunate. Lucky for me it's something I have to actively engage. Most of my listening off camera is a mix of active and casual listening.
This is the worst song from the album…
Murder is the only cassette I've ever threw out the window of my car on the 405.