Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Tender Prey

It was Tender Prey that raised the delightfully unlikely specter of Nick Cave the pop star. What was even better was that the song that damn near did it--"The Mercy Seat"--was an epic litany relating the thoughts of a condemned prisoner awaiting his walk to the electric chair. "The Mercy Seat" is Cave and his Bad Seeds at their best: the former leavening his mordant tale with grim wit ("A ragged cup, a twisted mop . . . the face of Jesus in my soup"), the latter conjuring an appropriately demented squall of electric guitars and violins. Tender Prey was a massively important album for Cave: for the first time, he is unabashed about projecting his bleak and often misunderstood sense of humor and his ability to write as good a pop tune as anyone. Tender Prey is the beginning of Cave's voyage toward acceptance by the general public and perhaps himself. Everything good he's done since--and there's been an impressive amount--starts here. --Andrew Mueller Amazon.com

No tender songs for me

"Tender prey" pretty much marks the border between Nick Cave's raw, more experimental albums ("From her to eternity", "First born is dead" and "Your funeral, my trial") and more accessable song collections that would follow with "The Good son", "Henry's dream" and further. That doesn't mean that our favorite mad preacher is up for cheap melodies and easy listening.
The opener here is the instant classic "The mercy seat", a haunting, seven minute monologue of a convict strapped in the electric chair. A verbal play about self doubt, conviction and unbearable knowledge of the Old Testaments's rage unfolds. The music is one stunning build-up to the inevitable end.
The three Bad Seeds dvd's which are available now, "The Video's" and the live performances "God is in the house" and "LIve at the Paradiso" all contain the song.
The documentary annex roadmovie video "The road to God knows where" shows a scene in which Nick Cave and the boys perform an accoustic version for a radio station, the live album "Live seeds" has it as the blasting first song, and when I saw Oncle Nick and his Bad Seeds in November 2004 at The Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, Holland, 'THe mercy seat' was good enough for the closing of the second encore.
That shows how this one song still stands up against time.

Other tracks include the sing-along rocksongs "Deanna" and "The city of refuge"; the angry sounding, half sung / half spoken word "Up jumped the devil" and the brooding, sinister pledge "Mercy", for me the highlight on this album (or the absolute depth, depends on which point of view you have on the world.)

Cave is the raging carnivore here, the mad musical stalker on stage, but O how we love to surrender ourselves to him, making us easy, willing prey... January 21, 2006

uneven effort

While it seems to be the tendency of many Cave fans to drool over anything the man records, this is not an album that is up to par with many of his other efforts. There are some stand out tracks such as "Deanna" and "Mercy", but many of the rest come off as either overwrought or overly bombastic. Obviously, if you're already a fan, you'll want this disc regardless, but to anyone new to Nick Cave's work I recommend his "Best of" collection or "The Boatman's Call". February 19, 2005

Cave's Best Album!! Moody and Rockin'!!

This album always makes me think of East Berlin, when there was an East Berlin. Gloomy Artiste at Work in Desolate City...however, I'm not even sure if was recorded there (in 1987-8). The songs range from the searingly intense "Mercy Seat" to the punk rocker "Deana" to the impishly wicked "Up Jumped the Devil" to the mournful, pleading "Have Mercy", etc. Half these songs rock and half are very moody and melodic, with pretty piano lines way up in the mix. Nick's voice is in top demonic/tender crooner form throughout, and this album is as cool as the black and red motif of the CD cover picture. One of the greatest albums of the 1980's, and in my opinion, this is Nick's finest work.
It's wicked, it's fun, it's pretty, all at once. It's an ABSOLUTE MUST if you like Nick Cave! February 3, 2005

This is a classic.

Even aside from the brooding, epic brilliance of "The Mercy Seat", this album is just raw-nerve, edgy, genius Nick at the height of his strung-out, violent, and delicate glory. "Up Jumped The Devil" is maybe the most amazing track here - tongue-in-cheek Vaudevillian Villainy! "Mercy" is smooth and beautiful, making use of his off-key yet melodious baritone croon, and "Sugar Sugar Sugar" would be awful if it weren't for the honest portrayal of self-loathing and helplessness just under the surface of the lyrics. I love the frustration of a flawed line like "Must I kill that c*cks*cker every day?"
I still don't know if Nick wrote better quality stuff before or after he cleaned up, and I don't think it matters - he's still sexy as hell, and literate as the devil, when he's singing gentle love songs - but this is a defining album of the middle phase of his brilliant career. December 23, 2004

Why this guy has such a loyal following...

Nick Cave. He is an icon of underground punk/alt/goth music and not many people have actually heard him. The end of Johnny Cash's career sparked a masterpeice cover song of "The Mercy Seat." Even The Man In Black couldn't capture the intensity with which Nick Cave sings that song...it is terrifying and beautiful all at once. "The Mercy Seat," the first track on TENDER PREY is the perfect intro to what I think is one of the greatest albums of all time.

This is the album in which the true talent of the Bad Seeds really shows through the dark wittiness of Cave's lyrics. The guitar from Mick is truly groundbreaking. Every song on this cd is amazing. I had a nightmare one night that was the story told in "Watching Alice." I literally dreamed the song.

If you happen to read this, and maybe you have heard someone say HEY CHECK OUT NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS, please TAKE THE ADVICE. These guys are no joke. They can play thier asses off and Nick is one of the greatest songwriters of all time...

The fact that they are not famous in America speaks volumes on how our taste in music, as a whole society, has gone downhill.
Buy this one folks while you can and pass it on to your children.



December 13, 2004

More reviews at Amazon.com ...