Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Your Funeral...My Trial

His music... our trial

The slow dancing cheerfulness of the opening song is rather deceitful when you know that it is the title track of the album.
This is one of the very best Nick Cave albums of the early years. Together with "Tender prey" it marks the transformation from highly experimental albums like "From her to eternity" to the more mainstream blues / pop oriëntated album like "Let love in" and "Murder ballads"
The second song "Stranger than kindness" with it's mesmerising guitarplay, hypnotic percussion, odd backing sounds, and Cave's own monotone voice, is still one of my favorites and ranks among the best.
Another track, "The Carny", an original and rainy spoken word story, accompanied by a mouth-organ who seems the ocho from the far distance, became an instant-classic. During live gigs Cave is sitting on a stool and speaks in vein about the carnival and its strange artists (dog-boy, atlas, half-man, the geeks, the hired hands, some dwarfs and the carny who had a horse named Sorrow...)
Other songs like "Jacks shadow", "She fell away" and "Hard on for love" are powerful stuff, dark maybe, but with an energy drive that takes you by the hand and leads you safely through Cave's musical purgatory.
Is Cave guilty of overwelming us with sad and eerie lyrics? Is he guilty of grabbing is by the throat?
Yes he is, and on our knees we joyfully find him guilty.

June 26, 2006

Bury this lump of crow bait!

My title may seem to suggest that this album is a dud, but in fact it's my favorite line from "The Carny". Nick Cave is an amazing writer and musician. He creates this atmosphere of decay, where love is a ghost that his gruff bassiness paints in shades of regret. I love this album. Stranger Than Kindness never ceases to give me chills. Sad Waters is a lovely tune of adoration and Scum is a nightmare right out of the darkest slums. The Carny never ceases to capture my attention. I can see EVERY SINGLE image that Cave describes in his tale, from the abandoned carriage to the dwarves burying the dead horse (aptly named Sorrow).

I hate having to explain my ratings, but for some reason I just can't give this 5 stars. For as great as Your Funeral, My Trial is, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have much better work out there.

Not recommended as a pick-me-up album. If you're in a lonesome mood and need some ballads of desperation, turn down the lights and stick this in. Cave will possess you, as he somehow does with many other examples of his work. June 1, 2006

One of Nick Cave's best

This is a flawless album from start to finish. Every single track is a five star affair, the insert and photos are fantastic.... there's nothing more to say. BUY THIS ALBUM if you even remotely like Nick Cave. You won't be disappointed. March 16, 2006

Exactly what we love Nick Cave for

There's so many good moments on this album, like the slow entrance of the snare drum on 'Long Time Man' and the lapse into chorus on 'Your Funeral... My Trial'. It's a dark, brooding piece of gothic poetry full of sex, violence, humour and most of all, love. It's no wonder Nick Cave inspires such admiration and loyalty in his fans - he's supremely talented and possibly the coolest person on the face of the earth.

This is one of his best releases, along with 'Let Love In'. Pick it up - it's a hard listen but it drills itself into your skull after a few listens. January 30, 2004

The height of an amazing career

Some artists are good enough that to label one work as their best says more than a lot. Nick Cave is by all means one of them. And 'Your Funeral...My Trial' is that golden release. Beginning with the slow title cut, it moves it's way through track after track, sometimes menacing, sometimes violent, sometimes beautiful, and always thought provoking and dark. Highlights? Honestly, all of them. Warning, this album is Nick's least accesable and that says a lot too. But after a few good listens, it works it's way into your brain and it's the best thing since ever- I promise. December 31, 2002

More reviews at Amazon.com ...