Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - From Her to Eternity

After the Birthday Party ended in a manner similar to a train collision, frontman Nick Cave emerged from the wreckage and hooked up ex-bandmate Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld (on loan from the industrial group Einsturzende Neubauten), Barry Adamson (fresh from Magazine), and the lovely but corpse-pale Anita Lane. Thus the Bad Seeds were born, second only to Cave's former band in their ability to create a rumbling caterwaul. What makes the Bad Seeds stand apart, though, are the elements of delta blues that Cave dredges up from the darkest recesses of his black, black heart--blues unlike any you've ever heard before--and his Faulkner-meets-Lovecraft lyrical obsessions. "Well of Misery" shambles along drunkenly and eventually crumbles under its somnambulant pace. On the title track Cave exhorts, begs, and pleads like a whiskey priest begging for forgiveness after a bender while Bargeld's guitar shrieks and wails like a congregation of devils. Including two of Cave's more inspired covers--Leonard Cohen's "Avalanche" and Presley's "In the Ghetto"--From Her to Eternity captures Cave at the noisy intersection between the punk-rock entropy of the Birthday Party and his later incarnation as the gothic Elvis. Amazing, scary stuff. --Tod Nelson Amazon.com essential recording

more tuneful than The Birthday Party, more menacing than later Bad Seeds

...and that is why this album is great; the perfect place to start with Nick Cave's music October 28, 2008

Classic goth-rock

It's hard to qualify music like this with a category without using prefixes like 'post-' and 'art-', and I know that Nick Cave himself objects to being associated with the 'g' word. However, I think goth-rock fits this album best. There's the dark theatricality that you find in all of Nick Cave's work but also unpredictable, frenetic bursts of noise that are more like the work of the Birthday Party taken to even further extremes. For example, some sections of "Cabin Fever!" sound like they were recorded in some insane sawmill... IN HELL!

The album may at first sound like a mess, but stick with it and you'll be rewarded with some great moments. After a few listens you'll be joining in the weary bar-room choruses of the more restrained tracks (Wings Off Flies, Well Of Misery). The braver listener may also attempt to sing along with such higher-volume tracks as 'Cabin Fever!' and the title track, but be warned. Anyone overhearing you will think you are certifiably insane.

Ballads like "A Box For Black Paul" and "Saint Huck" point towards the more restrained, narrative form Cave's work would take later on down the road, and the cover of Leonard Cohen's "Avalanche" is also a killer. All in all, 'Tender Prey' is probably a more accessible introduction to the Bad Seeds, but this one is my personal favourite. A crazy ride. June 17, 2006

Cave's masterful solo debut

This debut solo album by Cave has grown in stature down the years. The mood is Goth, the songs are mostly folkie laments, both lyrically and melodically impressive, his voice is like dark red velvet and the whole is dark, brooding and atmospheric. With the superb backing of Bad Seeds Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey, Barry Adamson and Anita Lane, this album is just perfect in its blood-cuddling rawness. I love the eerie cover of Leonard Cohen's Avalanche, whilst the striking images in Cabin Fever elevates an ordinary tune into the unforgettable. Well Of Misery stands out for its interesting vocal arrangement. Cave's cover of Elvis' In The Ghetto is quite stunning. The title track is an anguished and harrowing love song with atmospheric vocal samples and industrial infusions. With these songs Cave established himself in the great tradition of artists like Cohen, Richard Thompson (in his dark moments), Tom Waits, Peter Murphy and Michael Gira, as a master of the deep, dark lament.
October 29, 2004

CD Contains Three Bonus Tracks

A number of people have been discussing the cover track "In the Ghetto." Keep in mind that that track is a bonus track included for the CD re-release. The original album from 1984 just included seven songs: Avalanche, Cabin Fever!, Well Of Misery, From Her To Eternity, Saint Huck, Wings Of Flies, and A Box For Black Paul. Several years later, the CD came out and added three bonus tracks: "In the Ghetto" (a 1984 single), its b-side "The Moon is in the Gutter," and the 1987 version of "From her to Eternity" which is from the soundtrack to the movie "Wings of Desire."
September 27, 2004

one of Cave's most haunting works

The use of ambience and noises as essential elements are emphasized than on any other album, and the more rock-like songs continue the thrashing crashing colliding work of THe Birthday Party, while Cave's ventures into Americana and Delta Blues and balladry start to make their appearance as well. The result is a very atmospheric album that can't really be explained in any normal terms other than incredibaly scary, supernatural music that stands up to other works by post-punk bands that were popping around the same time---Sonic Youth's "Bad Moon Rising" and THe Swans "Children Of God...". "Saint Huck", "Cabin Fever", and the title track are long, thought-out aggressive masterpeices, but my personal favorite is the so spooky it hurts "Box For Black Paul". A frieghtening listen from beginning to end. December 9, 2003

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