The Boatman's Call

by Nick Cave

Product Description:

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave (vocals, piano, Hammond organ, keyboards, vibraphone); Mick Harvey (acoustic & electric guitars, Hammond organ, vibraphone); Blixa Bargeld (guitar); Warren Ellis (violin, accordion, piano); Jim Scalvunos (melodica, drums, percussion); Conway Savage (piano, keyboards); Martyn P. Casey (bass); Thomas Wydler (drums, maracas).

Producers: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Flood.

Recorded at Abbey Road and Sarm West, London, England.

Following up the almost pornographically violent MURDER BALLADS, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds switch gears and come up with an album of...you guessed it, love songs. Though known to many as the Stephen King of rock and roll, Cave has a way with lush, heartfelt ballads, and on THE BOATMAN'S CALL he gets to flex his romantic muscles. Still, with Australia's maven of morbidity at the reigns, you can bet you're not exactly venturing into Elton John territory here.

Cave's romanticism tends more toward Jacques Brel than Air Supply. THE BOATMAN'S CALL is full of sparsely-arranged, piano-based ruminations on love gone up in flames. In "Brompton Oratory" Cave observes that "No God up in the sky/No devil beneath the sea/Could do the job that you did/Of bringing me to my knees." Even in the midst of an idyllic situation, as in "People Ain't No Good," Cave can't help but bring his misanthropic tendencies to the fore. The Bad Seeds take a more subdued role this time around, providing subtle accompaniment to Cave's Dating Game From Hell.