Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away

[appleghost]

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away
February 18th 2013

1."We No Who U R" 4:04
2."Wide Lovely Eyes" 3:40
3."Water's Edge" 3:49
4."Jubilee Street" 6:35
5."Mermaids" 3:49
6."We Real Cool" 4:18
7."Finishing Jubilee Street" 4:28
8."Higgs Boson Blues" 7:50
9."Push the Sky Away" 4:07

[appleghost]

There was no track on this album that I didn't like. Of course, some were better than others (favourite tracks are "We No Who U R", "Water's Edge" and "Finishing Jubilee Street"), but the whole album was very solid.
The instrumentation is fresh and clean, and I think the album cover is quite representative of the way "Push the Sky Away" sounds. The use of synth on the album closer was a nice surprise as well, as I'm used to hearing Nick Cave accompanied by more traditional instruments.
I haven't really gotten into the lyrics yet, but from what I've picked up, they are somewhat different from his previous work, singing about Wikipedia, the Higgs Boson, and... Miley Cyrus?
A great album i my ears. I will give it 4/5.

[Trollheart]

I loved this album. After what I consider to be the disappointment of "Dig, Lazarus, dig!" I found it a welcome return to the style of "No more shall we part" and "The boatman's call". Dark, eerie, hauntingly beautiful with just the right amount of bitter sardonic humour and tragic self-realisation on behalf of the world that makes Nick Cave the god of, well, everything really.

A dark, brooding, gorgeous masterpiece.

Watch my journal for a review very soon!

[appleghost]

I wouldn't call "Dig, Lazarus, dig!" a dissapointment, though it's for sure not their best work. I enjoy "More News From Nowhere", "Night of the Lotus Eaters" and "Midnight Man" quite a bit.

I voted 4/5 on "Push The Sky Away", but I think it soon will be a 5

[Trollheart]

Admittedly I only listened to it the once, but that's usually enough for me with a Cave album. I seldom need to listen twice to form an opinion. I just did not like that one, couldn't really see anything I enjoyed on it. Maybe if I listen a few more times I'll get into it, but as a first-listen, didn't do it for me.

I obviously meant disappointment as in for me, personally, not overall. I'm sure many people enjoyed it. I didn't.

[appleghost]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Admittedly I only listened to it the once, but that's usually enough for me with a Cave album. I seldom need to listen twice to form an opinion. I just did not like that one, couldn't really see anything I enjoyed on it. Maybe if I listen a few more times I'll get into it, but as a first-listen, didn't do it for me.

I obviously meant disappointment as in for me, personally, not overall. I'm sure many people enjoyed it. I didn't.

I understood that. Just wondered if there were any particular things about it that made you enjoy it less.

[Trollheart]

Again, given that I only heard it the once, just that I didn't hear any tracks on it I liked really. No deep Cave ballads, no going-off-the-deep-end murder stories, just kind of meh really which is not in any way an adjective (not a real word I know but some people say it's a perfectly cromulent one!) I ever expect to apply to Cave's work.

For me, the albums of his I've enjoyed in order would be:

No more shall we part
The boatman's call
The good son
Push the sky away
Murder ballads
Henry's dream
Let love in
Abbatoir blues/Lyre of Orpheus
Nocturama
Dig Lazarus dig

I should point out that his albums pre-"The good son" I have found hard to get into and have not in fairness given much of a chance, though I intend to sit down and really listen to them. Also, the last three have only got one or two listens each, so certainly Abbatoir and Nocturama may end up in a higher position, or at least having a better response from me, but the top 5 or 6 are definitely unchangeable. You can certainly see a pattern here though: the more recent albums (this one excluded) have impressed me far less, in general, than his earlier ones.

[appleghost]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Again, given that I only heard it the once, just that I didn't hear any tracks on it I liked really. No deep Cave ballads, no going-off-the-deep-end murder stories, just kind of meh really which is not in any way an adjective (not a real word I know but some people say it's a perfectly cromulent one!) I ever expect to apply to Cave's work.

For me, the albums of his I've enjoyed in order would be:

No more shall we part
The boatman's call
The good son
Push the sky away
Murder ballads
Henry's dream
Let love in
Abbatoir blues/Lyre of Orpheus
Nocturama
Dig Lazarus dig

I should point out that his albums pre-"The good son" I have found hard to get into and have not in fairness given much of a chance, though I intend to sit down and really listen to them. Also, the last three have only got one or two listens each, so certainly Abbatoir and Nocturama may end up in a higher position, or at least having a better response from me, but the top 5 or 6 are definitely unchangeable. You can certainly see a pattern here though: the more recent albums (this one excluded) have impressed me far less, in general, than his earlier ones.

I own most of his discopgraphy, though I admittedly haven't listened to all of it. Abbatoir Blues is actually the one I've listened to the most. "The Weeping Song" off The Good Son is one of my all time Cave-favourites (as well as one of my earliest musical memories). Let Love In is great (I believe we've talked about it before in the lyrics-thread, haven't we?), and I've heard most of Henry's Dream.
Seems like I have a lot more to listen to, though. Listening to Boatman's Call now, as many regard it as his best album. It's fantastic so far.

Also, who voted 1/5???
Why???

[Trollheart]

Personally I have to say I've never been in the lyrics thread, so it wouldn't have been me you were talking with.

TBC is a fabulous album, though different to what he had done up to that point. As I said, I kind of consider NMSWP and that to be quite similar in style, though the latter has a few harder, more typical Cave tracks while Boatman's has none really, even though the bitterness and anger is certainly there, in songs like "People ain't no good" and "Idiot's prayer", and maybe "Brompton oratory", if you read between the lines.

I just feel that from the period 1990 to 2001 he could do no wrong; every album was flawless and better than the one that preceded it almost. Then Nocturama, while not a bad album, didn't floor me in the way his others had, and after that though I bought Lyre/Abbatoir I didnt listen to them until some time later. Still formulating an opinion on them. Dig I definitely did not like, at least on first listen, and though that could change, as I say Cave is not an artiste I usually need more than one listen to get into. Barring the older material, I've loved everything from TGS up to NMSWP. This album kind of sets me back on the right track with Nick, as it were.

[Urban Hat€monger ?]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

I should point out that his albums pre-"The good son" I have found hard to get into and have not in fairness given much of a chance, though I intend to sit down and really listen to them.

You should, I think Tender Prey is easily his best album.