Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus

The slippery slope of having Harry Potter read to me at age 4 to becoming a Nick Cave fan at 27 is very real & dangerous. Heed my warning
(the song "O Children" is featured in the moving picture Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Pt. I [2010])

Surprised myself at how I enjoyed this a fair bit more than Murder Ballads, the more eclectic of the two (three?).
I guess when you have a winning cocktail of blues, gospel, rock & folk, with some theatre and horror added for good measure, I’ll take a whole double album of it.

HL: "Get Ready for Love", "Nature Boy", "There She Goes, My Beautiful World", “Supernaturally”, “Breathless”, “Carry Me”/"O Children"

December 31, 2023.
That was 2023, eh? Hm

Some good stuff here, but Nick Cave just isn't my style. It's fine as background noise for me. I understand there are many superfans that will not enjoy my hot take.

Brilliant - covers a range of genres and sound profiles, while always sounding like a coherent piece. Hard to pick a best song - listen to it all the way through!
I kind of wish I knew how good these guys are before, I feel I've missed out on them by only discovering them over this project.

It’s normally hard to defend a runtime of 80+ minutes. But this is essentially two albums in one.
And even if it wasn’t… It’s Nick Cave, he can do what he wants, shut up.

I first fell in love with the band around Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! and the opening record of this double album, Abattoir Blues, hits that exact vibe with a howling and mad Nick Cave accompanied by the bluesy and frenzied Bad Seeds on a never ending stream of perfect songs where “Get Ready For Love”, “Hiding All Away” and “There She Goes, My Beautiful World” stand out in particular.

The second album, The Lyre of Orpheus, is a completely different record altogether. It’s more melodic and mellow with a Nick Cave in front that seems more aware of what The Bad Seeds would eventually become. In that regard, this double album seems to serve as a kind of portal leading from one era and into the next.

I personally prefer the first half, but both albums are undoubtedly 5 star records. So there’s no actual consideration going into the final score.

Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus is an album that was quite a ride. It started off quite good but unfortunately fell off towards the end. The songs at the start were well done and fit well with each other and were interesting to listen to but the songs on the back half were quite forgettable. This album is decent but you can do better
Best Song: Hiding All Away
Worst Song: Fable of the Brown Ape

God bless rock and roll

Like okay. Nick cave is supposed to be great and I guess I kind of like him but two whole albums is just too much Nick Cave at once for me. Plus one star for being profoundly weird but minus a star for possibly being pompous.

All Ballads is usually a pretty big ask for me, but man *Murder Ballads* really unlocked these guys for me, I enjoyed this

Considering this is a Nick Cave creation (the guy who is behind The Birthday Party and their trash heap of an album Junkyard), there were some actually decent songs on this. None of it was good enough to make me a fan of him or their work. I'm hesitant to give this a 2 based on his other work, but this might actually deserve that. 2/5

Let the bells ring is OK. Otherwise... not for me.

No issues with Mr Nick Cave. Distinctive voice and lyrics for sure, but a talented man.

I absolutely love that you can think you know what you're expecting when you go into a Nick Cave album, yet get totally thrown off guard every time. This album's first part was pretty good, but The Lyre of Orpheus was only excellent from start to finish. It is a double album, however, so I must rate them as one, and that leads to a four. Seriously, though, that second half is glorious.

Vähän pitkänpuoleinen, mutta Nick Caven taattua laatua. Nipsaisen kuitenkin yhden tähden pois. 3/5

I like the female backup singers throughout the record, and he is certainly a talented lyricist, but nothing particularly grabs me here. Not sure I understand the need for this to be an hour and 22 minute double album either.

Revisiting this, after 3 years since my first/last attempt. During the 1001 list my opinion of NC&TBS has felt a little hit and miss. This one is very much a hit! Full to the brim of dark storytelling.

i simply do not like this man’s voice and that cannot be helped.

Killer gothic rock. This album is just wall to wall filled with jams and killer songwriting.

One of the best albums ever made and the showcase of everything Nick Cave has to over.

I already listen to about Nick Cave, but I never got the hype on his work and never understood why he is so appreciated.

From now on, this album made my mind and I got everything. It's so strong and powerful that I understood exactly all the hype around. I'll keep my radar open for Nick Cave now and I'll also recommend it to everyone.

The second part of the album is a little bit repetitive and too much longer for a perfect record, but the first part compensates for any possible "error".

Not bad! Couldn't find any stand-out tracks though.