Murder Ballads

That's a pretty album cover. If only the font didn't gouge my eyes out.

Anyway, in terms of music, I like the whole album being full of murder ballads. Means there's a consistent theme. Cave's vocals are one-note, but including PJ Harvey scores some points from me. It's what folk says on the tin: tell a story while trying not to rock the boat too much musically.

When it comes to Murder Ballads, all i can say is there were things i liked about it, and things i did not like about it. The music was the thing that was the most consistently good about the album. The guitars, pianos and everything else sounded quite nice and really added to this album's vibe. Now for the vocals and lyrics though, i was a bit more divisive towards. For the most part were pretty solid from Nick, Kylie, PJ, Shane and Anita but when Nick would start doing weird mouth sounds in some songs, it got annoying. The lyrics could also range from inspired to insipid. Overall, it's an album with pretty divisive aspects to me but was overall a pretty decent listen.
Best Song: Song of Joy
Worst Song: O'Malley's Bar

Murder Ballads is the ninth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and probably my favourite of theirs, although it's incredibly difficult to choose. The Boatman's Call is also a masterpiece, and I could easily make a case for either being their best work. What an incredible band.
This album is dark, moody, violent and angry, but it's also absolutely brilliant. There's a fantastic mixture of Cave's original murder ballads and traditional songs, all brought together by his extraordinary songwriting and storytelling.

What I love most is the level of detail in the lyrics. Listening to these songs is almost like watching a film. Cave paints such vivid pictures that you can imagine every character, every setting and every gruesome detail of what's happening. "Stagger Lee" is a perfect example. What a superb song! It's outrageous, darkly funny, incredibly graphic and absolutely gripping from start to finish.

The storytelling throughout is exceptional. Every song tells a different tale, yet somehow they all work beautifully together. There's so much variation in the music, from the quieter, haunting moments to the more aggressive and disturbing tracks. It never becomes repetitive, and despite the subject matter, it's an incredibly enjoyable album to listen to.
There are also some fantastic guest appearances. Kylie Minogue, PJ Harvey and Shane MacGowan all bring something different to the album. "Where the Wild Roses Grow" with Kylie is simply beautiful, while "Henry Lee" with PJ Harvey is another stunning piece of music. Who would have thought an album about murder could produce such lovely songs?

And then there's the ending. The cover of Bob Dylan's "Death Is Not the End" is one of my favourite covers of all time. After an album full of death, violence and misery, it's such a wonderful way to finish. The different voices coming together make it feel almost like a final curtain call for all the characters we've encountered along the way. Absolutely brilliant.
For me, Murder Ballads is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at their very best. The songwriting, musicianship, atmosphere and storytelling are all exceptional. It's dark, disturbing, occasionally funny and often strangely beautiful. An album that demands your attention and rewards you for giving it. I absolutely love it.

Favourite tracks: Where do I start? "Stagger Lee", "Henry Lee" and "Where the Wild Roses Grow" are all superb. I also have a real soft spot for "Lovely Creature" and "Death Is Not the End". So many brilliant songs.

Least favourite track: Nothing. Every song has its place, and I wouldn't change a thing.

Album artwork: Brilliant album cover. Dark, striking and perfectly suited to the music.

This album is fine and there are some great tunes on it but honestly, it's not my favourite Nick Cave. This one gets so the hype and it's partially deserved buy it's mostly because of Stagger Lee.

you can tell he thinks he’s proper hard

Sounds like the opera

This is only my second Nick Cave listen of the project(after the Birthday Party album sitting in the bottom 10 globally). This album is noticeably less abrasive and experimental than that album, instead being a very dark, theatrical style of album. If it weren't for the lyrics about brutal murders and horrifying crimes, this album's songs could easily be from a musical. His vocal style is a very deep croon, almost like Elvis except a whole lot darker. This is a pretty good album with well-structured storytelling songs and an interesting concept, but the songs can be difficult to listen to due to vulgar lyrics and the occasional screaming noise(in "Stagger Lee"). However, these critiques do not detract from my overall assessment of the album as good.

This album is ranked #12 of 28 albums for 1996. Other 1996 albums rated by me:
The Score(1/28)-4
Endtroducing...(4/28)-4
Tigermilk(8/28)-3
Everything Must Go(11/28)-3
Emperor Tomato Ketchup(13/28)-4
1977(14/28)-2
Better Living Through Chemistry(15/28)-2
Oedipus Schmoedipus(23/28)-3
Now I Got Worry(27/28)-4
Antichrist Superstar(28/28)-2

While not the greatest collection of songs by Nick, it does manage to be one of his better concept albums for that reason. The two duets are the highlight of the album.

8/10 [KEEP]

Argh, another Nick Cave album. I suspect this will be the same story as my other reviews: Nick Cave is more style than substance. I

I don't know... maybe this would have worked better if someone _other_ than Nick Cave sang on all these songs? I'm just spitballing ideas here.

Jeez, "O'Malley's Bar" is nearly unlistenable. Nick should be ashamed of this recording.

An absolute beast of an album, and I mean that in a very good way. An album full of murder ballads is bound to be a fascinating listen, and this lives up to that expectation. It also sounds great & interesting musically. What a piece of work!

Never listened to this guy, partially because he’s a fucking pussy and partially because I started this before I could. I always knew he was noteworthy though. Anyway, this album! It’s a bunch of ballads about murder. Which is really a nice concept frankly. A lot of these songs are really great, especially on the first half. “Song of Joy” is fantastic, “Where The Wild Roses Grow” is astonishing, “The Curse Of Millhaven” (which is probably my favorite, either that or “Song of Joy”) is incredible. Sadly it falls apart right at the end, with “O’Malley’s Bar” being an excellent example of how not to do a 14-minute song about a massacre, and “Death Is Not The End” really drives home how much Mr. Cave is ripping Michael Gira off, with a straight pull from “Blind” (which is overrated as shit anyway). I don’t know. This could’ve, and should’ve, been way better than it was.
6.9/10

I'm currently in an electronic-pop mood right now so having another Nick Cave album in less than two weeks is pretty jarring to me.

Felt unsettled by the intro, not because of the dark vibes but because of how wordy it is. It's giving Disney villain theme song but without the catchiness, just the storytelling. The duets are probably the most commercial sounding (2.5-3).

All good, clean fun. Coulda been a classic, but some of the slower songs are a bit underwhelming. I prefer the bloodier ones.

Nick Cave assembles a very spooky set of songs here. Effectively conveying the horror of murder. Definitely the right guy to make an album like this. The guest appearances were really appreciated and added to all the songs. Especially liked hearing Shane MacGowan on the closer. Favorites were Henry Lee, Where The Wild Roses Grow, The Curse Of Millhaven, O’Malley’s Bar, and Death Is Not The End.

This album excels when the track has a guest vocalist. Nick Cave vocal style really doesn’t appeal to me save where it is contrasting with PJ Harvey or Kylie, even if these tracks just make me think of the Shirehorse’s versions (long live Mark and Lard).

Other than these ‘The Curse of Millhaven’ at least offers some life, but does kind of feel like they’ve just sped ‘Henry Lee’ up. ‘The Kindness of Strangers’ isn’t too bad.

I think Nick Cave may be starting to join my ever growing list of 'objectively terrible singers who I weirdly don't care can't sing for reasons I can't quite define'. I get why people wouldn't enjoy this, but I kinda did (apart from the Dylan cover, which I thought was an abomination).

There is a slight issue for me though. Mark Reilly, ex-bassist of The Fall, and Mark Radcliffe (of BBC Radio fame) had a parody band in the 90's called The Shirehorses who "covered" two tracks on this album. On hearing Henry Lee, I was instantly stuck with the lyrics to Franny Lee in my head - and so instead of the brooding lyrics of death I was mentally singing a song about the relegation of Man City football team in the 90s:

"Going down, going down little Franny Lee,
Down to division three,
With only one lad who isn't half bad
And that's little Georgi Kinkladze"

Away from that, I obviously loved Kylie's appearance on Where The Wild Roses Grow which was a surprisingly big hit in the UK. Lovely Creature is great and I really enjoyed The Curse of Millhaven (despite some of the worst examples of Nick's singing and it basically being an upbeat Henry Lee).

I liked this better than the previous Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album, I think because I enjoyed the story telling, but not enough for an extra star, so:

3/5

3.5

Peak Nick Cave. Een conceptalbum waarvan de titel niet duidelijker had kunnen zijn dat dit. Murder Ballads kent 10 murder ballads. Zijn ze alle 10 perfect? Misschien niet. Maar ik zou avonden lang kunnen luisteren naar de lugubere verhalen van een deranged Australiër die na zes drankjes op de avond onaangekondigd losbarst in proza.

5 stars for the duets. Heads into 'cheesy' territory quite often but we'll let 90s Nick Cave get away with that.

Better than Coldplay