Wild God
by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Despite his music of spiritual unease, these days, Nick Cave finds himself a respected concert attraction. And someone whose lyrics reward serious textual analysis for their emotional intensity and seemingly incongruous mix of Biblical imagery, personal history, mythology and the mundane. Recent deaths in his life – two sons, his mother, friends and former partner/Black Seed Anita Lane, the subject of the honestly heartfelt but lesser O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is) – have changed him.
Leaving aside his contentious stance on a boycott of Israel, the angry, heroin-addicted nihilist of earlier decades is now an almost avuncular and approachable secular preacher. Cave’s previous album Carnage, (with long-time Bad Seed Warren Ellis), was an emotionally raw analysis of his ineffable sadness, and how a life damaged must be endured.
It shivered with lyrical and musical beauty, appearing on numerous 2021 “best album” lists. Wild God – his first with the Bad Seeds since 2019′s Ghosteen, with Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood – suggests Cave has arrived at post-grief acceptance, if not understanding.
Alongside the brutal imagery in the declamatory Frogs – “crushed his brother’s head in with a bone” – Cave swings towards, “Oh Lord, the children in the heavens, jumping for joy, jumping for love and opening the sky above.” He sings of healing (“after that, nothing ever really hurt again” on Final Rescue Attempt). Cinnamon Horses is heartbreakingly truthful (“love asks for nothing, but love costs everything”) and the final, choral As the Waters Cover the Sea ends like a benediction: “Peace and good tiding He will bring.” In the pivotal Joy, a flaming boy says, “‘We’ve all had too much sorrow. Now is the time for joy’ … the stars stand above the earth, bright, triumphant metaphors of love”. Wild God offers resonant poetry, images from the Bible and William Blake, self-salvaging and finding hope and rapture in small moments of visualisation, compassion, and love. Once again, not easy Cave/Bad Seeds. But unease is what they do.
Neilson Sings Nelson
by Tami Neilson
Recovering from illness and looking for “a simple and joy-filled project”, Neilson settled on a tribute-cum-thanks to Willie Nelson for his inspiration, and for singing on her Beyond the Stars, a 2022 love letter to her late father. Recording with her brothers Jay and Todd in Nelson’s private studio in Texas, Neilson avoided Nelson’s familiar classics, with the exception of a moving treatment of Always on my Mind (the Elvis song Nelson made his own) and Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. Neilson unearths lesser-known material, such as the sentimental Shelter of Your Arms and the dramatic Tex-Mex I Never Cared For You. She inhabits the spiritual I Thought About You and digs deep into country-soul on The Sound in Your Mind. There’s also an acoustic version of Beyond the Stars with Nelson. More than a tribute or career digression, these songs – woven into Neilson’s life – generously spotlight the breadth of Nelson’s writing.
These albums are available digitally, on CD and vinyl. Tami Neilson tour: St James Theatre, Wellington, October 11; Auckland Town Hall, October 18; Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch, October 19.
