February 2003 Archives
CD, American 2002
Track list: The Man Comes Around - Hurt - Give My Love to Rose - Bridge Over Troubled Water - I Hung My Head - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Personal Jesus - In My Life - Sam Hall - Danny Boy - Desperado - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - The Streets of Laredo - Tear Stained Letter - We'll Meet Again
Being a fan of Nick Cave's work, who without a doubt owes something to the Man in Black, I'm actually surprised how long it took for me to realise the value of Johnny Cash. My first Cash album purchase was inspired by two of the cover songs on this album: I got "Personal Jesus" from Kazaa and saw the video of "Hurt" in TV. After "Personal Jesus" I was interested, after "Hurt" I was sold. I went and bought the album as soon as I could. What a tremendous interpretation! Other songs of the album are more or less successful - Cash's own "The Man Comes Around" being probably the next best thing after "Hurt". Johnny Cash may be old, but few singers compare to him. And I think it's his age that lends the credibility for songs like "Hurt" (in case you haven't noticed, I'm totally in love with that song). ****
CD, Mute Records 2003
Track list: Wonderful Life - He Wants You - Right Out of Your Hand - Bring It On - Dead Man in My Bed - Still in Love - There Is a Town - Rock of Gibraltar - She Passed by My Window - Babe, I'm on Fire
The new album of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds surprised me a bit, I didn't see it coming. Quite soon after I heard it was coming, I was able to listen to few of the songs from Yahoo! net radio. They sounded good, so I was in quite a positive mood about the album. And that positivity remains, now I've heard the whole album. It's really nothing new - "Right Out of Your Hand" sounds just like "People Ain't No Good" and "There Is a Kingdom". Still, it sounds more like Boatman's Call than No More Shall We Part, which, I think, is a good thing. There are few very good rock tracks ("Bring It On" and "Dead Man in My Bed") which I just love. The slower songs take more time, but Nocturama feels like a good, solid Bad Seeds album. Nothing really new, so "only" four stars for this one. ****
