Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Get Ready For Love
2. Cannibals Hymn
3. Hiding All Away
4. Messiah Ward
5. There She Goes, My Beautiful World
6. Nature Boy
7. Abattoir Blues
8. Let The Bells Ring
9. The Fable of the Brown Ape

Disc 2:

1. The Lyre of Orpheus
2. Breathless
3. Babe You Turn Me On
4. Easy Money
5. Supernaturally
6. Spell
7. Carry Me
8. O Children

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2487 in Music
• Released on: 2004-09-20
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.co.uk Review
A double-album is a risky undertaking for most artists, but Nick Cave has never been one to shrink away from risks--after all, Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus has to be less left-field than a collection of spoken-word pieces, or even an album devoted to murder ballads. And for this double-CD set, separate but equal seems the rule: both Abattoir Blues and The Lyre of Orpheus can easily exist as stand-alone albums, but combined their potency is even stronger. Thematically, they have as much in common with each other as all of Cave's works. That is, they're dark, gothically sinister, hopelessly romantic and characterised by faultless musicianship (hats off, once again, to the Bad Seeds there). But where the thoughtful pace of The Lyre of Orpheus seems to be the logical following to Cave's more recent work (e.g. The Boatman's Call), Abattoir Blues actually harkens back to the more fiery sound of Cave's earlier album (indeed, its first track the rocking "Get Ready for Love", could have come off of Let Love In). Once again, Nick Cave aims high, and unerringly hits the mark. --Robert Burrow

Album Description
The latest Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds studio album, the double-CD set entitled Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus, will be the 13th studio album and the follow-up to 2003's Nocturama. Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus was Recorded by Nick Launay at Studio Ferber in Paris in Spring 2004 by the Bad Seeds line-up of Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Thomas Wydler, Martyn Casey, Conway Savage, Jim Sclavunos, Warren Ellis and James Johnston and features the London Community Gospell Choir. The CD comes with the special packaging of a cloth-bound rigid slipcase.

CD Description
'Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus' is the thirteenth studio album from Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and their first tonot feature guitarist Blixa Bargeld. Recorded by Nick Launay in Paris, the album sees Cave deliver his trademark mix ofpoetic lyrics and dark songwriting. The single 'Nature Boy'is also included.

Customer Reviews

breathtaking
As Nick Cave's new album appears, most people will wonder just what he's going to try next after murder and the like. Simple: mixing nature and the ghost-like. Cave's new 2CD offering comes as a breath of fresh air. Underneath its beautiful packaging is a collection of immaculate songs which are both completely engaging and exhausting as Cave takes the listener on a characteristically dramatic and mesmerising journey.

"Abattoir Blues" is a CD with perfect dynamics as he weaves the dark and melancholic with glam rock. Darker moments like the chilling narrative of "Messiah Ward", or the infective, attitude-laden strut of "Hiding All Away" show the sheer force of Cave's talents. His voice is timeless, sounding almost as if it has been around for centuries only now sharing its tales. Surrounding these songs are others like single "Nature Boy" and the energetic "There She Goes My Beautiful World" which ensure that the mood never drifts into the overly downbeat. Their Gospel Choir backing vocals are triumphant and completely engulfing. Throughout, "Abattoir Blues" is a landscape which is mysterious, glorious, dismal and beautiful all at once.

And then comes "The Lyre of Orpheus", a thick and seductive collection of songs where Cave constantly changes the atmosphere: heavy, smoky bar on "Lyre of Orpheus", then comes the fresh-sounding "Breathless" and the hazy summer of the beautiful "Babe You Turn Me On". Perhaps the album's finest moment is in the closing track "O Children", where the Gospel Choir's power is at its peak. With gorgeous piano, heartbreaking and ghostly vocals by all finished off by the sparse arrangement, it is the album at its bleakest: devastating and totally, totally breathtaking.

One of the strongest albums I've heard in years. The album manages to survive without one poor song, a rare achievement, especially for an artist with such a back catalogue. Immensely impressive album at a time where little comes close to this level of songwriting and musical composition.

Get Ready For Love!
The reverence bestowed upon each subsequent Nick Cave album by the Critics unfortunately means that when a genuinely refreshing and exciting breakthrough occurs in what is already an extraordinary and incredible career, it too easily slips through the net. 'Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus' is such an epiphany. Cave rates this record as one of, if not the best of his career, and for very good reason. It simply oozes beauty. Where previous Cave albums have been predominately dark and foreboding in mood, this album pulses with life and hope. Aided by the London Community Gospel Choir and the ever inventive Bad Seeds, Cave's music soars, brimming with wit and passion and romance. Like all great art it makes you feel differently about the world; it reassures and challenges in equal measure.

From the head rush of the opener 'Get Ready For Love' to the celestial tranquillity of 'O Children', this is a mature record in the best sense of that overused phrase. Cave has finally found the perfect balance between songwriter and band leader, the Bad Seeds proving themselves one of the most exciting and dynamic groups in the business.

As a long time fan of Cave I have enjoyed most of his work. Yet, in recent years there have been reservations. There was conviction missing from 'The Boatman's Call'. 'No More Shall We Part', despite moments of greatness was just a little too long-winded at times. And after 'Nocturama' I feared his muse had completely bolted. However, my fears have been allayed. This is the most significant music Nick Cave has delivered since he wrote 'The Mercy Seat' almost 20 years ago. A double album of such beauty and majesty it demands comparison with the great man's own heroes - Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Nina Simone and the late Johnny Cash.

Nick Cave is damn right to suspect that this really is his masterpiece. It is nothing less than that.

Excellent double-album... and a highlight of 2004.
This is a great double-set - easily standing as Nick's best work since The Boatman's Call and really offering astounding value for money - with both albums featuring tracks that could very easily rank amongst the best of Cave's respective career thus far. In a way, it's the album I've been wanting him to record for some time, with one side of the album (Abattoir Blues) featuring the heavier, more aggressive songs, whilst the second side of the record (The Lyre of Orpheus) features the more plaintive or melancholic tracks. Whichever you prefer is really down to personal taste... however, there's really no faulting the records as a whole, with both discs sure to delight the majority of Cave fans, old or new.

There's really too much quality material to cover in a 1000 word review, with both albums deserving of our full attention. However, I will say that Cave and the Bad Seeds are playing with a variety of different sounds, styles and ideas, mixing both the bleak and heavier sound of early Bad Seeds albums like Tender Prey and Let Love In with the more pastoral and reflective sound of The Boatman's Call and No More Shall We Part (with some of the wild eclecticism of Nocturama thrown in for good measure). As I've said before, the rougher, more exuberant stuff is on Abattoir whilst the sombre stuff is on Lyre, although both albums mix together a few disparate styles and genres, moving from the industrial rock of Cannibal's Hymn to the perfect pop of Nature Boy and the brilliant There She Goes My Beautiful World, whilst songs like Breathless and Carry Me take on both orchestral and psychedelic folk/pop influences... and to great effect, I might add.

If the music might seem a little strange at first, the lyrics are classic Cave, and probably the best of his career. His use of rhyme and phrasing, coupled with the evocative power of some of the songs aforementioned (not to mention the beauty of songs like Easy Money, Get Ready for Love, O' Children and Babe, You Turn Me On), and you have some of the most potent and emotionally captivating rock music of the last few years. Whereas the Bad Seeds of albums like Tender Prey and The First Born is Dead sounded like a more angst-ridden and gothic take on the territory of Leonard Cohen haunted by The Cure, this incarnation also picks up on the spiritual analysis of early Cat Stevens (Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat), the surreal pop of Donovan (Sunny Goodge Street, Happiness Runs, Guinevere), and the mystical ruminations of Van Morrison (Astral Weeks, Almost Independence Day and Veedon Fleece), which makes the songs all the more haunting and evocative.

The imagery of the songs here really stays with you, whilst the range of instrumental touches from both Cave and the Bad Seeds is astounding and perfectly performed. The guitar playing for example really shows a great deal of restraint, managing to convey the more folk-influenced sound of Breathless as well as the more glam-rock style found on There She Goes My Beautiful World (...the lyrics to this song are amazing!!), without feeling the need to go overboard with tons of solos or showy effects. Musically, lyrically and vocally, these albums can't be faulted... whilst the sequencing of the tracks makes it the best Bad Seeds listening experience in some time (although, I personally quite liked the last few albums).

Still, this is Cave and the band really pushing themselves further than they had before, with the group managing to take on board new sounds and influences and combining them with their own trademark sound to create a record that should appeal to the majority of Cave's fans, and maybe some people who've never listened to a Bed Seeds album before. For me, Lyre of Orpheus/Abattoir Blues is a perfect double set... and was one of the many musical high-lights of the great year that was 2004.