This 2CD and 2DVD box set is much better than expected. Not being a fan of the last Bad Seeds album made me think twice about buying this but despite focusing heavily on songs from The Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus double album, this is a nice addition to the Bad Seeds back catalog. It is by no means the best of Cave's live albums or DVDs but it is still well worth investigating.
Mute
On the audio side of things, The Abattoir Blues Tour 2004 CDs are good. Performance wise these discs are not a patch on previous Bad Seeds live albums such as Live Seeds. However, many of the newer songs sound much better here than on their respective studio albums. "O Children" and "There She Goes My Beautiful World" are invigorating and powerful, each one is 10 times the song that appears on The Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus. The same cannot be said of "Stagger Lee" or "Deanna," the former now with bonus extra verses that were cute the first time I heard them but with repeated listens "Stagger Lee" proves to have lost most of its menace. I feel Cave could have picked a better setlist; there are many of his older songs that would work better with his gospel backing singers (although I must say, the version of "Lay Me Low" featured here is brilliant).
The two DVDs cover a show from the tour for The Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus and another from the Nocturama tour. The sound and video for both discs is excellent (although I cannot comment on the 5.1 mixes as I have only a lowly stereo set up). Some of the shots are beautiful, especially the ones focusing on Cave's silhouette on the wall; it looks like a giant shadow version of Cave is picking its way through the crowd. The rest of the band get a healthy amount of screen time although with so much happening on stage it feels like I am missing out on something no matter where the camera is pointing.
The first disc containing the newer show is unsurprisingly dominated by songs from Cave's last studio release with a handful of crowd pleasers thrown slapdash at the end. The same problems and highlights from the audio discs make their appearances here. Three songs not included on the CDs are included here, all from The Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus. At this point I must vent my frustration with Cave’s insistence on including “The Ship Song” at every possible opportunity. It is a great song but there are dozens of songs in his back catalogue as good if not better that never get an airing. Plus with this appearing on so many releases I am fatigued by it, what was once a beautiful and moving song is now a lighters in the air sing-a-long special.
The show from the Nocturama tour on the second DVD features a much more balanced set. I felt that Nocturama was a flawed record but that some of the songs were up there with Cave’s best. In particular "Wonderful Life" is a firm favorite of mine and the rendition here is superb. From here on, the band dips into different parts of Cave's back catalog and even includes a Birthday Party song, an electric version of “Wild World” where Warren Ellis replaces Roland S. Howard’s guitar with some sublimely overdriven violin. Unfortunately the set is far too short; I could have happily watched more from this concert.
The videos included on the second DVD fall into two categories. The first is the instantly forgettable videos of The Bad Seeds miming to the song on a soundstage or a regular stage (like "Nature Boy" and "Get Ready for Love"). The second is the funny Nick Cave video category. "Breathless" is like the makers of Bambi made a cartoon especially for Cave; the sight of the cutesy bluebirds flying around the band is hilarious. Equally humorous is the video for "Babe, I’m on Fire" (which was originally included as a bonus with Nocturama) where the band act out the parts of the dozens of characters listed in the song. Also included is a behind the scenes documentary of The Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus which could have been more informative and could have been edited better; the answers given by the interviewees seem to be hacked together.
For the money, this is a pretty nice release considering there is so much material included. Anyone who liked Cave’s recent work should love this and, even as someone disappointed with his recent work, I found this to be a highly enjoyable set that I will probably come back to a lot.
samples:
"Nature Boy" from the Brixton Academy show, 2004:
"Wild World" from the Hammersmith Apollo show, 2003:
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