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  1. Busy week for me, so I couldn't listen to the album before. Listening to some songs now, but it I'll be hard to find some time to write a review today...
  2. We can let reviews spill over into tomorrow (I would encourage it, Kieran has picked a great album that I would love to continue picking apart).

    Our next selection comes from Alvin, who has chosen...

    Let Love In - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds



    1. Do You Love Me?
    2. Nobody's Baby Now
    3. Loverman
    4. Jangling Jack
    5. Red Right Hand
    6. I Let Love In
    7. Thirsty Dog
    8. Aint Gonna Rain Anymore
    9. Lay Me Low
    10. Do You Love Me? Pt. 2

    Enjoy this terrifically dark and deep album by Mr. Cave and try to listen early, so we can all discuss the album with each other instead of simply posting reviews! I know we are all busy, but surely we can carve out 45 minutes sometime soon. I plan to listen tomorrow.
  3. I will start by saying that "Nobody's Baby Now" is my all-time favorite Cave song, and one of the most heartbreaking songs I've heard lately...so I'm glad Alvin has given me the chance to see your opinions on it
  4. Nice choice Alvin! Not heard this before (as with the three previous AOTW choices), in fact, the only Nick Cave album I own is The Boatman's Call, so it will be good to explore something else
  5. Thanks. Red Right Hand was the first song I've ever noticed and Let Love In is probably my favourite album by Nick. I'm really curious how do you all like it...
  6. This band has always been in the cave for me (pun intended - sorry about it) so it's a fantastic chance to dig into their work. Thanks! I will listen and review tonight, I have a day off work so perfect timing
  7. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Let Love In

    1 - Do You Love Me? - Wow, this is pretty fucking awesome. Amazing bassline that drives the song up and up... Great piano licks. Amazing lyrics, and that slight Western scent from the drums... WOW. What a song. What a way to introduct an album! The rest of it could be piss poor and still this track would earn a great rating for it all.
    2 - Nobody's Baby Now - Well, this is a bit of let down after the amazing opening. Very much relaxed blues. It reminds me very strongly to something I can't entirely put my finger on. U2's The Wanderer sung by Elvis and Bruce Springsteen? Possibly. I like it.
    3 - Loverman - the "how much loongeeeer" tires me, but the rest of the song is amazing. How they go from a relaxing, quietly-spoken parts to hard rock ones... Wow.
    4 - Jangling Jack - hmmm. Not entirely my cup of tea, not musically or lyricaWTFly.
    5 - Red Right Hand - love this one, once again really interesting instrumentation going on in the background, bluesy, almost scary lyrics. Whops, the song could/should have exploded after the crescendo at the end of the first verse... in a dusty black coat with a.. Red!! Right!! Hand!! (boom!!!)... It's gonna become boring otherwise I'm afraid. A bass drum and a bell ain't enough. The ¿¿guitar?? solo isn't enough either, although all of this bridge is interesting. A missed chance to build up an awesome piece of greatness.
    6 - I Let Love In - the title song starts out great, then it gets greater and greater. Best vocal delivery so far. Awesome lyrics with several possible interpretations (a lover that's been abandoned by their other half? Jesus Christ? A prisoner in the death corridor? All of them are equally amazing). Love the piano driving the verses. Somehow, this sounds as a relaxed, deeper version of a mix of Muse's Map Of The Problematique (lirically) and Knights Of Cydonia (musically). I love this one. Top track together with the opening. Truly amazing.
    7 - Thirsty Dog - I like this one. Fast pace, shouted lyrics, ascending chorus... Wow. Great track. Nick is really sorry for a lot of things lol xD
    8 - Aint Gonna Rain Anymore - I love the girl/storm metaphor... It ain't gonna rain anymore - now my baby's gone... So much sadness and pain in this track that it almost hurts
    9 - Lay Me Low - this one's awesome again, almost makes me cry for some reason, not that the lyrics are specially painful, but they just ooze... Something that truly disturbes me (in a good but sad way). Take my hand, make a stand... And blow it all to hell!!!!!! Ho(w)ly shit. Before listening to the final track, I think this would be an excellent album closer.
    10 - Do You Love Me? Pt. 2 - I love cyclic stories. Whether it's books, movies songs or full albums, I just love them. I can't help it. So... Yeah, I love this one too. Musically it might not be the best song to close the album (I would have closed it with I Let Love In or Lay Me Down), but linking it to the awesome opening song is something praiseworthy in itself. Despite its position in the album, a haunting background with violins and synths serve as the perfect vehicle for a stream of well-thought verses, with the remarkable use of a similar verse to Do You Love - pt1: The bells from the chapel went jingle-jangle // The coins in my pocket go jingle-jangle. THere's a lot of amazing verses in this song, "Memories that become monstrous lies" and "The city is an ogre squatting by the river; it gives life but it takes away my youth" are among my favs quotes off the album.


    Summary: wow, I'm truly impressed, what an album!! And all of this just on the first listen... Well, I can only THANK Alvin for choosing this piece of art, I'm gonna listen to it again and again this week (my life's in a fitting mood with the album so it'll help). Top tracks: I Let Love In, Lay Me Low, Do You Love Me (pt1), Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore.
    9/10
  8. ^
    Great review and I'm glad you like it. It was my intention to put more attention for Nick. He totally deserves it and is totally worth it to give him a chance. Also try other albums. Songs like Mercy Seat, Weeping Song, O Children, Midnight Man, Stagger Lee, etc... are masterpieces...
  9. Originally posted by Alvin:^
    Great review and I'm glad you like it. It was my intention to put more attention for Nick. He totally deserves it and is totally worth it to give him a chance. Also try other albums. Songs like Mercy Seat, Weeping Song, O Children, Midnight Man, Stagger Lee, etc... are masterpieces...

    I remember you shown us a song from his set in Glastonbury a few months ago and I was really impressed, but I never really listened any further. It's been a great discovery this album, thanks again
  10. That's a very positive review, Santos. I will listen to it tonight and post some thoughts.
  11. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Let Love In

    "Terrifically dark" said Alvin when he announced this album and the album wastes no time in getting there. "Do You Love Me?" is intense musically and dark lyrically. It's an excellent opener to the album. "Nobody's Baby Now" is much more subdued. Lyrically it's much calmer, it sounds like a song of regret. "Loverman" is quite chaotic, but nothing compared to "Jangling Jack". Difficult to follow lyrically, but I get that Jack was shot dead after buying a drink with an umbrella in it. I do like "Loverman", but it is a little too long for my liking. "Red Right Hand" is excellent. I like the fact that it never really peaks, it's quite a sinister track.

    The title track, "I Let Love In" is incredible. The best so far and it's going to be difficult to top. "Thirsty Dog" has such a fantastic pace to it. Clearly an apologetic song from what would seem to be an alcoholic to his lover. "Sorry for the three year war", "Sorry about the hospital", "I'm sorry that I'm always pissed". The chaos doesn't point to the thoughts of a sober person though. "Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore" could almost be the sister of "I Let Love In". Both lyrically about the perils of entering a relationship, but I see it more as a continuation of "Thirsty Dog" since it's unclear what has actually happened to his baby, she's just not "coming back no more". Has the drunk lover done something to her? Lastly, dark isn't quite enough to describe the final song, the second part of "Do You Love Me?". It's haunting.

    Overall, an excellent album. Nick Cave is a fantastic lyricist, and this album contains many examples of this. I'm still trying to pick my way through some songs to discover what they mean and how they fit with my idea that this album could be cohesive in it's parts. Definitely one I'll be revisiting.

    Top three tracks:
    1. Let Love In
    2. Red Right Hand
    3. Nobody's Baby Now

    Rating: 8 out of 10
  12. Do You Love Me starts off this album and man, what a start. I get this image of a dingy New York morning with someone walking along in a severely fucked-up mood. Just wow. The ominous piano and distant drums backed up with those 'Do you love me???' background chants is creepy as hell - poetry abound. And this line in particular: 'Blood running down the inside of her legs'. There's nothing like that.




    Nobody's Baby Now has this particular lyrical passage:

    Her wild feral stare, her dark hair
    Her little lips, as cold as stone
    Yeah, i was her man

    But there are some things love won't allow
    I held her hand, but i don't hold it now
    I don't know why, and i don't know how
    But she's nobody's baby now..


    A broken man, the woman has gone and he can't accept it. Raw emotion and regret all culminates in this slow piece - and this is only the second track.




    Loverman is a similar sound to Nobody's Baby Now with the flourishes of piano, at least for a moment - until moments of heavy rock explode and take this song where you didn't expect it to go. During those heavier parts he literally spells out who he (or the character in the song) is.




    Jangling Jack is a bit of a 'eh?' song with a sinister theme. This one leaves me with the impression of a bad trip somewhere that ends as badly as it started. Again, apart from all the above-surface nonsense comes this:

    Crashes through the door
    Lands in a heap on the street
    Hears his mother's voice
    Going, do do do
    Jack is shouting
    Mommy...is that you?
    He sees the berserk city
    Sees the dead stacked in piles
    Sees the screaming crowd
    Screams, where am I?





    From hearing Red Right Hand's almost eerie sound with the bell and bass drum, I was reminded of this scene from 'Twin Peaks'. 'Red Right Hand' can refer to either a unseen figure or an undetermined figure that you don't want to see. Alternatively, there's a lyrical passage here:

    You don't own no money...he'll get you some
    You don't have no car...he'll get you one..


    ...is almost 'you do this for me, I'll do that for you' - something you're made to return after being given a turn.




    I Let Love In with this:

    'Darling, you're the punishment for all my former sins...'


    ....that's one particular 'sentence' I don't want to hear from anyone. You *will* recieve what you've been dreading all your life....




    Thirsty Dog - it happens again and again and again and again and it'll keep happening and whatever I've done I've had enough.




    Ain't Gonna Rain Any More to me sounds like his 'baby' has left in an uncertain way - whether that be death, sickness or walking out on him...she was his 'rain'. You can hear the pain and distress in his voice - then there's this:

    Now the storm has passed over me
    I'm left to drift on a dead calm sea
    And watch her forever through the cracks in the beams
    Nailed across the doorways of the bedrooms of my dreams


    ...watching her forever, remembering what it once was.




    A song about after-death and how someone will be remembered (in their own mind) after death is Lay Me Low. Once you're gone, for some reason people see you differently in the aftermath of their departure and then 'everyone' has their little say about who you were.




    Haunting, eerie, creepy, dark, horrific....presenting Do You Love Me, Part II. This!!!

    And the clock of my boyhood was wound down and stopped
    My handsome little body oddly propped
    My trousers ride down to my ankles


    ....is deliberate as you'll get. Honestly one of the creepiest songs I've ever heard.





    45 minutes later, this masterpiece of music is over. There is not ONE bad song on it. When an album has ten strong songs and backed up by equally-strong songwriting, that is what an album should be.

    Loverman
    Ain't Gonna Rain Any More
    Jangling Jack

    11 out of 10. This was an absolutely worthwhile choice - I'll be revisiting this one soon.
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