While picking a compilation as the best album of the month is hardly a noble thing to do, I do not really feel like choosing a collection of French songs performed by Jarvis Cocker either. Besides, it is fucking Nick Cave we are talking about, and even his rarities and b-sides dwarf everything else around to the extent that I have barely had time for anything else this month (other than re-listening to Soft Cell's "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" which may or may not be the greatest song ever written).
Obviously, you will want to compare this record to the one released in 2005. B-Sides & Rarities Part One was a whopping three-disc compilation that featured classics like "(I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World", "Little Empty Boat" and "Grief Came Riding". While this new Part Two compilation may not be as strong, and "Opium Eyes" is clearly inferior to "Opium Tea", I still find each one of these twenty-three songs absolutely indispensable. Yes, even "Instrumental #33" is unnecessarily pretty.
Since this compilation covers Nick Cave's career from 2005 onwards, this is mostly mournful, gorgeous, deadly serious stuff. A couple of rocking pieces aside (most notably "Accidents Will Happen" released during the good old days of Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!), this is Cave pre and post trauma. Loop pedals, Warren Ellis, droning grooves, achingly beautiful piano lines. Biggest highlights include the spoken-word "Steve McQueen" (which you may remember from the One More Time With Feeling film) and "Vortex" (with a chorus like that, you have to wonder how this ended up being a studio outtake). Also, the Leonard Cohen cover is masterful, the Debbie Harry duet is heartfelt, "Heart That Kills You" is endlessly intriguing and "Euthanasia" would have fit seamlessly onto Push The Sky Away.
What else is there to say about this guy anyway? He is just too good a songwriter and a performer, and his b-sides and rarities are well worthy of your time. Needless to say, I cannot wait to see him in Verona next summer.
RECOMMENDED THIS MONTH:
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - B-Sides & Rarities Part Two
BadBadNotGood - Talk Memory
Jarvis Cocker - Chansons D'ennui Tip-Top
They Might Be Giants - Book
Tori Amos - Ocean To Ocean
Guided By Voices - It's Not Them. It Couldn't Be Them. It Is Them!
Ducks Ltd. - Modern Fiction
P.S. Parquet Courts may have good grooves but I'm afraid they just aren't very good songwriters.
