Customer Reviews

Boatman's Call

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You know, the more I listen to "The Boatman's Call," the more I'm convinced that it's not only one of the best albums I own, but may simply be one of the best albums, period. I'm not usually given to untempered praise, but Cave's intelligent, moody and melodic attempt to work through crises of love as crises of faith is a sobering and powerful reminder of just how far brilliant lyrics and great instrumental hooks will get you.

What I like best about this album is that it thinks big. Cave is tangling here with fierce questions: religion, love, whether human nature is naughty or nice. Themes that would often elicit unreflective power ballads or incoherent and angsty slop from other artists pull instead from Cave some of his best pieces, balanced but yearning, often clever but never cute, and understated but overwhelming.

Cave makes his position clear in the album's first line; he's not religious, not a believer, but song after song seems to insinuate that he can't help seeing something of the divine and the devilish in the powerful emotion of love. "Into My Arms," "Are You the One that I've Been Waiting For?", and "The Brompton Oratory" all marry erotic or romantic longing with a sort of spiritual unrest in search of rest.

Other people have tried this mix, of course--Madonna's "Like a Prayer," for example or Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus"--but none have succeeded as Cave has. Even the very few less-than-perfect moments are never less than interesting. But really, almost all of the tracks are songs you'll have memorized before you know it, and they'll still surprise you every time you hear them. With warm and soft pianos, light guitars, occasional strings, and Cave's soothing bass, "The Boatman's Call" sounds like the kind of prophetic and life-changing stuff you'd hear in a dark lounge somewhere, the room dense with cigarette smoke and hazy with flourescent light, and the audience so quiet you could hear the parting of air as a pin drops.

"The Boatman's Call" demonstrates Nick Cave's considerable gifts as a songwriter like no other of his albums. A suite of understated, brooding pieces on the dissolution of a relationship, this is arguably Cave's most mature work. The Bad Seeds take a back seat to the songcraft, with stripped-down arrangements allowing Cave's naked yearning and anguish to take center stage.

Cave's search for the divine continues on "Into My Arms", "Brompton Oratory" and "There is a Kingdom", songs that sound almost hymnal in their composition. When he sings "Are You the One I've Been Waiting For?" the subject is murky: is Cave talking about his soulmate or God? "Lime Tree Arbour" takes a gothic turn: a boatman standing watch on a lake, a lone bird circling overhead, doomed lovers holding hands in a lonely arbour.

But the album's centerpiece is "People Ain't No Good", possibly Cave's most misanthropic anthem to date: "It ain't that in their hearts they're bad/They'd stick by you if they could/But that's just bullshit/People just ain't no good". This dirge-like song's greatest irony - and chief evidence of Cave's brilliance - is that it is immensely uplifting. Indeed, few people can make feeling bad feel as good as Nick Cave does. Amen.

This album with its spiritual imagery contains the odd anthemic ballad, like the rousing There Is A Kingdom, but mostly intimate, subdued songs like Into My Arms, Lime Tree Arbour and the resigned People Ain't No Good. Cave interweaves spiritual and sensual metaphor, much like Leonard Cohen. On Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere? one half expects those Cohenesque female vocals to frame his deep voice, but they're not there. My favorite is the weary and erotic Green Eyes, the first line of which is a translation of a sonnet by the medieval French poet Louise Labé. She was the first to write sonnets in French (the style originated in Italy) and was known for her passionate themes. Cave then turns her love poem into a lament of epic proportions filled with equal amounts of romantic longing and despair. Quite a tour de force and enhanced by a strategic swear word or two. The poetic effect is greatly enhanced by the vocal technique: lines are first spoken then sung, which gives it a very ritualistic flavour. Fans of The Boatman's Call would love the albums "New Mother" and "How I Loved You" by Angels of Light, since these contain similar great melodic ballads of gravitas and solemnity.

If one thing can be said about Nick Cave's illustrious career, it's that there has always been a shroud around Cave the man. We know Cave the artist: obsessed with Southern Gothic culture and ritual, he has painted brilliant, inspired tales of love, hate, sin, etc. But stories only serve to filter emotions, not really expose them. Although his albums have ranged from incindiary to plaintif, never have they been stripped bare of pretense like this one is. Even "Let Love In" was delivered from a distance, with the traditional Cave swagger.

Now comes "The Boatman's Call" and it is superb. The music is sparse (mainly piano/bass/violin/light percussion), which suits the lyrical mood. There are no rockers here -- so check out "Tender Prey" if you're looking for some Nick Cave that rocks.

The piano/melody on "Into My Arms" is simply heartbreaking and is the high point of the album, although "Far From Me" is a close second with a terrific bass/piano arrangement. "Green Eyes" use of the "c" word strays a bit from the overall tone of the album, but what else can you expect from ol' saint Nick?

A lot of old fans were disappointed by this effort, but I thought it took tremendous courage to do something different and genuine. This is as close as Nick Cave has let his fans come to knowing what's inside him, and as always, it is immensely intriguing.

If any of you out there know about Nick Cave, you know him either for his frenetic, psychotically energetic lyrical violence (he can be a whirling dynamo onstage, spewing forth anger and hate and exposing the rotten underbelly of emotional intensity), or his subdued, profoundly raw emotion (he can sing a sad, gentle love song better than anyone on the planet).

"The Boatman's Call" is a superb collection of love songs. Simple melodies mix with dramatic instrumentation and perfectly-chosen lyrics to expound on emotion that many, many people never experience themselves. There is a power in Cave's words. There is a spirit, a soul, in his melodies. His music is alive and breathing.

Some gems on the album:

"Lime Tree Arbour" - A simple love ballad with haunting melody and wondrous lyrics.

"People Ain't No Good" - Slow, drifting and misanthropic. One of the best Cave songs out there.

"Brompton Oratory" - Lyrics are rich in imagery and force a mental picture of the scene described. The complex lyric-melody interaction and religious tone make this a personal favorite.

"Black Hair" - Melodic minimalism near its best, this one portrays an obsessiveness that's seldom encountered. The accordion seems to 'breathe' through the song, which drew me closer to the melody, made me consider the song in the first person. Close your eyes listening to this and imagine...it's not simply trivial and pointless to write a song about hair. It's got a lot to show you if you're willing to play along.

And once you've listened to this CD, once you think you've figured it out, check out Cave's lecture on "The Secret Life of the Love Song" and then listen to The Boatman's Call again. This allows you to place all of his songs in context, to realize the meaning behind their form. Once you understand Cave's views on life, the world, people and God, you become wrapped in his genius. His world invades your own and grabs hold, sinking its beautiful but deadly claws into your very consciousness. This, friends, is not music meant to be taken lightly. This is power, pure genius and unadulterated passion.

Nick Cave does it again. With chamber-music like efficiency Cave offers up the aural equivalent of an artists palette of paints. The songs spring forth with an immediacy and richness at once recognizable as Cave's own, but with another, spare quality that might, at first, unsettle some. Starting off with the lyrical, sinewy "Into my arms" through "There is a kingdom" and beyond, Cave imparts this set of songs with a quality not unlike the great classical song cycles of Schumann and Wolf. In my opinion, it's up there with them. A remarkable achievement.

I could try to describe the power of this record, that would be in vain. Hadn't I listened to it endlessly I wouldn't have known of emotions tragic and dignified as those elicited by Mr. Cave. Tragedy, as of Greek lineage, of genius, of beauty, that is the stuff Mr. Cave has dwelled upon, successfully, fearlessly. The crossing of lines, the lack of fear, the total surrender - rare, my friends, rather rare and magnificent. There stands this man, bearing his soul, licking his wounds, dignified, so human, describing what is known to all of us who lie quiet in dispair. Only to wake up in disbelief of the interminable genius of life, that which Mr. Cave has had plenty of.

"The Boatman's Call" is an amazing record. If anyone has their doubts about Nick Cave as I did, they need to hear this record. Nick Cave the God of sorrowful music explores God, Love and of course sadness but instead this time we are offered a record that tries to move forward from the bitter past and looks for hope in religion and love.

My first impression of Nick Cave was buying the "Best Of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds" album which left me confused and a bit frightened. There were no doubt, some glorious songs but I had trouble taking in Nick Cave's early work. I thought perhaps it was because of the selection of the compilation and that I needed a full album to enjoy his work. I bought "The Boatman's Call" which made me realize Nick Cave's greatness and spawned an interest in him.

Most of the songs on this album are piano-solo slow jazz based. It opens with Nick Cave's best single "Into My Arms" and my personal favorite on the album, "Lime-Tree Arbour". "People 'Aint No Good" is a bit redundant and boring at first but after a few listens becomes enjoyable. "Brompton Oratory" is another strong song that has a Church organ infuelnce. "There Is A Kingdom" which brings to mind, a church hymn. "(Are You) The One That I've Been Looking For?" reminds me of material from the album, "The Good Son". Songs that are a little short of masterpieces. "West Country Girl" sets the mood into an Irish Celtic and shifts from the piano-jazz style throughout the beginning of the record. The album ends with the poetry reciting "Green Eyes" and the listener is hopefully left breathless.

"The Boatman's Call" is an album for empty souls yearning for joy and happiness; that have too longed suffered in a big mean world.

If you missed out on this one when it was released as I did, don't forever rue the day, correct your error now. The Boatman's Call is the shining pearl buried for so many years in Nick Cave's irritated soul. "Into My Arms" is one of the most beautiful, poignant songs ever written and the cd's caliber drops little from that auspicious beginning. This is not "essential Nick Cave" it's just essential. A classic piece of music for the ages.

With this album Nick Cave has finally come full circle. Listen to his first "solo" work From Her to Eternity (or even reach so far back to the filthy core of his soul and listen to The Birthday Party work) and then listen to The Boatman's Call and it's painfully apparent that he's reached a point of grace - and finally! - after all these years. Having been writing songs about love and lust and heartache in its most grim forms, his muse has brought him to a point where it's time to lay his soul bare, what he's been trying to hide behind words and images for so long. And what some may have thought would be a cruel, shriveled, blackened thing actually turned out to be a pale, ethereal, and strikingly beautiful creature. The songs no longer speak of love and lust and heartache in those twisted, manipulative forms that lead the listener to believe his soul is black and ugly, they now speak with brutal honesty and simplicity, with actual elegance. The toned down manner of the songs and Nick's quiet, reflective vocals manage to give the feel of his finally baring his soul to you - and only you - as if you're the only one in the world who could bear to see such a hauntingly beautiful thing. And let me warn you it isn't easy. If you're truly prepared to see, what you may find could haunt you for the rest of your days and you will never be the same.