Customer Reviews

From Her to Eternity (Bonus Dvd) (Coll)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It depends on your point of view. If you like your Cave tuneful then this is not really for you, but if you liked 'The Birthday Party' then buy this. Personally I would differ from the other reviwers on this page because this is not my favourite Cave album. I think it is undisciplined in comparison to his later work (check out The Forstborn is Dead for progress in that direction). I don't think the band have quite discovered their direction,(Punk? Blues? Art Rock?) at this point. The cover of 'In the Ghetto' sits very unconfortably with the other stuff. This album sounds like the birth of The Bad Seeds in many ways. In my opinion the best songs are 'Well of Misery', which is a taster of the evil blues to come on later albums, the fantastic cover of Cohen's 'Avalanche', the poetic racket that is 'Saint Huck' and of course the undoubted masterpiece 'From Her to Eternity'.

A number of people have been discussing the cover track "In the Ghetto." Keep in mind that that track is a bonus track included for the CD re-release. The original album from 1984 just included seven songs: Avalanche, Cabin Fever!, Well Of Misery, From Her To Eternity, Saint Huck, Wings Of Flies, and A Box For Black Paul. Several years later, the CD came out and added three bonus tracks: "In the Ghetto" (a 1984 single), its b-side "The Moon is in the Gutter," and the 1987 version of "From her to Eternity" which is from the soundtrack to the movie "Wings of Desire."

This CD is so good that I am going to give it 5 stars even though the cover of Elvis' In the Ghetto is weak. The problem is that the lyrics of this song sound pretty lame compared to Nick's fantastical poetry. I don't think he really believed in it himself. That being said, I love this CD. It still, of course, bears heavy traces of Birthday Party, but what is wrong with that. I ask you: Does ANYONE rock as hard as Nick Cave? Of course, if you are reading this, you are a fan who has come to add his or her positive review as homage to the Man. Fact: Birthday Party/Nick Cave and the Seeds make the late sixties Stones (circa Jumpin Jack Flash, Gimme Shelter, etc.) look like a bunch of wimps. Am I right or what?

Less than a year after The Birthday Party broke up, their front-man hit the studio with a mass of lyrics. At the time there was no such thing as The Bad Seeds per se, just a talented group of enablers willing to see where chance & whim might take them.

What resulted is something that just can't be repeated. From Her To Eternity was just as difficult to classify back in 1984 as it is today.

At the time, kicking off an album with a Leonard Cohen song was hardly the height of fashion. Only a cover of a minor Elvis Presley hit like "In the Ghetto" could be more ludicrous.

On both fronts, Cave does not disappoint. But don't go thinking this is a covers album. Not by a long shot (see Kicking Against the Pricks for that).

While far from Cave's most accessible, Eternity is certainly one of a kind, an underground classic, up there with the likes of VU's Banana album or Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica. The kind of thing on which his formidable reputation was built.

Without a doubt, "Avalanche" is one of Leonard Cohen's darkest songs. If you can believe it, Cave paints it even blacker, coming off like some subterranean gargoyle, whose slumbers have been disturbed. A cranky delivery that snarls all red eyed, fangs barred. Not the warmest of welcomes, but a memorable start to one hell of journey into Night.

The demented sea chantey, "Cabin Fever" follows, Cave kicking off with a grunt like a dying mule. If ever there was a sound of someone gone stark raving mad, this is it. Along with the admirable but slightly redundant "Wings Off Flies" this is the closest things get to the Birthday Party.

Then we're dropped down the "Well Of Misery". An empty bucket clangs on lonesome walls of stone, it's only company an echoing chain gang refrain. In between lies a poetic tale chock full of mordant humor.

Without a doubt, the "classic" here is the title track, which grabs you by the throat & won't let go. Precariously balanced on a propulsive rhythm section & Blixa Bargeld's sinister buzz saw guitar, Cave launches into a manic tale of lust & obsession few can rival.

None of which prepares you for the epic swagger of "Saint Huck" or the funereal "Box For Black Paul". While the iconoclastic twist on the Mark Twain classic is one of the album's highlights, I suppose a case could be made for "Paul" being a touch self-indulgent. But that would simply be missing the point. For me, this is biting satire, parodying a rubbernecking, parasitic press corp bent on getting the scoop on some dead long forgotten hack.

Fans certainly won't be disappointed in this reissue. The sound is light years above the previous CD pressing. Also included is the aforementioned, "In The Ghetto" where Cave's delivery snatches sincerity from the jaws of mawkishness. In addition, there's a gem of a ballad in "The Moon Is In The Gutter".

As for the interview disc, there is indeed a tale to be told from those who took part in the sessions. But you'll also have to sit through the banality of a few celebrity fans inanely flapping their gums as well.

As dark, histrionic & over the top as this record is, there's one thing the listener has to keep in mind: there is a wicked sense of humor at play here.

Obviously, Cave was not taking himself nearly as seriously as his fans would like him to. If you're looking for a playful, edgy dose of on-the-brink mayhem, this is the album for you.

If the phrase "atonal funk/blues caterwalling" sparks your interest, this is the CD for you. The Bads Seeds are excellent players who understand how important silences are to raising an unholy din. Cave sings with complete disregard for sounding pretty but can't help being musical (he has a strong, clear voice with an impressive range.) The lyrics range from stunning ("Saint Huck" is flat-out brilliant) to evocative to sometimes just melodramatic.

The original songs are strong enough, in fact, that the two covers are the weakest parts of the CD. "In The Ghetto" sounds like it was done on a bet to gain pop-radio play, but it does give you a chance get up and go to the kitchen for another cup of coffee. "Avalanche," starting the set, is more of a problem - this isn't one of Cohen's best lyrics, and Cave and the band sound restricted by the simplistic melody.

Nearly five starts, though, for the rest of the set (even for the unnecessary repeat of the title song, which at least reminds me of one of my favorite films). I may never have another Nick Cave recording, but I'm glad to have this one.

An unusually accomplished debut album that many to this day consider to be Cave's best. Kicking off with their commanding version of Leonard Cohen's Avalanche, the record steadily moves on from there to such classics as the aching Well of Misery, the monumental title track (still a staple at live shows), and the melancholy mini-epics Saint Huck and A Box For Black Paul. Much is made of the Cohen cover, but I find the cover of Presley's In The Ghetto to be one of the album's standout tracks. It and the aforementioned Black Paul show the piano-laden musical backing that would come to dominate Cave's later albums. In reality, there's not a bad song on here, and everything that we love about Cave-dark, gloomy lyrics, Bibilical and goth references, dramatic musical backing, his commanding vocal presence (he truly becomes the character he is portraying in each song)-is present here. In truth, the second, live version of the title track tacked onto the end of this album is unnecessary; it's shorter than an inferior to the original studio recording. But anything added to this album is just icing on the cake, anyway. A fine record.

I know, Nick Cave is a demigod and all that, novelist, screenwriter, director, collaborator with Marianne Faithful (who also knew how to do maudlin to death), but seriously? Seriously? He's hamming it up all over this album. If you read the liner notes, you'll think he invented music out of nothing, like some Nordic Prometheus from Down Under. I prefer to think these kids got high, turned off the lights in the studio, lit flashlights under their chins, and cranked out this noise. Which should sound like more fun, now that you mention it. I guess guilt is harder to purge than we all would like to admit... though if you want to hear the audio equivalent of having sex while trapped in a cramped metal locker in a hot desert warehouse, I suggest Track 2.

This debut solo album by Cave has grown in stature down the years. The mood is Goth, the songs are mostly folkie laments, both lyrically and melodically impressive, his voice is like dark red velvet and the whole is dark, brooding and atmospheric. With the superb backing of Bad Seeds Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey, Barry Adamson and Anita Lane, this album is just perfect in its blood-cuddling rawness. I love the eerie cover of Leonard Cohen's Avalanche, whilst the striking images in Cabin Fever elevates an ordinary tune into the unforgettable. Well Of Misery stands out for its interesting vocal arrangement. Cave's cover of Elvis' In The Ghetto is quite stunning. The title track is an anguished and harrowing love song with atmospheric vocal samples and industrial infusions. With these songs Cave established himself in the great tradition of artists like Cohen, Richard Thompson (in his dark moments), Tom Waits, Peter Murphy and Michael Gira, as a master of the deep, dark lament.

The use of ambience and noises as essential elements are emphasized than on any other album, and the more rock-like songs continue the thrashing crashing colliding work of THe Birthday Party, while Cave's ventures into Americana and Delta Blues and balladry start to make their appearance as well. The result is a very atmospheric album that can't really be explained in any normal terms other than incredibaly scary, supernatural music that stands up to other works by post-punk bands that were popping around the same time---Sonic Youth's "Bad Moon Rising" and THe Swans "Children Of God...". "Saint Huck", "Cabin Fever", and the title track are long, thought-out aggressive masterpeices, but my personal favorite is the so spooky it hurts "Box For Black Paul". A frieghtening listen from beginning to end.

...and that is why this album is great; the perfect place to start with Nick Cave's music