No More Shall We Part

Nick Cave

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 10, 2001)
• Original Release Date: April 10, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Reprise / Wea
• ASIN: B00005AU5E
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #46,416 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 2001
No More Shall We Part contains a greater wealth of musical invention and lyrical intelligence in its 68 minutes than most acts manage in an entire career. Cave is not merely in a different league from most of his peers; he's scarcely even playing the same game. No More sees a renewed emphasis on the virtuosity of Cave's longtime backing band, the Bad Seeds (Cave's last album, 1997's superb The Boatman's Call was a relatively sparse affair). The Seeds decorate the sprawling ballads on No More Shall We Part with aplomb, helped on several tracks by the crystalline harmonies of folk singers Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Cave's lyrical preoccupations remain constant--God, love (and the loss thereof), and death. As ever, Cave deals with these themes with great agility and imagination, and, as ever, he is funnier than he is generally given credit for. --Andrew Mueller

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Literature Put To Music, December 16, 2001

By	Kurt Harding "bon vivant" (Boerne TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I am rather new to the music of Nick Cave and after listening to this mesmerizing CD came away with the impression that here was an unmined gem from the southern US. So "southern" is the music that I was very surprised to find that he is an Aussie.
The first cut sets the tone for what is to come. "As I Sat Sadly By Her Side" is gripping both musically and lyrically. Here, as throughout the CD, Cave's piano casts a relentlessly somber pall over the vocals, thus giving the music its southern gothic feel.
I like most of the CD but it is "God is in the House" that is a tour de force, both conceptually and as presented. It is a viciously sardonic song which sneers at the fiction of social harmony that is the stereotype of small-town life. Cave's singing style on this song is storytelling at its best.
I also find Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow an emotionally powerful song that I could listen to for hours.
Cave's music is hard to categorize, but No More Shall We Part is some of the most intelligent music I've heard in some time. His songwriting genius puts him in a class with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. He is more than a musician, he is a poet and a writer, and his songs here can best be described as literature put to music.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five-star album, as always., August 31, 2001

By	James O'Blivion (Nowhere) - See all my reviews

After first discovering Nick Cave in 1996, I've since made it a point to own every album he's ever released with the Seeds, from 1984's "From Her To Eternity" right up to this evocative set, which I purchased within days of its release. I had just trekked some 800 miles to New Orleans to witness Nick's solo performance at the Orpheum, and had been suitably blown away. Even anchored to a piano, the man commands awe. As I write this review, I'm looking forward to the Bad Seeds' appearance next month at the Chicago Theatre with great anticipation. I am a die-hard, life-long Nick Cave addict. As for the songs on this album, many have perceived them to be a departure from Cave's earlier works, whereas I see them as a natural progression. The beauty of Cave's early works was in his intermingling of Love, Death, and Religion...the three became inseperable in the hands of this master storyteller. This is a trend which continues on "No More Shall We Part," Cave's eleventh studio album with the Seeds. What we have here is not at all a deviation from Cave's lyrical style, brilliant as always in its depictions of the joys and agonies of Love/Death/Religion. Rather, it is the evolution of his delivery of those lyrics. The haunting melodies on this set are intended to evoke certain emotions from the listener, just as any dedicated fan can tell you has been the case since "From Her To Eternity"...and even back to the Birthday Party days. Only now, those emotions are raised by well-placed strings and simple, but stunningly beautiful, piano lines...whereas, back in '84, the Seeds were evoking those same feelings with a barrage of noise and rage. My favorite track on this album (though the race is close, to be certain) is the opener, "As I Sat Sadly By Her Side." As with all of Cave's songs, it takes the form of a story. A man and woman sit at a window and watch the world pass. She points out the beauty of it all while he ponders the injustices and blindness which men inflict upon their brethren. "All outward motion connects to nothing, for each is concerned with their immediate need." She draws the curtain down and states that what happens outside that window is none of his concern. She turns from him crying, and he states "I could not wipe the smile from my face as I sat sadly by her side." Why does he smile? Because although she does not realize it, she has proven his point about people being too wrapped up in their own lives to care about the suffering of others. The smile is his unconscious reaction to this situation, though it suggests, not that he is happy with this outcome...but rather, just the opposite. In a way, he had wished himself wrong. It is subtle lyrical touches like these which ensure that Cave's place in musical history is assured. A man of such outright genius cannot be denied by the ages. Though his music cannot by defined as conventionally popular, it will one day take its place among the greatest music of the twentieth century. And Cave shall take his rightful place alongside Weill, Dylan, Reed, and Cohen as one of the greatest songwriters of this century.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'til we came along this road ..., April 10, 2001

By A Customer

With alot of criticism, acclaim, and curiousity I purchased the newest album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Being a great fan of theirs, I could not wait to hear the fresh songs and Nick's excellent and unique poetry.

From the beginning, you are taken to a home far away from your own, but lacking in difference. Piano keys that sound like rain drops paint the perfect display of conversation between too lovers in " As I sat Sadly by her Side " - the first single, and a great step up from Nick's past works.

If you hadn't noticed it by now, you surely will in "And no More shall we Part" - Nick is singing with more passion and sensitivity. It is amazing how well his voice sounds. This track being one of my personal favourites is an almost reminder of "Into My Arms" from the Boatman's Call album.

"Hallelujah" begins with a mornful violin that just splits the ground beneath your feet and sucks you into an amazing song. No, it's not Leonard Cohen's - but it is still great never the less.

The next song was previously heard in the Secret Life of The Love Song lecture and here it stands high above the piano/bass version. Here we get a beautiful string section and wonderful singing from Nick ... breath taking.

" Fifteen feet of pure white Snow " came to me as a surprise, but a pleasent one at that. Unlike The Boatman's Call, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds return with some more 'rockier' tunes and this being one of them. It is incredible how far Nick has come in lyrical presentation since then, and this song will have you singing along in no time.

"God is in the House" could have been on the Boatman's Call - but it might have ran too close with "There is Kingdom". This really ins't one of my favourites but an elegant piece of music never the less.

"Oh my Lord" takes you through one helluva day with a man torn, broken, and beaten down. It hits everything from the kids sleeping silently to being at the hair dressers with a maniac in antlers mooning you.

The next song, "Sweetheart Come", has to be one of Cave's finest pieces of both music and lyric. Words cannot truly represent this song. Amazing ...

"The Sorrowful Wife" has some unexplainable catchiness to it. The way the piano falls right into it is quite interesting and the picture painted by Nick and the Seeds is extraordinary.

With Murder Ballads long gone, you thought Nick would never be back to his killing ways - but - it seems his impulses return in "We came along this Road". A great song with great simple lyrics and wonderful musical devices. Nick at one of his best.

"Gates to the Garden" is another one of those songs like "The Sorrowful Wife" that is intriguing and spell binding. Just one of those tunes that pulls you in and makes you listen.

Finally, in nature of "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry" - "Darker with the Day" seems to take it's place. It is incredible the simularities between the two and how this song just blows you away. The ending to the song is surprising and you would have never expected it.

Well, thank you for taking the time in reading this. I thought Nick was 'mellowing out' but this album shows a brand new side of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - a side that I hope stays in sight. But all in all, it's just another romantic, dark, and morbid album. 5 stars ...