Customer Reviews

No More Shall We Part

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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.

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.

This is one of the few albums that I can honestly say, I liked every track. Some of the songs took awhile to grow on me as is the case with most of Cave's work. "Darker with the Day" took me some time to get used to, but the rest of it sank in pretty well from the beginning. It all has a subdued pop sensibility, which means that it's very subtle, but still there.

This album contains some of Cave's best writing such as "Hallelujah", "God is in the House", "Oh my Lord", and "We Came Along this Road", but actually they're all written well, so there's no reason to keep listing great ones.

There's an incredible depth to this album. Every emotion is here, even humor if you can believe (albeit morbid humor, heh). I would rate this album up there with the great ones (Plastic Ono Band, Highway 61 Revisited, Five Leaves Left, Led Zeppelin III, Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, All Things Must Pass, Mellow Gold, The Doors debut, Electric Ladyland, Magical Mystery Tour, and all those others I can't fit on here).

And for those wanting to get the limited edition, I would recommend it. The songs, "Grief Came Riding" and "Bless His Ever-Loving Heart" are great B-sides, purely in mood of the album. Also included in the limited edition is a fairly short 'documentary' on the "And No More Shall We Part" recording sessions. These have some different scenes than the ones on the "God is in the House" dvd. To me it was worth it to pay the extra $$$.

If you haven't given this disc at least five spins do not review it! I'm watching the ducks and geese in my pond and listening to the absolute beauty (and cynicism), of this wonderful music. Nobody in this current age is attempting music of this scope. He's pulling it off. Morrison, Cohen, Dylan should all tip thier hats. It's guys like Nick Cave that keep me comin' back for more, I could just give music up, the disapointments mount. It was ... near 20 years ago when Van Morrison started cranking out this totally ethedrial, spiritual, thought provoking, moody, lovely stuff--- i've not heard it since, until, frankly, The Boatman's Call, even though i've been a Nick fan for years. Listen up: catch him while he is at the hieght of his considerable powers.

He may be a little morbid for some tastes, but nobody could deny that Aussie singer-songwriter Nick Cave's has an immense poetic gift. His new album, No More Shall We Part can be a difficult listen-the most spirited mood it ever reaches is "mildly depressed"-but Cave's lyrics and his tortured voice have a distinct power that draws the listener into his sad, twisted world.

Cave's voice probably would sound silly singing about anything lighthearted. Accordingly, his favorite subjects are death, God and love lost. Cave has a remarkable ability to convey his stirring horror, fear and loss, both through his quavering, troubled voice, and his dark, cutting lyrics. On "Fifteen feet of pure white snow" he tells a chilling allegorical story about children being trapped under you know what. The way he sings "Is anybody out there please? It's too quiet in here and I'm beginning to freeze. I've got icicles hanging from my knees under fifteen feet of pure white snow" conveys an almost uncomfortably genuine feeling of despair.

He can also be cynical, like in his rant on conservative self-righteousness "God is in the house" where he sings bitterly "Homos roaming the streets in packs, Queer bashers with tyre-jacks, Lesbian counter attacks, that stuff is for the big cities, our town is very pretty, now that God is in the house." He conveys an interesting love/hate relationship with God and religion on tracks like "Hallelujah," "Oh my Lord," and "Gates to the Garden," often contrasting spiritual beauty with the pettiness of worldly religion.

Cave's beautiful catalogues of images can be totally absorbing like on this last track: "Fugitive fathers, sickly infants, decent mothers, Runaways and suicidal lovers, Assorted boxes of ordinary bones of aborted plans and sudden shattered hopes in Unlucky rows, up to the gates of the garden." He depicts such vivid images that, however off-putting and dark his music may be, we can't help but be morbidly fascinated by it. The music itself matches Cave's voice in eeriness, with yawning violins and stumbling drum beats preventing any kind of groove from mitigating the captivating effect of Cave's storytelling. It took four years for Cave to produce this album, and understandably so. The emotion he displays on No More Shall We Part would be more than most could muster in a lifetime.

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 ...

I qualify this review by saying that I began with Nick Cave with the Birthday Party, and he still remains, 2 decades later, one of my absolute favorite people on the planet. He's a master of words and music. This CD is my personal favorite Seeds, if not piece of music. Definitely a desert island selection. When I first hear it, its perfect melding of beauty and tragedy blew me away. I find it to be extremely passionate and intense. Its "Let Love In" (another of my most prized Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds CDs) nearly 10 years later, when the Devil clawed through the door and settled comfortably into his bones. The music and lyrics are completely saturated with a "matured" angst- not the kind that needs to screamed but that will beat you over the head with its quiet strength. Its an amazing piece of work- I can't get over its greatness and genius. I have been running to buy Nick Cave's subsequent albums and, his newest release, Abbatoir and the Lyre is another piece of art- get it- none have yet surpassed this one for me. It just may be their crowning achievement. To see them perform these songs live was pure ecstasy. By the way, if you haven't read his book- And the Ass Saw the Angel- get it. He is one of the foremost poets of our times. It's a novel but the words are shocking in their beauty, suffused with tragedy ala Nick Cave. He's just amazing.

My first few listens were a little disappointing. I'm a HUGE Nick Cave fan and I've always favored the upbeat, macabre songs (The Curse Of Millhaven, Up Jumped The Devil, etc). There are no upbeat songs on this album. The piano and Nick's amazing voice are the focus of the album. Once I accepted the fact that it is a down-tempo cd....I couldn't stop listening to it. It is truly a beautiful album with not a bad track on it. Nick's lyrics are as great as we've come to expect. After a few hundred listens (I'm obsessed) I place this in my 'Top 3' Nick Cave cd's. No More Shall We Part ranks up with Henry's Dream and Let Love In in my opinion. Of the 2 "quiet" albums (The Boatman's Call and this one) I think there is no comparison. I like The Boatman's Call, but this simply blows it away. I only hope Nick and The Bad Seeds can keep it up. It will be hard to top this; but they always deliver.

As a Nick Cave fan, some things disconcerted me upon first listening to this album - one being the lack of the bombast that I have come to enjoy from him, the cabaret-carnival-from-hell kind of intensity. This album is somehow more muted than the albums it follows. And yet, somehow it is more affecting for this restraint.

For example, the backup singers bothered me a lot the first time they came in. Away, evil backup singers striking strange tonal notes that scare me! In time, I realized that these were some of the most memorable moments on the album - the closing of "Hallelujah," the bridge to "And No More Shall We Part", the chorus to "Darker With the Day". They accompany Nick's voice brilliantly, and sound pretty damn cool on their own. If they had their own cd, I would buy it. Provided Nick Cave wrote the music, of course.

The whole ensemble sounds great, particularly the new violinist whose name escapes me. I'd like to shake his hand just for the haunting opening for "Hallelujah." The band doesn't really come out to play all that much, though -- the album is mostly Nick, the piano, and some atmosphere. None of the tracks saving perhaps "Oh My Lord" quite reach the ferocity of some of his past work, but there are some wonderful ballads here. The album holds together VERY nicely, and I find something new to like each time I hear it.

There is one drawback: the lyrics, at times, bother me. Whenever I hear the line "I passed the cow and the cow was brown" I really want to kick Nick Cave and tell him he can do better than that. There are quite a few repeated images, such as kittens, nurses, and at least three songs describing "going for a walk", that you could refer to as an album motif but I would refer to it as annoying. If I could give a 4 1/2 rating, I would do that for this reason. However, despite this weakness, I still strongly recommend the album. The lyrics that are bad are pretty bad, but the lyrics that are good are very, very good. Cave is a fine songwriter and he sounds better than ever here. "Love Letter", in my opinion, is one of his finest songs, and NMSWP his finest album.

The problem with being a recording artist these days seems to be that people expect all your work to be the same. Once you get a good thing going, you're supposed to stick with it, and never deviate. Which is why so many albums nowadays blend into each other.

A lot of Nick Cave fans have declared albums like "The Boatman's Call" and "No More Shall We Part" to be 'not worthy' of Nick Cave, because the music on them is not the racacous, nightmarish tunes of LPs like "From Her To Eternity" or "The First Born Is Dead", but instead we have a different side of Nick Cave. A Nick Cave no longer so obsessed with death and murder - though there are some pretty twisted and strange tracks on this album, make no mistake - but rather a Nick Cave finding a new creative turn.
And just because it's different, it's by no means worse for it.

"No More..." provides an interesting balance between "The Boatman's Call" and "Let Love In". Cave is still largely in a place of love songs and beauty - though, as mentioned above, there are some pretty wierd tales to be told on this record - but the music which was so reined in and minimalist on "Boatman" has exploded back into the Bad Seeds regular extravagance. It's overdone, it's huge. But it's always appropriate, and it's oftentimes beautiful.

Take "Oh My Lord", arguably the standout track of the album. Forgetting the lyrics for a moment (which are truly stunning, let me just say), the music stands perfectly on its own. The addition of Warren Ellis (violin) to the Bad Seeds is the perfect vehicle for Cave to deliver some of the most extravagant songs he's ever written. "Oh My Lord" phases from a dark piano opening to a thunderous combination of the entire Bad Seeds repetoire - something that happens elsewhere on the LP as well ("The Sorrowful Wife" and "Halleluljah" in particular). The Bad Seeds, kept rather quiet over the course of "Boatman's Call", have come back to the fore here to deliver some of their best work yet.

Of course, it's not all multilayered and extravagant. Take, for example, "Love Letter". One of my personal favourites (I can get along with the sentiment), Cave's devotional plea for forgiveness is accompanied by merely himself on piano and some hints of Jim Sclavunos on drums. It's truly beautiful. Elsewhere the backing is more definite but still subtle - "Gates To The Garden" softly carries itself along on the back of Cave's piano, but Conway Savage's organs and Blixa Bargeld's beautiful guitar slides are necessary to bring the song to life. Likewise, though the large instrumental tracts of "We Came Along This Road" (a late climax for the album) are nothing extravagant, they're representitive of the Bad Seed's style of playing as a whole - restrained yet dominant.

The lyrics, of course, also rate a mention. "As I Sat Sadly By Her Side" is one of the great lyrical compositions I've heard for some time - here Cave looks at the world without rose coloured glasses, and when you finally understand the song (it can take some minutes, it can take others weeks) you realise that it's truly amazingly insightful. Cave's delivery - singing a much higher pitch than his normal bass-end rumble - is one of his great vocal achievments. "Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow" is almost funny but definitely not parodical - it's view on religion is quite serious and, again, Cave delivers a stunning performance (the Bad Seeds are also brilliant on both these tracks, though in a more traditional, not-minimal-but-still-not-extravagant way). Kate and Anna McGarrigle also provide vocals on this LP - an interesting, but nice touch from Cave - making standout appearances on "Sweetheart Come" and "Darker With The Day". Speaking of "Darker", it deserves a special mention for being the perfect way to close this album - a soft, beautiful yet sinister retrospective glance, dealing with nearly everything the LP has dealt with - yet it doesn't sound contrived, just simple and heartfelt.

"No More Shall We Part" is an odd effort, for sure. Very much a "different" kind of album to that we're used to seeing from Cave. But that's a good thing. You see, if people only did what they became famous for doing, it'd get old fast, and they'd run out of ideas even faster. Nick Cave's turn to this kind of music should be cherished because he's done it, he's done it well, and - no matter whether it's screamed or crooned - Nick Cave music has a style all of its own. This is a part of it - and it's brilliant.

SONGS OF NOTE - As I Sat Sadly By Her Side, Love Letter, Oh My Lord