Customer Reviews

The Secret Life of the Love Song and The Flesh Made Word: Two Lectures by Nick Cave (King Mob Spoken Word CDs)

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These were two very powerful lectures by a very powerful performer. He manages to make lectures that can appeal to both the Christian and non-Christian. There is a whole heapload of thought and reflection, and at the same time there is enough ambiguity that you can take things in two directions. His second lecture on the bible is amazing in its ability to relate the divine to the mortal. He shows the two intertwined in a way that they are inseparable, and it takes a lot of effort to try to prove him wrong.

These two fine lectures express the soul of the man in ways that his music doesn't. An anomaly in the world of rock / pop / punk, Cave here reveals himself to be articulate, erudite, and thoughtful. Of course, the 5 songs here can be heard elsewhere, so I found them a bit unnecessary. Nevertheless, listening to these lectures enriches any subsequent listening to all of Cave's music, all the way back to the earliest Birthday Party albums. Not only that, they stand alone as discourses full of wisdom from a man who's seen a lot, done a lot, and learned a lot. Rare and valuable.

A bit phlegmatic, but the 5 spare songs presented here are worth the whole pakage. I wish the tracks were divided up so that one could edit the songs out from the spoken text. I imagine this was avoided on purpose so one would be forced to listen to the somewhat intersting(the first time!) ramblings of a one Nick Cave.