Customer Reviews

The Secret Life Of The Love Song & The Flesh Made Word: Two Lectures By Nick Cave

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Since I have become a Nick Cave fan and have evangelized his music to friends and acquaintances, I've been frequently asked why his music is so dark and brooding. Well, now here I've found some answers and you can too.
In Cave's first lecture, he explains the concepts of "saudade" and "duende" and puts forth the proposition that a love song is not a true love song unless it contains elements of these concepts. Then he goes on to explain why this is so. His lecture is interspersed with his playing of five examples of love songs he has written that are steeped in saudade and duende.
In the course of his talk, he also mentions other musicians like Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and others whose writings betray a deep understanding of those concepts.
In the second lecture, Cave speaks of how the Bible came to influence his writing after the death of his father who had inspired him to write. Songs from his earlier band Birthday Party and early Bad Seeds are informed by the Old Testament and filled with "bile and puke", but also with the beauty of the Psalms. Later Cave songs have been inspired by the Gospels and show a new and brighter view of life and love. He talks a bit about God and his view of humanity's connection to the divine. Lest this scare anyone off, I should add that his talk is exploratory and explanatory, not preachy in a Jesus freak sort of way.
I learned quite a bit by listening to this fine CD and have come to understand the music of Nick Cave to the point to where I can explain it to others. Cave has a good speaking voice and a manner which makes interesting what he has to say. I find The Secret Life of the Love Song & The Flesh Made Word to be thoroughly edifying and enjoyable. I recommend it highly not just to hard-core Nick Cave fans, but to anyone who has an interest in writing.

I was in the cd store and looking for Leonard Cohen's 'The Future' but took a glance over to the Nick Cave section and saw this sitting there. I've been waiting for this cd for a long time now and I grabbed it. Now, I know Nick Cave is not the same as he was 2 decades ago. He has matured in his writing and music. This cd shows that fully and truly. Nick Cave tells stories of his personal feelings towards different events in his life. This is a VERY PERSONAL cd. I don't think this is for anyone. This cd is a Lecture, that's what it is. It includes 3 new recordings of love songs from 'The Boatman's Call' and 1 new recording from 'Your funeral my Trial'. I must say the new recording of "Sad Waters" is excellent. After all the first version is over dubbed with echo from Nick. There is a new song called "love letter" which just shows what Nick Cave is all about. The music on this cd is nothing less then Nick, and nothing more. Him sitting there at his piano looking at his book of poetry. I can't wait 'til Nick does a new album...IF he does a new album.

This CD is amazing. Amazing not only in how good it is, but even the mere fact that it exists. How many artists would release a CD like this? And in case you are wondering what kind of CD this indeed is, I will attempt to clarify. For one thing, it's not "a bunch of boring lectures" like you may be fearing. What it is instead, is this: the nearly 50 minute title lecture-which features Nick waxing philosophical on the love song, it's meaning, purpose, and relevance, it's role in his career; laced with commentary on his works and autobiographical ancedotes that any Cave fan will love. This piece also features 5 musical interludes, West Country Girl (considerably different arrangement), People Ain't No Good, Sad Waters (a new take on a classic), Love Letter (subsequently released on No More Shall We Part, and new at the time), and Far From Me (Cave talks a lot about the song and it's origin.) The second track is a 17 minute entirely spoken word piece in which Cave talks about The Bible-his view of it, how it influenced him and his writing, and a bit more about his life. Although this CD is usually pretty hard to find and perhaps a bit expensive, I declare it a must for any Cave fan. It is very enjoyable to listen to, Cave picks some great topics, waxes enjoyable on them, and has, to boot, an excellent speaking voice. Stunning.

Nick Cave has always delivered words with precision and accuracy, he has an unearthly ability with the word, and delivers one of his finest sermons on this CD. It is very rare that a artist can pull off a project like this, and still leave you wanting more. The medium of combining both a lecture type presentation of ideas interwoven with piano based songs could, Im sure, end in disaster for a lesser mortal than Mr. Cave. This CD contains two slices of time, pre and post "Boatman's Call". These are packaged together to deliver the very essence and motivation of Mr Cave himself, pure, well thought out ideas that give very rare insights (for there are many) into the logic of a man that has constantly taken demons and laid them at our feet for years. But it is more than just why, it is more how and whence as it takes the listener through a vastly personal progression of self-development. That said, this could also be viewed as a academic exercise in religious thought and personal realization that would not surprise the die hard fan for most of what is said can also be gleaned from the past decade and one half of music, books and prose. This is a very interesting CD indeed but it is not a CD you would put on at a party, but more a CD to reflect, focus and repent.

Nick Cave states in this recording that the genre of rock music is becoming devoid of musicians who allow the soul to inhabit their recordings. Of course, Cave's soul inhabits all his recordings and this one is no exception. He begins by discussing what drives people to write love songs and what makes a love song last. As he exmines the nature of the love song, he draws from various sources to illustrate his point. Everyone from the Bible, to the poet/playwright Frederico Garcia Lorca, and Kylie Minogue is cited. Nick Cave's lectureis an intelligent, educated exploration of the seemingly ubiqutous love song. When your'e done listening to the recording, you find yourself shuffeling through your record collection and find that Cave is right in what makes the love song last.

Cave's second lecture, The Flesh Made Word, provides an interesting look at the Bible and how it helps to shape the imagination. For Cave followers, this lecture also provides listeners with reasoning for Cave's tortured bout with divinity.

Words cannot describe the emotions evoked by Nick Cave's discourses on the love song and the Bible. If you never understood why he writes the songs that he does, this will make you understand his music. This is a truly moving piece from one of the great poets of our time.

even if he hadn't already produced some of the most disturbingly/hauntingly/terrifyingly beautiful words ever too be set to paper or music - listen to this and then press repeat - the most complete religious viewpoint to emerge from the melee known an popular music in many a decade

Far from the bats released in his youth, this is a recording for die hard fans only. He starts off by stabbing the ivories in an unaccompanied version of WEST COUNTY GIRL off the BOATMAN'S CALL album. The next thing you hear is the lighting of an obligatory cigarette. Then Nick launches into two lectures covering the nature of the love song, God, and the act of creation.

The lectures are interspersed with melancholy renderings from Cave's past, plus a gem of a new song called LOVE LETTER. His essays are moving at times,especially when he discusses the loss of his father. In other places, our lecturer gets self-consciously absurd, for instance, Cave's analysis of a Kylie Minogue song is a little over the top to take too seriously.

Throughout, Cave is adamantly confessional, making no apology for his observations. It's the very attitude fans have come to expect. As always, he lays it on the line but the candid intimacy with which he does it is something rare, brave and new.