Back in Bloom

Few bands have weathered so much—and emerged so triumphant—as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Over its 27-year history (the Bad Seeds formed in 1983 from the ashes of Cave’s noisy post-punk outfit The Birthday Party), the group has seen innumerable line-up changes and survived potentially distracting side-projects, such as Cave’s soundtrack work with Warren Ellis and garage rock group Grinderman. The band careened into the 2000s, if not with smiling faces, then with a certain air of lugubrious satisfaction and with Dig, Lazarus Dig! (2008), one of their most warmly received albums. This January, following the Bad Seeds’ curation of the first Australian edition of the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival, founding member Mick Harvey announced his departure. It was sad news for devoted fans, but the coming months brought some recompense in the form of a series of reissues of classic Bad Seeds albums, remastered and remixed in surround sound by Harvey himself. The latest installment of reissues encompasses three albums from the mid 90s: Tender Pray, The Good Son and Henry’s Dream. The latter was the album on which Cave developed his characteristic narrative lyrical style, exemplified by today’s track, “The Ship Song.”

Nick Cave, 2004
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