Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away

Nick Cave is a bit like Steve Irwin - you either love him or you hate him. And if you hate him, you want to hate the people that love him. And their children.

When I first heard about Nick Cave I couldn't figure out what all of the fuss was about. Then someone pointed out to me that he was a musician and not the guy from Bad Boy Bubby. He didn't even do the music for Bad Boy Bubby, so I have no idea where I got that from.

So then I listened to his music and I was underwhelmed. At the time I was listening to a lot of jazz and, compared to the musicality of Dizzy and Coltrane, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds just sounded like some depressed dude moaning over bad rock and roll. So my life rolled on.

Then I met my wife, or at least the girl that was going to be my wife, who was a huge Nick Cave fan. And in accordance with the customs in my country, I accepted Nick Cave into my life and into my ears. It was torture. So much bad poetry, so much over dramatised bad poetry.

But I love my wife. So I bought her the new albums and I even let her play them in her car while she was driving me to work (I'm good like that).

For a brief period Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds took a break so that Nick Cave could start a new band, called Grinderman, and I got a little bit excited because I thought that would be that. But it turns out that Grinderman was actually Nick Cave and all the musicians from The Bad Seeds, except they used more distortion on their guitars and one or two minor blues chords.

My torment peaked when Grinderman toured and, dutiful husband that I was, I bought tickets for us to go and see them. They were supported by some guy in his late 60's who stood in one spot and shouted at us for forty minutes. I'm not even kidding. Then Grinderman played and I moderately enjoyed it, particularly their track No Pussy Blues, which given my vocal objection to all things Nick Cave that evening I was feeling a particular affinity to.

A year or so later Nick Cave decided that minor blues chords were not for him, which is odd given how fitting they are for over dramatised bad poetry. Instead he wrote a new album and toured with The Bad Seeds once more. The album was Dig Lazarus Dig, their fourteenth studio album, and when I saw them perform it live at the Brixton Academy in South London I have to admit, it was pretty darn awesome. And this was when I started listening to Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.

A few years later again and I had the opportunity to see The Dirty Three, who are The Bad Seeds when they're not playing with Nick Cave. They're only instrumental - violin, drums, bass - but they will rock your house down and then rock it into the cold, hard ground. We saw them at the Green Man festival, held in a paddock in the hills of Wales, and it was an epic performance. If you ever get the chance to see Warren Ellis play the violin, do it. You'll not be sorry.

So now, with my new found appreciation for Nick Cave and the dudes that are The Bad Seeds, I was finally ready to call myself a fan. They released their most recent album, Push The Sky Away, late 2013 and I have to say it is actually very pleasant. There's no hard rocking, there's no moaning poetry (okay, there's a little), there's just some really mellow, really sweet tunes that are perfect for brining things down a notch.

So, in summary:

1. Steve Irwin is bad.
2. Bad Boy Bubby is fantastic.
3. Grinderman is terrible.
4. The Dirty Three are amazing, and
5. This album by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Push The Sky Away, is a decent listen.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4hiwtdydkzv2w8j/vRPVKl8GqH