NICK CAVE &THE BAD SEEDS ABATTOIR BLUES/THE LYRE OF ORPHEUS DOUBLE ALBUM MUTE, EMI, ANTI RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 20, 2004, OCTOBER 28, 2004 (USA) REVIEW: OCTOBER 5, 2004

Right on the heels of "Nocturama", Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds have decided to release a new double album, which is a dangerous choice to make. Double albums tend to become the dreaded "concept" album, but fortunately it works for the most part here.
Blixa Bargeld has departed the band and this new pair of albums does indeed have a recognizable chunk of the sound missing. In its place is a disturbingly mainstream almost AM radio leaning. "Abattoir Blues" is fairly high tempo with the first song "Get Ready for Love" screaming out of the gate. There are some excellent songs on this first disc, most notably, "Cannibal's Hymn", "Hiding All Away", "There She Goes, My Beautiful World" and "Let the Bells Ring". These songs are Nick and company at their maniacal, paranoid best. Powerful and yet graceful.
The second disc "The Lyre of Orpheus" is where things get a bit sketchy. The title track is a nightmarish tale and features a sound which I can only describe as sharecropper's vibe. Very deep South and Antebellum in nature. This song is amazing. Simply amazing.
After this, however, are a pair of songs which I am ashamed Nick and his gang could ever write: the syrupy, nauseating "Breathless" and the revoltingly fetid "Babe, You Turn Me on". I don't know if they thought this was clever or wry to do, but christ, these tracks offend me.
And then there's the somewhat disjointed Leonard Cohen-esque "Easy Money" wherein Nick opines about the nasty nature of something I have no doubt he is well sated with: cold, hard cash. It just doesn't ring true at all and it is pretty standard lyrical fare. Not what he is capable of. "Spell" is somewhat of a return to form and the end track "O Children" is both optimistic and almost celebratory about the nature of one's mortality. Why the B-side for the "Nature Boy" single, the rollicking and smashingly stunning "She's Leaving You" was not included instead of one of the more useless tracks is indeed a mystery.
Nick, I'm still a big fan. But you're starting to worry me.

PETER MARKS