I Saw Some Ordinary Slaughter, I Saw Some Routine Atrocities

Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

For some reason I feel vaguely guilty that I've never bought any Nick Cave before now. I've always liked his singles (except for the one with Kylie Minogue in it, but that's probably just the music snob in me), and he's one of these indie guys who everyone loves. And I've been hearing a lot of people say that it's his best album ever, so I picked it up as an impulse buy.

I've always mentally lumped Nick Cave in with Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. God knows why, because all I can think of that they have in common is uncommonly deep voices. Anyway this album seems to be more conventional and upbeat than the older songs of his that I'm familiar with. The songs are largely based around the piano, and range in tone from maudlin and slow to rhapsodic and upbeat.

I can see why people like this album so much, it's very well written, and Nick Cave has always written great lyrics, but somehow it's just not exciting me so much. I'm liking the more upbeat songs, which is unusual for me, but it's still not enough to make me listen to both disks back to back. So while I don't feel guilty for not owning any Nick Cave anymore, I now feel guilty for putting it aside to listen to Slipknot again...