Monday, October 21, 2013

Album Review: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Henry's Dream

Henry's Dream, released in 1992 sees Nick Cave & Co hone their songwriting into nine finely crafted songs.  At times almost too crafted.  Some tracks Papa Won't Leave You Henry, I Had A Dream Joe and Brother My Cup Is Empty are almost Cave-by-numbers, caricatures of a Nick Cave fire and brim-stomp.  Better are the sparser, more stripped down slower tracks.  Straight To You feels almost redemptive, while Christina The Astonishing is an exquisite lament.
When I First Came To Town has an epic feel to it, with Thomas Wydler's military style drums accompanied by cello and violins, and works very well, as does the brooding death march Loom of the Land.  The album finishes off with Jack the Ripper, a call and response Cave song which works fine, but doesn't succeed as well as the slower material, leaving this a less than essential Nick Cave album.

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