"Let Love In" - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (1994)

Welcome to my new blog! I am still working on the actual format for how I want to write these posts, so I'm sure they'll change from post to post until I find my rhythm. Hopefully you'll stick around while I find my voice. The whole purpose of this blog is to get myself back to writing on a regular basis, so I am setting a goal of posting every Monday and Thursday through 2020. I'll be writing about music because, well, listening to music is my first choice for self-care when my mental health starts getting a little out of whack, as well as being the easiest way I connect with people.

To kick things off, I am going to discuss an album I previously had no history with. While I want to write about music exclusively here, and how certain albums, artists, or songs have impacted me, memories related to them, etc., I am also hoping to discover more stuff to listen to. Hopefully you can learn more about me, and we can make some discoveries together.

I want to start off by saying that this was not my first choice for an album to start the blog with. Or second. The first two choices were also by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. "Murder Ballads" was my first choice, but holy shit is it dark. I had heard really good things about that album and was excited to check it out. While it's a very good album, my mental state isn't quite well enough to write about ten songs that deal with death. "The Boatman's Call," the follow up to "Murder Ballads," was my second choice, but it's not so much a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds album as much as it's a Nick Cave solo album with the Bad Seeds making minimal appearances. It's also a really good album, just not really indicative of the group as a whole. "Let Love In" feels like a Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds album. So let's dive in, and see what it's all about.

Until this week, I had never listened to a full Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (damn I need to abbreviate that) album. The first time I remember hearing them was on the soundtrack for the movie Until The End Of The World. It includes their song "(I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World," which unfortunately isn't available on any of their other albums or compilations. That's rather disappointing, because it's a fantastic song. The storytelling in it is amazing, which I have realized over the past week is a hallmark of NC&TBS songs. (Edit: while reading about this album I found out "(I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World" was the b-side to one of the singles from this album. REALLY wish they would have included it on the album, because it would fit really well.)

"Let Love In" starts off with a nice little slow burner, "Do You Love Me?" My immediate reaction to this song is a sense of awe at how Nick Cave's voice is so deep yet melodic, and how it fits the storytelling tone of his lyrics quite well. I think it's a great choice for an opener. It sits really well in the average tempo found throughout the album, setting the tone perfectly. the rest of the group are more than just background players, both musically and vocally, as they take the forefront on the call-and-answer chorus, Cave doing the answer part. As we'll see later, it also forms a bookend to the album.

"Nobody's Baby Now" is a far slower song, and so incredibly sincere sounding. When he says he "read the poets and the analysts, searched through the books on human behavior," it's believable. When he says "I loved her then, and I guess I love her still," it doesn't come across as some cookie cutter line from random love song number 50,391 - it sounds like a guy having a heart-to-heart with a friend. My favorite line is, "This is her dress that I loved best, with the blue quilted violets across the breast." The description is lovely. The way the line is allowed to float alone in space is perfect. This is by far my favorite song on the album.

"Loverman" is a bit more aggressive, and kind of grating after a few listens, yet oddly warm at the same time. Clearly I have mixed feelings about this one. "Jangling Jack," on the other hand, is definitely my least favorite song on the album. While the music is quite good, the vocals are so damn annoying that it's really hard for me to even pretend to enjoy.

"Red Right Hand" is the most well known song from the album, and one of the most popular in the Bad Seeds' catalog, and for good reason. Another fantastic example of Nick Cave's story telling abilities, over very spare music. Each time it seems the music is going to kick up to the next level, it is instead pulled back, creating a strange sense of satisfied longing. Even the music break in the middle of the song, when it seems perfectly poised to intensify, is very controlled and muted and leaves me wanting a huge sonic explosion. It's a fun tension.

"I Let Love In" is probably not the best follow up to "Red Right Hand." It's kind of forgettable, to be honest. Not a bad song by any means, it just feels out of place to me. "Thirsty Dog" is the fastest song on the album. If they had switched this and "I Let Love In" when laying out the track order, it may have helped both songs. "Thirsty Dog" delivers the explosion that "Red Right Hand" was building toward. Having "I Let Love In" separate them was somewhat unfortunate, I feel.

"Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore" expands the theme of loss that permeates the album, without introducing anything new. This is another rather forgettable song for me. "Lay Me Low" is a pretty song that really helps to save the last third of the album. While some of the lyrics are difficult to understand - it almost sounds like drunken slurring at times - it's a really well written song about death and how those close to the deceased might react to it.

""Do You Love Me (Part 2)" closes out the album, a more atmospheric approach to the opener, even using some of the same lyrics. This is a lot slower than the version that opens the album, and the call and answer chorus is replaced by a somewhat more cool chorus, in a way. It's a really great way to close the album out, giving a chance to release all the tension the rest of the album kept building.

A week ago I hadn't listened to a single Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds album from start to finish. Now I've listened to three of them. Each has its merits ("The Boatman's Call," for instance, starts off with my favorite song by them, "Into My Arms") and each has its drawbacks. "Murder Ballads" is, at times, a more full sounding album, but the subject matter is so completely overwhelming that it's a difficult listen. As I said earlier, "The Boatman's Call" is really almost a solo album. For me, "Let Love In" is the best combination of being accessible, as well as being an actual Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds album. If nothing else, give "Nobody's Baby Now" and "Red Right Hand" a listen. If you can, though, check out the whole album.

Well that's it, post number one is in the books! Check out the album and let me know what you think.