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Nick Cave's Jukebox again
Another CD set of songs which have inspired Nick Cave over the years is going on the market. This is the third this year and the fifth overall. The first two were Original Seeds way back in 1998 and the follow up Original Seeds, Volume 2 in 2004. I would rate the first Original Seeds very highly just because there was nothing like it before but now that is very different.


Original Seeds - Track listing:
1. Tim Rose - Long Time Man
2. Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps - Cat Man
3. Leonard Cohen - Avalanche
4. Karen Dalton - Katie Cruel
5. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Hammer Song
6. Tom Jones - Weeping Annaleah
7. The Loved Ones - Sad Dark Eyes
8. Scott Walker - The Big Hurt
9. John Lee Hooker - Tupelo Blues
10. Lefty Frizzell - The Long Black Veil
11. Johnny Cash - The Folk Singer
12. Odetta - Another Man Done Gone
13. Blind Willie Johnson - I'm Gonna Run to the City of Refuge
14. Edwin Hawkins Singers - Oh Happy Day
15. Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg - Je t'aime...moi non plus
16. Isaac Hayes - By The Time I Get To Phoenix
I would still rate this one the best out of them all. I would give it four out of five stars too. Most tracks make sense if you're a fan of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds which is the sub-title of the CD, Songs that inspired the Bad Seeds. All but three songs can be found on their albums in covers and/or based on but rewritten in someway. Cat Man was an early The Birthday Party cover. The Big Hurt was on the MOJO soundtrack with the help of the great British band Gallon Drunk and Jane & Serge classic Cave sung an English version called I Love You....Nor Do I with Anita Lane. The liner notes from this CD is great and I recommend this album. But I should warn you about the last song it's almost 19 minutes long and is sometimes a bit too much. It really should be Glen Campbell's By The Time I Get To Phoenix which is the original too but for some mad reason this one got put on the CD. Which I think is the reason why I wouldn't rate it five stars, missing one whole star for this nightmare of a song, sorry Issac but I wish you got to Phoenix a bit quicker. Cave says about it: "He does a long explanation about what women are actually like; it's very funny. How men have just got to go out." This quote is from a great book called "Songwriters Speak" I found at my local library, more about that later but here's the website: http://www.debbiekruger.com/songwritersspeak/about.html


Original Seeds, Volume 2 - Track listing:
1. Harry Belafonte - Did You Hear About Jerry?
2.Tom Waits - Way Down In The Hole
3. Fred Neil - A Little Bit of Rain
4. Gang of Four - Love Like Anthrax
5. Bob Dylan - Sara
6. Tim Rose - Hey Joe
7. The First Edition - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
8. Elvis Presley - In The Ghetto
9. Nina Simone - Plain Gold Ring
10. The Stooges - Loose
11. Leadbelly - Black Betty
12. Hoyt Axton - Double Dare
13. Lou Reed - Perfect Day
14. Alice Cooper - Street Fight
This one is not in any way as good as the the first one. I would rate it two and half out of five. Why? Well, I'm giving it half a star each for the songs which are on Bad Seeds albums the rest are, really could be's. Only Hey Joe, In The Ghetto, Plain Gold Ring, Black Betty and the last half star goes to writing up liner notes to convince you the rest are just as important. Loose was a live favorite of The Birthday Party. Some were going to be on the cover album Kicking Against the Pricks but never recorded. Played live once or twice in the years of playing shows. Mick Harvey has played the others himself solo or on his albums. Another warning for the last song again this time it's only 55 seconds long so why is it here? Well, I don't really know which is what I mean by the liner notes hoping you buy in too what is written but one word for that song: pointless.


Mojo Presents Bad Seeds, Nick Cave: Roots & Collaborations - Tracks listing
1. The Saints - This Perfect Day
2. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
3. John Lee Hooker - Tupelo Blues
4. Karen Dalton - Katie Cruel
5. Tim Rose - Long Time Man
6. Scott Walker - The Big Hurt
7. Current 93 - All the Pretty Little Horses
8. Einstürzende Neubauten - Blume
9. Martin L. Gore - Loverman
10. Lydia Lunch - Done Dun
11. Beasts of Bourbon - Cocksucker Blues
12. The Golden Gate Quartet - Wade in the Water
13. Peggy Seeger - Henry Lee
14. Mississippi John Hurt - Stack O' Lee Blues
15. Hank Williams - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
This CD was given away for free with Mojo Magazine but I have seen it for sale on ebay. It was with this years March issue with Mr. Cave on the cover. I would rate it three out five stars which is good for a give-away album. A few double ups but the version of Long Time Man is different longer re-recorded in 2003 just before Tim Rose passed away. The one on Original Seeds was record in 1967. Cave sings on Current 93 and Lydia Lunch tracks. Loverman is the only cover and the reason for this one is both are on Mute Records. The rest is pretty clear if your a fan but if you buy the magazine that comes with the CD or should that be the other way around, there is a two page write up about all the tracks.


The Roots of Nick Cave - Tracks listing
1. Carl Perkins - Blue Suede Shoes
2. Big Joe Turner - Shake, Rattle & Roll
3. Little Richard - Keep A Knockin'
4. Gene Vincent & His Big Blue Caps - Cat Man
5. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put A Spell On You
6. John Lee Hooker - I'm Gonna Kill That Woman
7. Leadbelly - Bottle Up and Go
8. Ella Jenkins - Wade In The Water
9. The Alabama Singers - Jesus Met The Woman At The Well
10. Odetta - Another Man Done Gone
11. Leadbelly - Black Betty
12. Harry Belafonte - Mourning Song
13. Little Willie John - Fever
14. Charlie Gracie - 99 Ways
15. Hank Williams - Lost Highway
16. Roy Rogers - The Streets Of Laredo
17. Hobart Smith And Texas Gladden - Down In The Willow Garden
18. Ernest Phipps - Shine On Me
19. Chubby Parker - King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-me-o
20. Mississippi John Hurt - Stack O' Lee Blues
21. Dick Justice - Henry Lee
22. Blind Willie Johnson - John the Revelator
I think I got this one before the Mojo magazine's one but both came out around the same time at the beginning of the year. I'll rate it three and a half out of five stars just under the first one. I like it better maybe because I love all the really, really old songs on it. A lot of older songs or just a lot more than the three previous ones. More double up's again but a few ones that should have been so obvious before. The Streets Of Laredo was a song Conway Savage sung on tour around the time of the Doco "The Road To God Knows Where" which makes up a few of the songs here which were played kind-off like a tour mix tape. Harry's track makes more sense this time, it's from when Nick Cave - Mick Harvey - Blixa Bargeld did the soundtrack to To Have And To Hold and re-recorded mourning song (performed by raun raun theatre). John the Revelator is from The Harry Smith Project Live Vol. 1 and Shine on Me is from The Harry Smith Project Live Vol. 2. If you want more info there is good liner notes written by Dave Henderson who's from Mojo magazine too.


Nick Cave's Jukebox - Track listing
1. Gene Vincent & His Big Blue Caps - Cat Man
2. Bob Dylan - Gotta Serve Somebody (Live)
3. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell On You
4. Tex Ritter - Rye Whiskey
5. Jimi Hendrix Hey Joe
6. Leadbelly - Black Betty
7. John Lee Hooker - I’m Gonna Kill That Woman
8. Johnny Cash - Wanted Man
9. Johnny Cash - Man In Black (Live)
10. Tommy McClennan Bottle It Up and Go
11. Elvis Presley - Blue Suede Shoes
12. Blind Willie Johnson - I'm Gonna Run to the City of Refuge
13. Neil Young - Helpless (live)
14. Little Willie John - Fever
15. Leroy Carr - How Long, How Long Blues
16. The Pogues - The Body of an American
17. The Everly Brothers - Down In The Willow Garden
18. Mississippi John Hurt - Stack O' Lee Blues
19. The Louvin Brothers Knoxville Girl
20. Dick Justice - Henry Lee
21. Chubby Parker - King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O
22. Louis Armstrong - Mack the Knife
23. Memphis Slim - Grinder Man Blues
This is going to be the fifth one of these kind of CD's and is out next week (October 12th or around about then). I don't think I should rate it because I don't have it yet. Once again more doubles and so many more than the others before this one. There are 23 tracks more than all the other CD's and all of these are total classics I could listen to them again and again. The songs which aren't on the other ones really should have been included before and also add up to the number of tracks on the first three. I don't know if it would be silly for me to buy another one but I guess if you haven't got any of the other four this new one looks like it could be the best one so far. Last thing to say about it would be is if you know anything about Nick Cave and the song Hey Joe it's off course the Tim Rose version he loves not the Jimi Hendrix one but in saying that Jimi's one is the more famous, and putting it on here is not doubling up the other song again so that's OK, I guess. I do think there are a lot of tracks which could or should be on these kind-off CDs but are not, I shall make a list here on last.fm at the end of this journal.

His drunken sing-a-long with David McComb

I just got this great book about David McComb & The Triffids which is so great. I'm not finished it yet but I think it would be five stars out of five it is that great. It's better than any bio book ever written. It written by all sorts of people. I would recommend it to everyone. One of the most funny story's is written by Nick Cave talking about getting drunk at an Aussie picnic in London with David and having a sing-a-long with each other, I'm going to write out the list of songs they sung but get the full story and so much more buy the book here: http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/books/newreleases/1104 And that is a drawing of David by Martyn P. Casey anyway here's the list of songs David & Nick sung, more of these songs have been covered heavily but I've tried to find the originals. Can you imagine two drunk Aussies singing them???
1. The Beatles - Maxwell's Silver Hammer
2. Bob Dylan - I Threw It All Away
3. Dionne Warwick - Walk On By
4. Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass - This Guy's in Love with You
5. John Denver - Leaving On A Jet Plane
6. Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
7. Peter, Paul & Mary - Lemon Tree
8. Mississippi Sheiks - Sitting on Top of the World
9. The Seekers - Georgy Girl (From Film 'Georgy Girl')
10. Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road
11. Elvis Presley - Blue Moon
12. The Mamas & The Papas - California Dreamin'
13. Carpenters - Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft
14. Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer
15. Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer
16. Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds
17. Elvis Presley - Kentucky Rain
18. Leonard Cohen - Bird on a Wire
19. Malvina Reynolds - Morningtown Ride
20. Simon & Garfunkel - Cecilia
21. The Beatles - Yesterday
22. Ella Fitzgerald - Anything Goes
23. Frank Sinatra - What'll I Do?
24. The 5th Dimension - (Last Night) I Didn't Get To Sleep At All
25. Carpenters - Close To Me
26. Bob Dylan - Belle Isle
27. Bob Dylan - Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You
Nobody at the time put these two guys in a recording studio to record all this and as far as I know the only song they did together or should I say David sung on backing vocal's for Nick's Lay Me Low in 1994 which I have to say is kind-off perfect and very odd because a few years later McComb passed away but what is even more odd is the very last song he recorded was Still Alive And Well on Where Joy Kills Sorrow album. If you would like that album check it out here: http://www.wminc.com.au/catalogue1.shtml#006 It's a classic Aussie album.

Extras
OK here is a couple of things that I haven't fitted into my journals before about Cave, first is the book called "Songwriters Speaks" by Debbie Kruger. To sum up the book quickly it's got just over 600 pages and is full of interviews with Aussie songwriters. Most are, if not all, are mainstream singers and Cave is the only one I'm into but I've had a look at the others before returning, did I say it a library book? A few things I want to note down here for myself really but who ever reads these might like to know too is:
In the intro pages Kruger says "I particularly enjoyed his (Cave's) anecdotes about encounters with Rolf Harris and Barry Humphries." which are funny but are nowhere in the interview so my guess is these were edited out because there not about songwriting. The interview starts on page 430 and goes to 445 so it's longer that most magazines or online. It was done at his office in Hove, England in 2004 around the time of Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus.
The songs talked about are:
Loom of the Land saying the line "The elms and the poplars were turning their backs" which is from Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and he wished he edited it out because "I don't like the idea of someone reading Lolita and going, "Oh, How often has he done that?" "
Into My Arms is talked about. In Triple J's Hottest 100 of all-time recently saying it was written after he visited a church which wouldn't be anything different from him really but the whole story is a bit more to it. He was in some drug rehab clinic and the only place you were allowed to go was a church and three days in on a Sunday he'd come back feeling very ill and "sat down and wrote that very quickly, and I didn't have anything there to play it on... rehabilitation didn't work [Laughs], at least I got a good song out of it." which makes a bit more sense really.
(Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For? he said he wrote in a taxicab on the way to INXS singer Michael Hutchence's house which is a bit odd and kind-off changes the track for me but then again Cave played Into My Arms at Micheal's funeral and famously insisted the TV cameras to be turned off while he sung it.
Nobody's Baby Now was written for Johnny Cash's American Recordings but he thought "Fuck it, I'm not handing that over. I really love that song and I'm going to do it." then later on in the interview says "I'm particularly proud of the first verse... takes so long to get to the point." going on to say "It reminds me of Tupelo Honey the Van Morrison song."
There are off course other songs he talks about but see if you can find the book at your library too.


Another book Cave makes it in to is "The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature" which is an epic encyclopedia size book. Which has some of the best, most significant writing produced in Australia over more than two centuries. Very few contemporary songwriters make it into it only Kev Carmody's From Little Things Big Things Grow, Archie Roach's Took The Children Away, Yothu Yindi's Treaty and Cave's Opium Tea which I have to say is an odd one to pick but I've said that before in this journal. Check it out here: http://www.macquariepenanthology.com.au/aboutaustliteratureanthology.html

OK, to finish off here are few songs that might or might not have inspired Nick:
1. The Velvet Underground - Jesus
2. James Carter & The Prisoners - Po' Lazarus or The Fairfield Four - Po Lazarus
3. Muddy Waters - Honey Bee or listen to Honey Bee (Live)
4. J.B. Lenoir - I Feel So Good or listen to I Feel So Good (Take 21)
5. John Ashe - There's No Night Out In The Jail
6. The Pogues - Rainy Night in Soho
7. Bob Dylan - Stack A Lee or Woody Guthrie - Stack-O-lee or Alan Lomax - Stackerlee or Frank Hutchison - Stackalee
8. Leonard Cohen - Tower of Song
9. Roy Orbison - Running Scared
10. Wilmoth Houdini - Happy Land Of Canaan
11. The Walker Brothers - Orpheus
12. Jacques Offenbach - Orpheus In The Underworld
13. Miles Davis - Nature Boy or listen to John Coltrane - Nature Boy
14. Sir John Betjeman - Late-Flowering Lust or could it be the whole album Late Flowering Love
15. Johnny Thunders - Chinese Rocks
16. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
17. Sister Myrtle Fields - Jesus At The Well or Mahalia Jackson - Jesus Met the Woman at the Well or Reverend Gary Davis - Jesus Met the Woman at the Well or Bob Dylan - Jesus Met The Woman At The Well
Bob Dylan - Girl From the North Country or listen to Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash - Girl From The North Country
18. John Lee Hooker - Grinder Man or listen to Peter Chatman - Grinder Man Blues or Milton Sparks - Grinder Man Blues
19. The Velvet Underground - All Tomorrow's Parties or Nico - All Tomorrows Parties
20. Cilla Black - Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart or Gene Pitney – Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart
21. Alan Lomax - It Makes a Long Time Man Feel Bad
22. Bob Dylan - Love Henry or Ralph Stanley - Henry Lee
23. Karen Dalton - Something on Your Mind
24. Leonard Cohen - Why Don't You Try
25. The Box Tops - Weeping Analeah
26. Burl Ives - The Long Black Veil
27. Johnny Cash - Muddy Waters
28. Odetta - All the Pretty Little Horses
29. The Pop Group - We Are All Prostitutes
30. Bob Dylan - Death Is Not the End
31. Robert Johnson - Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped The Devil)
32. James Iron-Head Baker - Black Betty
33. Memphis Minnie - Bumble Bee Blues
34. Odetta - Take This Hammer
35. John Lee Hooker - It Serves Me Right To Suffer
36. Frank Sinatra - Nature Boy
37. Leadbelly - My Friend Blind Lemon
38. Woody Guthrie - Rye Whiskey
39. Toni Fisher - The Big Hurt
40. Bob Dylan - Froggie Went A Courtin'
41. Frank Sinatra - From Here To Eternity
42. Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
43. Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World
44. Elvis Presley - Cindy, Cindy
45. Blind Willie Johnson - Let Your Light Shine On Me
46. Michel Polnareff - Goodbye Marylou
47. Bruce Springsteen - I'm on Fire
48. Bob Dylan - New Morning
49. Bobby Bare - 500 Miles Away From Home
50. The Seekers - The Carnival Is Over
I've written way to much but if you have some tracks to add to this very long track listing feel free to if you want to in the comment box below. I would have to have missed something so go for it. I like seeing comments you know. Thanks for reading and until next time.