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great re-issue! Sep 13, 2009
it's not an album I will listen to that often, as i've heard it hundreds of ties already, but they did a really great job with the sound; the dvd is a nice touch as well, with the album and documentary on it; they have also done this with the other three of the 'first four'; i have all but 'the first born is dead',and will get that one eventually. Great job by MUTE!! Now if they would do this with the original Birthday Party albums...?
3 of 5 found the following review helpful:
ALL THE HULLABALOO-N-ALL THE NOISE May 29, 2009
Less than a year after The Birthday Party broke up, their front-man hit the studio with a mass of lyrics. At the time there was no such thing as The Bad Seeds per se, just a talented group of enablers willing to see where chance & whim might take them.
What resulted is something that just can't be repeated. From Her To Eternity was just as difficult to classify back in 1984 as it is today.
At the time, kicking off an album with a Leonard Cohen song was hardly the height of fashion. Only a cover of a minor Elvis Presley hit like "In the Ghetto" could be more ludicrous.
On both fronts, Cave does not disappoint. But don't go thinking this is a covers album. Not by a long shot (see Kicking Against the Pricks for that).
While far from Cave's most accessible, Eternity is certainly one of a kind, an underground classic, up there with the likes of VU's Banana album or Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica. The kind of thing on which his formidable reputation was built.
Without a doubt, "Avalanche" is one of Leonard Cohen's darkest songs. If you can believe it, Cave paints it even blacker, coming off like some subterranean gargoyle, whose slumbers have been disturbed. A cranky delivery that snarls all red eyed, fangs barred. Not the warmest of welcomes, but a memorable start to one hell of journey into Night.
The demented sea chantey, "Cabin Fever" follows, Cave kicking off with a grunt like a dying mule. If ever there was a sound of someone gone stark raving mad, this is it. Along with the admirable but slightly redundant "Wings Off Flies" this is the closest things get to the Birthday Party.
Then we're dropped down the "Well Of Misery". An empty bucket clangs on lonesome walls of stone, it's only company an echoing chain gang refrain. In between lies a poetic tale chock full of mordant humor.
Without a doubt, the "classic" here is the title track, which grabs you by the throat & won't let go. Precariously balanced on a propulsive rhythm section & Blixa Bargeld's sinister buzz saw guitar, Cave launches into a manic tale of lust & obsession few can rival.
None of which prepares you for the epic swagger of "Saint Huck" or the funereal "Box For Black Paul". While the iconoclastic twist on the Mark Twain classic is one of the album's highlights, I suppose a case could be made for "Paul" being a touch self-indulgent. But that would simply be missing the point. For me, this is biting satire, parodying a rubbernecking, parasitic press corp bent on getting the scoop on some dead long forgotten hack.
Fans certainly won't be disappointed in this reissue. The sound is light years above the previous CD pressing. Also included is the aforementioned, "In The Ghetto" where Cave's delivery snatches sincerity from the jaws of mawkishness. In addition, there's a gem of a ballad in "The Moon Is In The Gutter".
As for the interview disc, there is indeed a tale to be told from those who took part in the sessions. But you'll also have to sit through the banality of a few celebrity fans inanely flapping their gums as well.
As dark, histrionic & over the top as this record is, there's one thing the listener has to keep in mind: there is a wicked sense of humor at play here.
Obviously, Cave was not taking himself nearly as seriously as his fans would like him to. If you're looking for a playful, edgy dose of on-the-brink mayhem, this is the album for you.
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