NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS - Live From KCRW

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Live From KCRW
Bad Seed Ltd., 2013

I love when the smallest things ignite a fresh listening binge.  This morning it was a simple morning Instagram scroll.  Susie Cave -- renowned fashion designer (The Vampire's Wife) -- posted a video of her hubby Nick sitting at a hotel piano, playing and singing his classic "Into My Arms" as guests milled about the hotel lobby.  My favorite part of the video is when Nick looks up, straight at the camera, and smiles.  Pure joy covers his face.  That's not something I associate with the legendary dark balladeer.

I flashed back about two months, to the most recent time I saw Cave in concert.  He gave a stunning solo piano set, only accompanied subtly and perfectly by Radiohead's Colin Greenwood on bass.  The show was a revelation for my girlfriend, who went in with little familiarity.  As for me, Cave cemented his status yet again as one of my all-time favorite live performers.

Between the Instagram video and the recent show, I had a craving for some mellow, live Nick Cave.  So I reached for Live From KCRW  -- a wonderful double album that was recorded (as the title may suggest) for the Los Angeles radio station with a stripped down lineup of Bad Seeds.

Live From KCRW boasts a nice, career-spanning set list, landing heavy on material from Push the Sky Away, which the band was touring behind at the time of this recording.  The sound on this pressing is fantastic.  The performance is what makes this the rare Record Store Day release that deserves repeated listens.  In fact, I have very likely listened to this record as frequently as any Nick Cave record since its release!

Surely it's the closest vinyl representation to the solo piano gig.  I don't even mind those pesky Bad Seeds getting in the way!  Just kidding.  They are perfect.  Especially the great Warren Ellis, who provides two of my favorite moments from this show: the violin during the delicate version of "The Mercy Seat," and the tension-building tenor guitar squall that carries the latter half of "Mermaids."

About my copy:
BS006V
Purchased on Record Store Day Black Friday in 2013.  As with many RSD releases from ten years ago, a lot of these were pressed, and a many were purchased by flippers.  As a result, there seem to be quite a few copies available on the second-hand market these days at very reasonable prices.

VERA ELLEN - Ideal Home Noise

Vera Ellen
Ideal Home Noise
Flying Nun, 2023

Like everyone else, my Spotify Wrapped annual summary was revealed this week.  Yeah, I've been one of those.  A dude I would have looked down and spat upon from my high horse only a few years ago.  A Spotify user.  In my defense, I use it in the best ways: 

1. To listen to damn near whatever I want at any time when I'm driving.
2. To connect with people.  I have collaborative playlists with both my girlfriend and my daughter (and recently, one with both!) to share music with each other.
3. To make themed mixes (my Halloween mix, my "Christmas music but good!" mix) to share with friends who no longer have tape decks or even CD players.
4. To check out something new.

I have listened to more Spotify in the last year than I ever have before.  Don't worry, it's cool.  Because I've also bought more new records this year than I have in probably the last five years combined and I've gone to more shows this year than I have since probably the early 2000s.  Music -- all of it -- has become an absolutely essential part of my life again.  I might even say it's saved me.

I bring all this up because Vera Ellen managed to slip into my Top 5 most listened to Spotify artists of 2023.  Since I follow the legendary Flying Nun record label on all of my social media forums, I had started to see some mention of Ideal Home Noise early in the year.  I assume some heavy listening to Flying Nun legends The Chills and The Clean around that time led to Spotify's algorithm suggesting this record as a new release I should check out.  I usually ignore those suggestions, but I took a shot on Vera Ellen.  That changed the trajectory of my music listening for the year, giving me such an exciting new (to me) artist to obsess over.

"Imposter" hooked me immediately.  It's a deceptively unique song, subtly and effortlessly catchy, with smart and intriguing lyrics.  

I'm an imposter

Floating through my fingers

You know I could have lost you

Can't you tell by the way

By the way that I posture?

You're a beautiful being and I'm an imposter

It isn't easy being like this

But I have to get something off of my chest

This isn't mine and this isn't my best

Not at all

Who hasn't felt exactly this?  (My god, if you haven't, I don't think we have anything to talk about.)  After the first listen, I thought "pretty good."  Second listen, "I really dig this."  Pretty quickly after that, the song took up residency in my head in the middle of the night for days.  Then the rest of the album, for weeks.  

"Imposter" is, to me, perhaps the greatest opening track in several years. And it's only the opener.  Vera has awesome range as both a writer and a vocalist.  She can indie-slack it up with the best of 'em ("Lenny Says," "Fake Milk") and belt with raw emotion that might just hit too close for comfort (the gut-wrenching "Carpenter").  Often the songs fight in beautiful contrast against themselves, such as "Smell of an Oily Rag" -- a hummable guitar-pop number with an unexpected chorus hook and the most starkly naked lyrics I can recall about growing up without adult supervision.  I know this person.

"Prayer Ambulance" continues this trend on side B (the "Downside Up" side), before leading into the most intense song on the album -- and probably on any album this year.  "Broadway/Junction" is a piano driven ballad about pondering suicide in New York City.  It's heartbreaking and it's lump-in-your-throat stunning.  It's smartly followed by the soft and uplifting "Stick Around 2 See" to finish the record, which gives the listener hope that music has saved Vera Ellen, too.

About my copy:
FN609LP
Red vinyl, mail ordered all the way from Flying Nun Records in New Zealand and including a "thank you" post-it note from Vera!