Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Lovely Creatures

Lovely Creatures: The Best Of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds is a compilation album by Australian rock band Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, originally released in May 2017 via Mute Records.

Cave is one of the greatest, deepest, boldest and most original lyrical singer-songwriters of the post-punk generation.

What this superbly designed and curated career Best Of demonstrates is that – pretty much against all pop precedent – Cave has been improving with time, so that his later work is even richer and more original than his early forays.

Ably abetted by the bravura sonic adventurism of his band, The Bad Seeds, Cave has continually stretched himself as a writer, singer, performer and arranger. Cave’s milieu is a bubbling cauldron of love, hate, fear, obsession, religious mania and scientific curiosity, a world of sex and murder permeated with extreme violence, surrealism and jokes, striking a perilous balance between the savage and sentimental, the darkness of his vision ameliorated by a deep sensitivity.

What is particularly stunning about this audacious lyricist, however, is his equally audacious approach to music. An instinct to push his art to the limits was apparent in his punk / goth origins with The Birthday Party (not included here).

Cave’s never surrendered his status as a provocateur and a musical outlaw, he quickly abandoned the simplicity of punk for something grander and more literate, though no less punishing in its outlook. He also had an approach to collaboration that made his backing band, The Bad Seeds, an integral part of his creative vision, even as their membership changed and their sound evolved over the space of three decades of fury and eloquence.

While Cave may be the frontman - and a profoundly charismatic one with a powerful voice that can communicate from a whisper to a scream - his musicians bring a colour, shape, and texture to his songs that focus and amplify his gifts as a singer and lyricist.

The depth and detail of Cave’s songs lend themselves to a larger anthology, it’s unfortunate that the full 3 CD version couldn’t be brought to vinyl. Lovely Creatures is a superior introduction to Cave's post-Birthday Party work, and is a splendid summation of the work of a major artist who continues to create deeply personal, profoundly moving music.

This triple album 3LP record set is a 2025 repress on 180 gram heavyweight black vinyl housed in an embossed tri-fold gatefold sleeve with a printed insert, pressed in Europe via Mute Records and BMG.