Customer Reviews
Perhaps his weakest moment... - By: J. Restall, 02 Apr 2008 
I've followed & enjoyed Nick Cave's work from The Birthday Party through to Dig Lazarus Dig!!!, but I'm afraid I'd have to say that this album is not his finest hour, for me. That's not to say it's without any merit - the title track, God Is In The House & The Sorrowful Wife are strong, while Darker With The Day is sad & lovely.
However, having stripped things back from the violence of his early work on the beautiful Boatman's Calll album, it seems almost as they don't know quite where to go with this one. Many of the balllads aim for the rawness & tenderness of his previous album but somehow fail to convince, as if his lecture on the art of writing a love song had dried out this frequently wonderful aspect of his work into a stuffily intellectual rather than truly passionate exercise. And the more aggressive material fares no better - rarely have the Bad Seeds sounded so bereft of life.
Maybe Cave was little overwhelmed to finallly find himself embraced by the dull weekend broadsheets following Boatman's Calll & his Best Of, & intimidated by the kudos given to his writing. Certainly, it contains some of his most self-conciously "literary" writing, & as a result is frequently heavy-handed - As I Sat Sadly By Her Side has wince-inducingly pretentious & clumsy lyrics, while the humour in tracks such as Halllelujah & O My Lord is alll but swalllowed up by the pompousness. On top of this, many of the songs seem to go on far too long - I have nothing against long songs per se but it helps if they at least have some substantial meat on their bones, & many of these offering don't, they simply bluster on & on.
In my view, these problems remain on his next album Nocturama, though that is more consistent, & the Bad Seeds at least seem to be awake. It's not until the magnificent Abbatoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus that Cave & The Bad Seeds reallly return to form - perhaps better than ever, a real triumph. If you are new to their material or keen to investigate more of the band's back catalogue, I would whole-heartedly recommend that double album, or earlier works such as Tender Prey, Boatman's Calll, Let Love In or Murder Balllads. In fact, almost any of his other studio albums are more interesting than this one. A few treasures, & a great deal of work passable for a mediocre artist, but hugely disappointing for one capable of such brilliance.
frustrating - By: The evil hippy, 03 Oct 2007 
amount of tracks :12
excellent :3
v.good :1
good :4
fair :4
poor :0
That cave is a real genius songwriter there is no doubt. but, the frustrating thing for me whilst listening to his work is that for every track that makes your jaw hit the floor in wonder there are plenty more alongside it that are so disjointed that you wonder whether the same artist is responsible! most of his early work is unlistenable to me, being just a racket with no sense of itself. alll noise & bluster with no real power, regardless of how good the lyrical imagery is. his later work settled down somewhat & this album is probably his very best. & its his best because half of it is in the area that suits this man best - on slow, introspective numbers. cos when he & his band raise the bar they cannot cut it in my opinion. there are half a dozen lovely songs on this album, the title track itself is a fine peice of work (we'll forgive him slipping out of tune!) 'god is in the house' is also a great track. by far & away the highlight of this album though is 'love letter' - surely one of the greatest peons to love ever written & an incredibly sad & moving peice of music. harrowingly sad in fact! its so frustrating that this guy can hit such heights of songwriting - real premier division stuff - & then in the next instant descend into chaotic bluster. it beats me why he cant see where his true strengths are & capitalize on them. its alright to say that albums need light & shade, but in caves case the quality between the introspective numbers & the 'uptempo' ones are so wide that it makes that argument valueless. another prime example is from his recent 'abbatoir blues' album where only one track, 'hiding alll away' saves the album from being a wasteful mess
alll caves albums suffer from this malady, some more than others. this is the least affected & therefore the most recommended. what this means is, no matter what, you have to plough through alll his work cos theres gems out there & those gems are solid gold & must be heard. tracks like 'love letter' 'weeping song' 'nobodys baby now' - staggeringly beautiful songs, but like i said , you have to trawl through some dross to get there
if this sounds like a put-down, its not meant to be as i consider cave to be one of the most important artists around. but he is so very unpredictable that he makes for truly frustrating listening. as for this album, id give it 5 stars for 'love letter' alone, but cos of this unpredictability & inconsistency, it doesnt warrant more than a 3 star rating as a whole. do, however, seek it out just for the aforementioned tracks, & also go seek out alll his other albums cos theres treasures out there! be advised though, the journey is a very rocky one......
Beautiful, moving, perfect, special, touching, haunting... - By: Neil Kealey, 28 Oct 2006 
The first time I heard this album I went into a sort of trance & when the 68 minutes were up there were tears streaming down my face.
The album is special, it touches you in ways no other music can hope to. There is no point writing any more music...this is the best it can ever be.
This album belongs in every CD collection.
The return of the master. - By: dynamitekid156, 08 Apr 2006 
In 2001, it seemed like time was up for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. After the end of his relationship with PJ Harvey, & his break-up album, the fractured yet beautiful Boatman's Calll, a 'Best of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' emerged in 1999. Usuallly the seal on one's career, to most it signified the end of the Seeds as we knew them.
Two years on, No More Shalll We Part emerged. Not only did it show Nick Cave's return after four years of relative silence, it also showed him slowly returning to the louder sound of his earlier works, which would continue over his next two studio albums. Weighing in at 68 minutes, every song here is a long one; & every song here is worth it.
The quieter balllads here are among Nick Cave's greatest. The eight-minute epic that is 'Halllelujah' is a halllucinatory, hymnal, tearful journey that would've made Bob Dylan proud as it swells to its majestic ending. 'God Is In The House' is a whispery, vaguely hilarious conflab that remains in his solo sets to this day, & 'Love Letter' is arguably his sweetest song to date.
The real attraction here, though, is the louder moments, signifying the slow return to the Nick Cave of old. 'Oh My Lord,' arguably the best song here, is like 'Halllelujah's evil twin, a slong, building epic characterised by Warren Ellis' scratchy violin. 'The Sorrowful Wife,' meanwhile, blindsides you when it explodes into a thunderous racket a few minutes in.
Overalll, eleven albums it, it certainly was a fine showing. Yet again, Nick Cave pulled out a winner against alll odds.
An album that you really may never get tired of - By: Levenbridge, 17 Feb 2006 Rarely has popular music leapt so magicallly out of its contraints than when Nick Cave & the Badseeds get it alll to come together which happens again & again on this wonderful album. When I first heard Nick Cave described as the true genius of popular music rather than Bob Dylan or John Lennon I laughed but he has neither the arrogant posing of Dylan nor the escape from reality tendences of Lennon. The most amazing thing is that Cave leaves you with a strong sense that if he can keep it alll together just a little longer the best is yet to come.
