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Rating: After the abyss, the wait, the epiphany of hope offers a new beginning, a new skin to wear to start over.
In the '80s, heroin was the lifeblood for the endless frustration of existence, simultaneously the killer and savior of those living in continuous catharsis; it vibrated in the absence of harmony, in the fierce beats and dissonances that the Bad Seeds staged in the theater of the preacher of the apocalypse. All of this, unsurprisingly, in Berlin.
Up to "The Good Son," the rebirth in every possible sense: the well-known religious conversion, (his strong spirituality had indeed characterized him since the beginning) the relationship with Viviane Carneiro, the birth of his son Henry. Cave moved to São Paulo. To offer unconditional dwelling to love, (in the highest possible conception) can mean the total acceptance of those wounds that know no peace and healing, soul stabbings that must be allowed to bleed to avoid disappearing into pain. "Let Love In" is the album of this inner conflict, of wanting to stay at the helm at all costs when the ship is sinking and the icy wind allows no breath.
Do You Love Me? - Cave repeats in the opening track, as he relives the anguish - Like I Love You - of a love that was an existential anchor, and now the reason in "Nobody's Baby Now" seeks to find the balance broken by despair, only able to softly admit the loss, the detachment from and of those loved; unable to find the answers. "search for an answer that refuses to be found, I don't know why, I don't know how, she's nobody's baby now"
The infernal blues of "Loverman" is that of the lover consumed by passion, a slave to the game caught between life and death of one who gives their soul at any price, the suicidal, diabolical, and equally vulnerable love.
"Jangling Jack" which lives of the anger common to the Australian artist, "Red Right Hand" (embellished by the masterful arrangement of the Bad Seeds) which in some ways anticipates certain sounds of the subsequent "Murder Ballads," constitute the only moment of relief (relatively speaking) of the record.
Until the title track opens with a meditative electric intertwining with Cave's piano, and the lyrical catharsis that follows is the best possible snapshot of the inner turmoil of the lover, powerfully romantic, who kneels and then asks pardon (or rather mercy) in "Thirsty Dog" to then regain a desolate composure in the nocturnal and solemn "Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore".
The art of pathos reaches its peak in the desperate "Lay Me Low", the gospel choir of the Bad Seeds accompanying the final cry of pain from Cave, who at the limit of any capacity for endurance perhaps prefers to remain on earth, with swollen eyes and clenched fists. The album, which guided Nick Cave into the circle of rock stars, is nothing but the exorcism (or attempt at) of the shadows of its author, which purify through writing like a liver.
The inevitable conclusion picks up the opening theme, and as in Greek tragedy, the listener who has suffered so much along with the author emerges metaphorically chipped but internally enriched by the sublimity of the visionary, profoundly human poetic (and tragic, indeed) of an Ink King for the last time, perhaps, without defenses.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Loverman (06:21)
There's a devil waiting outside your door
(How much longer?)
There's a devil waiting outside your door
It is bucking and braying and pawing at the floor
And he's howling with pain and crawling up the walls
There's a devil waiting outside your door
He's weak with evil and broken by the world
He's shouting your name and he's asking for more
There's a devil waiting outside your door
Loverman! Since the world began
Forever, Amen Till end of time Take off that
dress I'm coming down I'm your loverman
Cause I am what I am what I am what I am
L is for LOVE, baby
O is for ONLY you that I do
V is for loving VIRTUALLY all that you are
E is for loving almost EVERYTHING that you do
R is for RAPE me
M is for MURDER me
A is for ANSWERING all of my prayers
N is for KNOWING your loverman's going to
be the answer to all of yours
Loverman! Till the bitter end
While empires burn down Forever and ever
and ever and ever Amen I'm your loverman
So help me, baby So help me
Cause I am what I am what I am what I am
I'll be your loverman!
There's a devil crawling along your floor
There's a devil crawling along your floor
With a trembling heart, he's coming through your door
With his straining sex in his jumping paw
There's a devil crawling along your floor
And he's old and he's stupid and
he's hungry and he's sore
And he's lame and he's blind
and he's dirty and he's poor
Give him more
There's a devil crawling along your floor
Loverman! Here I stand Forever, Amen
Cause I am what I am what I am what I am
Forgive me, baby My hands are tied
And I got no choice No, I got no choice at all
I'll say it again
L is for LOVE, baby
O is for O yes I do
V is for VIRTUE, so I ain't gonna hurt you
E is for EVEN if you want me to
R is for RENDER unto me, baby
M is for that which is MINE
A is for ANY old how, darling
N is for ANY old time
I'll be your loverman! I got a masterplan
To take off your dress And be your man
Seize the throne Seize the mantle
Seize the crown Cause I am what I am
What I am what I am I'm your loverman!
There's a devil lying by your side
You might think he's asleep
but look at his eyes
He wants you, baby, to be his bride
There's a devil lying by your side
Loverman! Loverman!
05 Red Right Hand (06:10)
Take a litle walk to the edge of town
Go across the tracks
Where the viaduct looms,
like a bird of doom
As it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires,
in the humming wires
Hey man, you know
you're never coming back
Past the square, past the bridge,
past the mills, past the stacks
On a gathering storm comes
a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with
a red right hand
He'll wrap you in his arms,
tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams
it took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole,
heal your shrinking soul
Hey buddy, you know you're
never ever coming back
He's a god, he's a man,
he's a ghost, he's a guru
They're whispering his name
through this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat
is a red right hand
You ain't got no money?
He'll get you some
You ain't got no car? He'll get you one
You ain't got no self-respect,
you feel like an insect
Well don't you worry buddy,
cause here he comes
Through the ghettos and the barrio
and the bowery and the slum
A shadow is cast wherever he stands
Stacks of green paper in his
red right hand
(Organ solo)
You'll see him in your nightmares,
you'll see him in your dreams
He'll appear out of nowhere but
he ain't what he seems
You'll see him in your head,
on the TV screen
And hey buddy, I'm warning
you to turn it off
He's a ghost, he's a god,
he's a man, he's a guru
You're one microscopic cog
in his catastrophic plan
Designed and directed by
his red right hand
(Organ solo)
Extra verse from DJ Spooky Remix (From Scream 2 Soundtrack):
He'll extend his hand, real slowly for a shake
You'll see it coming toward you, real slowly for a shake
(Grabbing at your peril buddy?) cause you know you ain't
getting near much as he will take.
He's a...
He's mumbling words you can't understand
He's mumbling word behind his red right hand.
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Other reviews
By zigghio
The album is all a fiery red suspended between love-eros-o-scene, like the splashes of red on the cover.
'Loverman' is perhaps the last apocalypse written by Cave, a revelation unveiling the deepest human torments.
