Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Murder Ballads

THE REVIEW

Some time ago, I was reading in a newspaper a review of a Rolling Stones album; it was described as grandiose due to the drugs taken by the band during the making of the album, concluding the article by saying that in many cases, inspiration is given to artists from drug use.

Even dear Nick Cave has been accused of this; many critics claimed that after "Tender Prey" (and after the end of his heroin addiction), the ink king had lost a bit of his fury. Yet Nick managed to pull masterpieces like "The Good Son" and "Let Love In" out of the hat; but since these have already been reviewed, I will focus on the wonderful "Murder Ballads."

Defined by some genius as Cave's "commercial album" (due to the usual nonsense: successful album = commercial album); "Murder Ballads" is a great concept album that does not talk about death as many mistakenly say, but rather about murdered deaths and their killers (take that, commercial).

I wouldn't know how to explain the beauty of the album, but I will recommend the simplest method to appreciate it: do not try to understand whether it is a commercial product or not, do not go looking for hidden meanings or stupid fascist content (someone also said this) but just listen to not one but two handfuls of stunningly beautiful ballads: from the fierce "Stagger Lee" to the beautiful duets with Kylie Minogue " Where the Wild Roses Grow" or with PJ Harvey " Henry Lee" or the cover of Bob Dylan "Death Is Not the End".

One last thing: "Thank you, Nick, for throwing away the syringe but not the pen, and most importantly, not the anger."