Rolling Stone Australia — June 2017

“There are some people out there who just don’t

knowwheretostartwithTheBadSeeds,”says

Nick Cave as way of justification for this latest

compilation, a full 19 years after the last Bad

SeedsBestOf.Givenhowheadyaperiodthe

past two decades have been for Cave creative-

ly, such justification isn’t really necessary.

Lovely Creaturescomes in several formats, from the basic

doubleCD(21tracks)toatriplevinylpackageand,atthetop

ofthetree,this3-CDandtwo-hourDVDpackage,complete

with glorious hard cover book featuring essays by the likes

of journalist Bleddyn Butcher and author Larry ‘Ratso’ Slo-

man. In addition to myriad photos plucked from the ar-

chives of members past and present, the book also holds

delightful little secrets stuck loosely between the pages – a

rowofnegatives,ahanddrawnprototypeofthecoverfor

“IntoMyArms”,anaftershowpass–lendingitthefeelof

a scrapbook you’ve stumbled across.

Musically,itsthreediscsaresplitintodistincteras–

1984-1993, 1994-2003 and 2004-2014 – charting Cave

and the Seeds’ journey from the primal, wailing, apoca-

lyptic blues of “The Mercy Seat” to the cinematic strains

of “Jubilee Street”. It’s an astonishing ride. SIMON JONES

Mew

VisualsPIAS★★★★

Danish combo continue to dazzle

on album number seven

Mewhaveneverbeenaband

to work quickly – seven albums

in 22 years speaks of an out-

fit not overly concerned with

work ethic, but the opposite is

true. Instead they take a pains-

takinglyslowapproachtocraft-

ing each sonically lush record

(imagine a cinematic post-rock

band, with vocals, that can’t

help but feed their pop habit).

Surprisingly, this comes only

twoyearsafterpredecessor+/-,

and finds the Danish outfit try-

ingtobesuccinctratherthan

craftepics.Onethingthat’sstill

intactistheband’ssoaringcho-

ruses, which often emerge in

themostunlikelyofplaces–see

the apocalyptic, robotic stomp

of “Candy Pieces All Smeared

Out”. SIMON JONES

The Mountain Goats

GothsRemote Control★★★½

Long-serving indie band go

guitar-free on album 16

John Darnielle has finally put

downtheguitar.Andwhilethe

absenceofanacoustic–once

their sole instrument – is a sur-

prisingself-setchallenge,lit-

tle else has changed, with the

now-quartet opting for a sin-

gle subject focus, much like on

2015’s wrestling ode,Beat the

Champ.Gothsubcultureisjust

the jumping-off point, how-

ever,withDarniellediverting

to D.B. Cooper conspiracies,

debtpaymentplansandmore

acrosstheLP’s12episodes, all

ofwhichleanheavierthanever

on the other fourth-quarter ca-

reer identifier – compositional

prominence. Here, mostly jazz-

spikedandhook-ledscoresserve

notsimplyaslyricalsupport,but

equal companion. JONNY NAIL

Strangers

MirrorlandSony★★★

Melbourne crew deliver strong

modern rock album

Fiveyearsaftertheir2012debut,

Melbourne four-piece Strang-

ersreturnwithafullbodied

modern rock album that calls

tomindtheambitionoftheBut-

terfly Effect and the power of

mid-2000s metal, albeit with

a slight electronic influence.

They know their way around a

strong hook – witness “Birth-

marks” and “Fear of Nothing”

–butthealbumsuffersfroma

lack of sonic variation, with the

guitar tones in particular vary-

inglittlethroughout.Whenthey

backthingsoffatouchandmake

room for more dynamics, as on

album highlight “Sand”, the ef-

fect is jolting. At the other end

of the scale, bulldozing closer

“Flexx2230”sendstheLPout

on a ballbusting high. ROD YATES

Slowdive

Slowdive

Dead Oceans/Inertia★★½

Reunited English band still

shoegazing

What’sa22-yearsilencebe-

tweenfriends?Whenitcomes

to one of the non-movers and

non-shakers in the UK shoe-

gaze scene, not much. The tin-

klingguitarwashandmoochy

vocals of opener “Slomo” fade in

asiftheyjustwentoffforaquick

smokein1995.“Iwannaseeit,”

coos Neil Halstead in “Go Get

It”.“Iwannafeelit,”answersRa-

chel Goswell. It would be nice

to feel more. The wall-to-wall

haziness means the atmosphere

switch is on 10, while the “inno-

vation” and “surprise” switches

are set somewhat lower. When

theyclosewith“FallingAshes”,

ahypnoticsongbuiltarounda

circling piano melody, you wish

they’d branched out earlier. B.D.

Nick Cave and the Bad SeedsLovely Creatures:

TheBestofNickCaveandtheBadSeeds(1984-2014)

(Super Deluxe Edition)

Mute/BMG★★★★★

The Wild

Journeyofthe

Bad Seeds

Deluxe Best Of pays reverent tribute to

Cave and Co’s back catalogue

Ju ne, 2017

Reviews

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