Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 'B-Sides & Rarities' album

Spanning the full twenty-one years of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds illustrious career, this comprehensive three CD set, entitled B-Sides & Rarities...

... , presents a thrilling and eclectic retrospective collection of material by the band, some of which has been deleted, featured on a disparate number of soundtrack albums or has never been officially released before. From the menacing 'The Six Strings That Drew Blood', through the distraught 'The Girl At The Bottom Of My Glass', the fragile beauty of 'Little Empty Boat', the outlaw romance of '(I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World', the plaintive 'Bluebird' through to the murderous attack of 'The Ballad Of Robert Moore & Betty Coltrane', long term Bad Seeds aficionados, recent converts or the merely curious will find much to appreciate and enjoy in this landmark 56 track compilation.

>From the very beginning of the band's career in 1984 (in that year 'The Moon Is In The Gutter' appeared on the flipside of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds first 7" inch vinyl release, a cover of Elvis Presley's 'In The Ghetto') through to the 2004 track 'Under This Moon' (a track that was previously only available on the B-Side of 'Breathless' / 'There She Goes My Beautiful World' from the recent critically acclaimed album "Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus"), B-Sides & Rarities offers an alternative engrossing account of the band's continuing artistic development and influences through its impressive collection of extra studio recorded tracks that that were not included on completed Nick Cave And The Bad Seed albums, songs that were recorded on commission for motion picture soundtracks or cover version tribute albums and two radio sessions.

"Basically, this is material that was B-sides, outtakes or extra recordings," states Mick Harvey, a founding member of The Bad Seeds, the groups multi instrumentalist and this project's co-ordinator. "We tried to include everything that came under that criteria. The other criteria was that it was a Bad Seeds recording not a Nick Cave recording. There isn't anything by Nick working with other people or by himself, it's just Nick with members of The Bad Seeds*. The only real diversion from the theme is 'God's Hotel' and 'O'Malley's Bar', which are radio sessions, because we liked them and thought that they deserved some further airing. We left off 'B-side' from the 'Loverman' CD single because that's not a song, it's an editing exercise, and 'Where The Action Is' because it was too long and sprawling. We'll try and keep those singles available."

This project has been gestating for some years. "I originally put the idea of doing this B-Sides & Rarities collection in 1996/97, compiling two discs, as it would have been then," recollects Harvey. "The general response was, 'Yes, great idea. We just have to look for the right moment to do it.' There hasn't been enough space where there wasn't something else imminent. Its release now is a fairly arbitrary moment in time. Now it has expanded to three discs, which is fine. The running order was generally put together in some chronological order, although it was mixed up a little here and there, if songs didn't go together very well. The quality jumps around enormously. 'God's Hotel' is very rough and ready, all DI lines, radio studio and then it cuts to '(I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World', this track we recorded specially, high production quality song for a film, a Wim Wenders' film, strings... it jumps from one thing to the next. The same thing happens with 'Cassiel's Song' (another Wender's soundtrack commission) that runs into 'Tower Of Song' (an irreverent and highly humorous Leonard Cohen cover), which was us just hammering it straight out to DAT in the studio."

Is that part of the charm of B-Sides & Rarities? "It has to be...."

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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - B-Sides & Rarities