Like every Nick Cave album, this has it's various themes such as love, god, salvation, depression, and if I am interpreting it right, mental torture. The lyrics are sharp as always, but not as strong and potent as that of his earlier albums. Where "Nocturama" misses the mark is in the production, which makes the album seem over-produced, and I have the strong "been there done that" feeling when listening to the album. Since Nick Cave has built his career on the evolution of his unique sound, this album can be considered a step back rather than the leap forward that "No More Shall We Part" was.

But I will stress again that this is not a bad album, and should please the casual listened with both it's intense and melodic moments. But for people wanting something that lives up to previous works, I cannot strongly recommend "Nocturama".


Not "Bad" Enough for Cave The Seeds   March 13, 2003
Gianmarco Manzione (Tampa, FL USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Like an embittered Bob Dylan tirelessly shoveling dirt over his 60's reputation as "protest singer," Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds have seemed adamant, in recent years, about demonstrating their versatility. Brooding, adolescent swamps of noise, gloom and frenzy that emerged from his years-long "Birthday Party" in the early 1980's slowly but diligently acquiesced to Cave's later, quieter projects with The Bad Seeds.

But the transition from angry teenage poet to sobered balladeer hardly occurred overnight. Cave's endearing pursuit of the perfect love song (he has even taught courses on the subject) surfaced only gradually amid albums that ranged from bellicose to bland. Tender ballads like "Nobody's Baby Now" squeezed into the brilliantly raucous holler that characterized Let Love In, and even 2001's languidly morose And No More Shall We Part breaks into occasional freak-out jams, as in the explosions that deliver "Oh My Lord" and "Sorrowful Wife" to their manic crescendos.

If 1997's gorgeous Boatman's Call represented the culmination of this betrayal of the mosh-pit in favor of a close-hugging slow dance at some late-night piano lounge, Nocturama delves confidently, if unevenly, into both of Cave's distinct personalities. Not since the 80's has Cave delivered as musically schizophrenic an album as Nocturama, journeying from the sexy swagger of gorgeous ballads "Wonderful Life" and "He Wants You" into grueling, Goth-rock festivals like "Dead Man in My Bed" and the nearly 15-minute-long "Babe, I'm On Fire." If Cave teetered on the verge of regurgitating old notes after the beautiful but predictably gentle No More Shall We Part, Nocturama's mixed bag of fluff and ferocity revitalizes a band nearing the end of its second decade. One would be rather hard-pressed to accuse Cave of softening in his middle age after experiencing Nocturama's occasional cacophonies.

Despite his ambitions, though, Nocturama is Cave's least-consistent effort since Henry's Dream. Released just on the heels of And No More Shall We Part, Cave and the Seeds sound a bit rushed and beleaguered at times. Where Boatman's Call blossomed with jazzy heart-break, Nocturama sputters and drags. Though the album's first five tracks are vintage Cave with a surprising burst of energy in "Bring it On," and the beautifully hyper "Dead Man in My Bed," the tracks that follow ring hollow and boring by comparison. As on past albums like Henry's Dream and The First Born is Dead on which great songs like "Tupelo" are followed by a succession of tracks that were more filler than killer, Nocturama's second half sounds quite tired of its familiar wail and the piano's flickering teardrops. One wonders whether Cave has lost his sense of humor.

It seems as though Cave has written tunes like `Still In Love" or "Rock of Gibraltar" so many times before that they sound about as fresh as bricks of clay in the sun this time around, while "She Passed By My Window," with its bland, fluttering percussion and dull piano, comes across with little more life than a concrete wall. Even Cave's lyrics, usually as intelligent and biting as the best of his contemporaries, fall flat and stale here, as in these tired lines from "Rock of Gibraltar": "Let me say this to you/I'll be steadfast and true/And my love will never falter" and "You'd stand by me/And together we'd be/That great, steady Rock of Gibraltar." This is hardly the writing one would expect from a man who has published several books of verse.

Similarly, what might have served as an album-resurrecting stomp in the epic "Babe, I'm on Fire" sounds like a shelved outtake from Murder Ballads-perhaps the less-realized counterpart to "O'Malley's Bar"-that still hasn't quite shaken off the dust of years. More ambitious than accessible, the song carries on far too long (the lyrics comprise four pages of the album's liner notes), becoming a monotonous and jarring onslaught of noise.
Nonetheless, Nocturama demonstrates that, even in his less inspired moments, Nick Cave's commitment to authenticity and poetry remains a beacon shimmering in the darkness of pop music's bleak landscape. "It's a wonderful life/If you can find it," the dour, baritone comic quips on Nocturama's fabulous opening track, "Wonderful life," his haunted piano bemoaning the illusion of happiness. If FM radio still turns the other cheek to the music of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, it still stands as a tribute to the group's enduring authenticity. And that is something that even Cave can be happy about.


Was Gonna Title This "Nocterrific" But Decided Against It   February 24, 2004
Kelly Langston-Smith (Atomic City, USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

So Nick and the boys have grown up a little bit since the first days of the Birthday Party. How can you fault them for that? You can't just scream and bang away in the studio forever and find that experience satisfying, can you? So Nocturama is another quantum leap in maturity and sophistication for the Seeds. It is softer and wittier and sharper than anything they have done before. This doesn't mean they have sold out. It doesn't mean they don't love their black fingernail painted, spiked hairdo wearing, black trenchcoat sporting fans. It just means that they are true artists who evolve and grow in their craft. Heck, who wanted John and Paul to sing "She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" forever instead of moving on to Sgt. Peppers or Yellow Submarine. I mean, really, how many songs about finding the girl of your dreams and then clubbing her to death can you do?
Nocturama is pretty close to perfect without a bad track on the CD. Some are much better than others (with, oddly enough, the softer ballads like "Out of Your Hand" being the best) but ALL of the songs here are better than pretty much every other song you heard this week on the radio. There are still some hard tracks here but also a bit of blues and croon to mellow the harsh. Nick sounds great and the Bad Seeds play a big part musically in this effort. The lyrics are tight and sharp with the 17 minute epic "I'm On Fire" using the most complex verbage of any song in recent memory. As the last song on a pretty mild CD "Fire" is a rough and tumble ride that turns a corner somewhere from "too long" (as some here have complained) to "oh, yeah, keep it coming" (somewhere around minute 15 1/2). It seemed to me like this song is a great excuse for Nick and the Boys to remind all of us out here in listening land that it's still THEIR party and they'll play as loud and as long as they darn well please. If you don't like it, go crash someone elses birthday (Bon Jovi perhaps).
Many haven't mentioned that "I'm On Fire" is on the second disc as a DVD video and is extremely cool, possibly working better than it does on the CD itself. The band members and friends dress up as everyone who is "On Fire" to comical and shocking results. During the chorus, Nick sways and screams in his fashion and the band plays on eternally (the video is also 17 minutes long). It is very interesting to note who Nick identifies himself with in the video. The band members appear by name and without costume near the end of the song, but somewhere in the middle there, Nick just looks at you and says, "Yep, this is me." And it probably isn't who you think.
Anyway, the CD is great. And who knows, if Nick keeps "developing" as a musician, the next effort may be Gregorian Chants laced with Ska! Keep the Party Rolling!!!