(Mute/EMI)

Caveman blues

The second offering from don’t-call-them-Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Grinderman 2 eschews the terse rawness of the first Grinderman offering. Instead, album number two sees the four-piece bridge the divide between both Cave acts, drawing from the scratchy blues rock sounds and free-form experimentation of Grinderman and marrying them with the soul influences and song structuring of The Bad Seeds. Tracks like lead single Heathen Child and What I Know sound close to a perfect Frankenstein’s monster of the divergent projects. An orgy of mood and style, Grinderman 2 is a wonderfully multi-faceted record. From the chaotic opener Mickey Mouse And The Goodbye Man, an anthem to stoned paranoia packed with militaristic post-punk snare pounding and writhing guitar feedback, Cave, now extricated from that godawful incursion upon his top lip, moans “Hey man, I think it might be the cops”, to the sprawling, electric blues of album closer Bellringer Blues. Like every album since From Her To Eternity, Cave stamps Grinderman 2 with his lyrical bent of tortured love/arguable misogyny. Especially prevalent on subdued pysch-rock cut Evil!, Cave wails and laments over the object of his affection and scorn. We’ve been hearing the same line pedalled by the dude since the ‘80s, but he writes with such identifiable honesty and poetry that Grinderman 2 stands as another triumph for Nick Cave the lyricist. Grinderman 2 might leave fans of the first record missing some of its visceral approach, but everyone else is going to be more than happy.

****˝

TOM HERSEY

Comments (1)

Write Comment
Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Poster's IP addresses are logged.
Name:
Comment:
Code:*