When our friend D came to visit last Saturday, he brought his portable harddrive which holds his entire music collection (this is an addition to hundreds maybe thousands of cds and vinyl). We got to download to our heart's content but also seeing some of the albums reminded us of things owned but not dusted off in a long while. When you own a certain amount of music (althought can one really own such a thing?), you get lost, or rather you lose certain songs, musicians that you love. Looking over D's collection, seeing The Birthday Party, made me realize that it had been a long while since we listened to Nick Cave.
This has, of course, lead to an intensive Nick Cave craving. I pulled out Abattoir Blues and The Lyre of Orpheus which is a simply amazing collection. The song "My Beautiful World" is one we used to sing Piper when she was a baby, and Camille when she was a toddler. I think that H's dad bought it for Horacio when he came to visit for Christmas. Regardless of where the ablum came from, it's a brilliant piece of work. The music is sensual, mysterious, and stirring. Cave's lyrics are smart, often funny and sly, and beautiful. His voice....ahh...his voice.
See I have a thing for Cave's voice. I've loved it since the first time I heard it (Wim Wender's movie Wings of Desire). His voice is the cloest sound to what I think of as dark sensuality, sex, and the night. It's a voice that reminds me of S & M, B & D, etc. But not in the cheesy sense or in the "Omigod, you used to do what?" sense either. It's not shocking...it's about love and sex...about how those things even when dark are precious and beautiful. There are times when Cave's vocie literally raises goosebumps on my neck. I listened to him in the car, driving to school, and at one point just started to cry. I can't even remember the lyrics or what was playing...it was just totally his voice. Cave's voice gives that same sense of longing I feel when I read D. H. Lawerence. As if what you have is not enough, that there is always something just out of reach.
3 comments:
Interesting looking is a good description!! :) As for attractive voices, I have a crush on Chris Isaak's. :)
Yesterday I took the night off and spent hours with my music. I wiped out my iPod and reloaded it with new stuff and stuff I haven't listened to in years. It was a lot of fun and brought back a lot of memories.
I did that with my ipod yesterday:) I put on some new stuff though that I like but haven't listen too much (Place to Bury Strangers). I love reminding myself that I have other music:P I think I od on Morrissey!
And yeah intersting was the nicest I could think of LOL. Cave's newest look is just frightening. I'll have to put it up...
Great post. I also have a tendency to lose certain artists or albums, and when I hear them again it reminds me of the time when I did listen to them. Sometimes I even think I can smell and feel what it was like when I listened to them. Jess and I had been feeling pretty bored by our music of late though, so we've picked up some new stuff in the last couple of days. I had forgotten how much fun it is to discover new music.
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