Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus

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Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
A photograph of a series of flowers in part of an arc are surrounded by a cream coloured border. Black text above the photograph reads "Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds" and italicised black text reads "Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus".
Studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Released 20 September 2004 (2004-09-20)
Recorded March–April 2004
Studio Studio Ferber in Paris, France
Genre Alternative rock
Length 82:30
Label Mute
Producer Nick Launay
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds chronology
Nocturama
(2003)Nocturama2003		 Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
(2004)		 B-Sides & Rarities
(2005)B-Sides & Rarities2005
Singles from Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
  1. "Nature Boy"
    Released: 6 September 2004
  2. "Breathless / There She Goes, My Beautiful World"
    Released: 15 November 2004
  3. "Get Ready for Love"
    Released: 14 March 2005

Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus is the thirteenth studio album by the Australian alternative rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 20 September 2004 on Mute Records. It is a double album with a total of seventeen songs—nine on Abattoir Blues and eight on The Lyre of Orpheus.

History

The album was produced by Nick Launay at Studio Ferber in Paris in March–April 2004 and Nick Cave used The Bad Seeds line up of Mick Harvey, Thomas Wydler, Martyn Casey, Conway Savage, Jim Sclavunos, Warren Ellis, and James Johnston. It was the first album by the group for which Blixa Bargeld did not perform – English guitarist and organist Johnston, of the group Gallon Drunk, replaced Bargeld. Cave decided to split drumming duties for the two parts, with Sclavunos on Abattoir Blues and Wydler on The Lyre of Orpheus. According to Launay, the whole album was completed in twelve days.[1]

The album's release was supported by the Abattoir Blues Tour, which travelled through Europe from 2 November to 5 December. In January 2007 a double live album and DVD was issued as The Abattoir Blues Tour. Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus's last track, "O Children", was featured in the 2010 film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, and the song is referenced as an achievement in Lego Harry Potter: Years 5–7. In March 2005, to complement the success of the double album, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released B-Sides & Rarities, a three-disc, 56-track collection of B-sides, rarities, and tracks that had appeared on film soundtracks.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 88/100[2]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars[3]
Blender 4/5 stars[4]
Entertainment Weekly A−[5]
The Guardian 5/5 stars[6]
Mojo 5/5 stars[7]
NME 9/10[8]
Pitchfork Media 7.6/10 (2004)[9]
9.0/10 (2012)[10]
Q 4/5 stars[11]
Rolling Stone 3/5 stars[12]
Spin B[13]

The album so far has a score of 88 out of 100 from Metacritic based on "universal acclaim".[2]

Susan Carpenter of the Los Angeles Times described Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus as "a bounty of gothic rock" and noted that "the more driving, menacing numbers have been separated from the slow and scurrilous in a double album that is not two halves of a whole so much as two distinct records released simultaneously and in one package."[14] Thom Jurek of AllMusic described Abattoir Blues as "a rock & roll record... a pathos-drenched, volume-cranked rocker, full of crunch, punishment – and taste" and The Lyre of Orpheus as "a much quieter, more elegant affair... more consciously restrained, its attention to craft and theatrical flair more prevalent.".[3] Greg Simpson of Punknews.org said that Abattoir Blues "is very bluesy indeed, a rock and roll album with many angry songs and booming bass lines," while The Lyre of Orpheus "insists on being a separate album, due to its completely different more gentle feel."[15]

In a five-star review, Tiny Mix Tapes wrote that while Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus "may not be the best beginner's guide" to the band, for "anyone who is a fan of the duration of his career, this album rewards the listener with a bit of the best of everything he has to offer."[16] Paste gave the album a score of 8 out of 10 and said: "Aside from the power of the music and lyrics, the set draws on Cave’s compelling persona: part priest, part sideshow barker--crooning one moment and eviscerating the next. While this has always been the core of his talent, on Abattoir/Lyre it is particularly rich and rewarding."[17] In a more mixed assessment, Douglas Wolk, writing in Spin, was complimentary of Abattoir Blues but felt that The Lyre of Orpheus was "effectively Abattoir spillover: more mellow, less grand in conception, but—somehow—more pretentious in execution."[13] In his Consumer Guide for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau designated three songs from the album ("The Lyre of Orpheus", "There She Goes, My Beautiful World", and "Hiding All Away") as "choice cuts" ((choice cut)),[18] indicating good songs "on an album that isn't worth your time or money."[19]

The music online magazine Pitchfork Media placed Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus at number 180 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.[20]

Charts

It peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart, its chart success in Europe includes No. 1 in Norway, No. 2 in Austria and Denmark, and top 10 in Belgium, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden.[21] The album reached No. 1 on the Foreign Albums Chart in Greece where it also received a gold certification.[22]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Nick Cave unless otherwise noted. 

Disc one: Abattoir Blues
No. Title Length
1. "Get Ready for Love" (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn P. Casey, Jim Sclavunos) 5:05
2. "Cannibal's Hymn"   4:54
3. "Hiding All Away"   6:31
4. "Messiah Ward"   5:14
5. "There She Goes, My Beautiful World"   5:17
6. "Nature Boy" (Cave, Ellis, Casey, Sclavunos) 4:54
7. "Abattoir Blues" (Cave, Ellis) 3:58
8. "Let the Bells Ring" (Cave, Ellis) 4:26
9. "Fable of the Brown Ape"   2:45
Total length:
 43:05
Disc two: The Lyre of Orpheus
No. Title Length
1. "The Lyre of Orpheus" (Cave, Ellis, Casey, Sclavunos) 5:36
2. "Breathless"   3:13
3. "Babe, You Turn Me On"   4:21
4. "Easy Money"   6:43
5. "Supernaturally"   4:37
6. "Spell" (Cave, Ellis, Casey, Sclavunos) 4:25
7. "Carry Me"   3:37
8. "O Children"   6:51
Total length:
 39:25

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus's liner notes.[23]

Chart positions

References

  1. ↑ "Interview With Nick Launay", HitQuarters, 16 November 2009.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Awards at AllMusic. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

Masters, Mark. "Nick Cave: Interview.". Pitchfork. 29 September 2008.

Orloff, Brian. "Nick Cave Sings The Blues" Rolling Stone. 22 October 2004.

External links

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