Original Seeds
Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is a various artist compilation, which was initially released in June 1998. It was re-titled as Original Seeds Volume 1: Songs That Inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds when the follow-up Original Seeds Volume 2: Songs That Inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds appeared in 2004. Both appeared on the Rubber Records label in Australia and the United Kingdom.[1][2][3]
Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | ||||
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Compilation album by Various artists | ||||
Released | 22 June 1998 | |||
Length | 59:00 | |||
Label | Rubber, BMG | |||
Producer | Kim Beissel | |||
Various artists chronology | ||||
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The liner notes by the producer, Kim Beissel, describe the link between each track and works by Australian musician, Nick Cave, generally with his group, the Bad Seeds throughout their related careers.[4][5] Most tracks were directly covered by Cave, while some were adapted, or borrowed from, to form new songs.
In January 2009 Beissel appeared as a DJ at the Cave-curated festival, All Tomorrow's Parties at Mount Buller, Australia.
In 2019, Cave curated a Spotify playlist "Nick Cave's Hidden Songs" which included the original artist's recordings of "Avalanche", "Katie Cruel", "Tupelo Blues", and "Plain Gold Ring", as well as songs by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young and others. [6]
Inspirations
While the liner notes reference many songs, the songs included on each CD that Beissel claims partly inspired new Cave songs are as follows:
Volume 1 – "Katie Cruel" ("When I First Came to Town"), "Tupelo Blues" ("Tupelo"), "Another Man Done Gone" ("The Good Son"), "I’m Gonna Run to the City of Refuge" ("City of Refuge"), "Oh Happy Day" ("Deanna")
Volume 2 – "Way Down in the Hole" ("Red Right Hand"), "Sara" ("Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere?"), "Perfect Day" ("There is a Kingdom"), "Street Fight" ("Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)").
Reception
Critical reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Rolling Stone | [7] |
The Age | [8] |
Both volumes received positive critical reactions. Of Volume 1, in September 1998 Tracey Grimson of Australian Rolling Stone gave the album four stars, writing "Altogether stunning...a journey through music's flirtation with death, love and the rest.". Patrick Donovan of The Age gave the album four stars and declared it "Album of the week" (24/07/1998), stating "the presentation is faultless". Of Volume 2, Noel Mengel of The Courier Mail wrote "An album of startling contrasts...plays like a dream radio station" (09/10/2004); Michael Dwyer of The Age called it "An inspired work of cultural archaeology" (02/10/2004); Stephen Fitzpatrick of The Weekend Australian called it "The perfect journey through pop's wilderness" (23/10/2004); Malena Rydell of Dagens Nyheter (Daily News, Sweden) wrote "A bunch of truly fantastic tracks" (01/12/2004).
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Long Time Man" | Tim Rose | Tim Rose | 5:04 |
2. | "Cat Man" | Gene Vincent, William "Sheriff Tex" Davis | Gene Vincent & the Blue Caps | 2:17 |
3. | "Avalanche" | Leonard Cohen | Leonard Cohen | 5:00 |
4. | "Katie Cruel" | Traditional | Karen Dalton | 2:20 |
5. | "Hammer Song" | Alex Harvey | The Sensational Alex Harvey Band | 4:05 |
6. | "Weeping Annaleah" | Mickey Newbury, Dan Folger | Tom Jones | 3:24 |
7. | "Sad Dark Eyes" | Gerry Humphrys, Rob Lovett, Ian Clyne, Gavin Anderson | The Loved Ones | 2:14 |
8. | "The Big Hurt" | Wayne Shanklin | Scott Walker | 2:23 |
9. | "Tupelo Blues" | John Lee Hooker | John Lee Hooker | 3:23 |
10. | "The Long Black Veil" | Danny Dill, Marijohn Wilkin | Lefty Frizzell | 3:09 |
11. | "The Folk Singer" | Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels | Johnny Cash | 2:58 |
12. | "Another Man Done Gone" | Traditional | Odetta | 2:09 |
13. | "I'm Gonna Run to the City of Refuge" | Traditional | Blind Willie Johnson | 3:23 |
14. | "Oh Happy Day" | Traditional | Edwin Hawkins Singers | 5:08 |
15. | "Je t'aime... moi non plus" | Serge Gainsbourg | Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin | 4:22 |
16. | "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" | Jimmy Webb | Isaac Hayes | 18:40 |
Volume two
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Did You Hear About Jerry?" | Harry Belafonte, Irving Burgie | Harry Belafonte | 2:56 |
2. | "Way Down in the Hole" | Tom Waits | Tom Waits | 3:30 |
3. | "A Little Bit of Rain" | Fred Neil | Fred Neil | 2:24 |
4. | "Love Like Anthrax" | Dave Allen, Hugo Burnham, Andy Gill, Jon King | Gang of Four | 3:19 |
5. | "Sara" | Bob Dylan | Bob Dylan | 5:31 |
6. | "Hey Joe" | Billy Roberts | Tim Rose | 3:03 |
7. | "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" | Mickey Newbury | The First Edition | 3:22 |
8. | "In The Ghetto" | Mac Davis | Elvis Presley | 2:47 |
9. | "Plain Gold Ring" | George Stone | Nina Simone | 3:56 |
10. | "Loose" | The Stooges | The Stooges | 3:33 |
11. | "Looky Looky Yonder/Black Betty/Yellow Women's Door Bells" | Traditional; arranged by Huddie Ledbetter | Lead Belly | 3:00 |
12. | "Double Dare" | Hoyt Axton | Hoyt Axton | 2:32 |
13. | "Perfect Day" | Lou Reed | Lou Reed | 3:46 |
14. | "Street Fight" | Alice Cooper, Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith | Alice Cooper | 0:55 |
Sources
- Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Kim Beissel, CD liner notes, Rubber Records Australia, 1998
- Original Seeds Vol. 2: Songs that inspired Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Kim Beissel, CD liner notes, Rubber Records Australia, 2004
References
- "Original Seeds: Songs that Inspired Nick Cave – Various Artists". Allmusic. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
- "Original Seeds, Vol. 2". Allmusic. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
- Original seeds songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Rubber Records. National Library of Australia, 1998, retrieved 4 September 2014
- "Original Seeds Vol. 2: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds". Fasterlouder.com.au. 7 December 2004. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
- Turnbull, Phil. "Sydney Post-Punk Memoirs". N o N i g h t S w e a t s. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
- "Five unique playlists curated by your favourite artists". 21 March 2022.
- Grimson, Tracey, Australian Rolling Stone, Album reviews, September 1998
- Donovan, Patrick, The Age, EG CD reviews, 24 July 1998