Review Summary: Nick Cave not only sings but crafts a persona without total expression.
Recorded during the 1992-93 Henry’s Dream Tour.
Highlights: Brother, My Cup is Empty, The Good Son
A search through the most well-known online setlist aggregator wields the results that not only are the tracks out of order on Live Seeds, but it does not represent the extent of any full show.
With caution out of the way and believing that the band can get by with the idiosyncrasies of their original songs (ok there is one cover), we begin with “The Mercy Seat” a song about the mental tension of a criminal sitting on an electric chair. Played without the intro, to impel the vocal performance of Nick Cave who not only sings but starts to impart his character.
As the songs progress, Cave delivers reinterpretations, matched by his intensity electing to swear during the slighter “Deanna”; cleaning up some of the imagery of “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry” substituting “washing away” for “warm arterial spray”.
It would be remiss of me if I did not mention that it is impressive that the lyrics are so vivid, and Cave manages to commit them to memory which stands as a different approach from ‘rote-memory’ songs found in the mainstream, or enacting arena sing-along songs. However, these other types of songs ‘work’ for a reason, and do not lose their tracking by being subject to controversy.
“The Ship Song” with its hit outlook is sang straight, with backing vocals.
Harmonics on the guitar indicate the start of cover song “Plain Gold Ring” repurposed for the male perspective, which seems relatively mild but within the context of the album allows Cave to form a misfit persona, someone longing for gratification and things that do not rightfully belong to him. See “John Finn’s Wife”.
“Brother, My Cup is Empty” is a catchy song that can inspire repeat listening. One that requires less flair in its delivery, less recitation. In this way, it can be likened to a pop song as well as “The Good Son” which switches between funky bass and full-band force.
It’s just that including a live feed from one of the concerts could have done so much more to manifest the entire characterisation that was on display. Imagine Live Seeds finishing with a balls-to-the-wall rip through of Leadbelly’s “Black Betty” like it did at the Brixton in London in 1993, instead of the showy “From Her to Eternity” followed by the middle-of-the-road piano ballad “New Morning”.
