Great Australian Albums
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads

While the formula for creating a great rock’n’roll record remains elusive, this series suggests the recipe for crafting a superior rock documentary is well-established: choose an album whose classic status is assured, assemble all the key players and get the hell out of their way. If there's a momentary lull, simply segue into one of the songs. There's no narration here, nothing to draw attention to the interview process nor to take the focus away from the music.

And what music it is. I would argue 'Boatman's Call' is a better record and doubtless others would plump for 'Let Love In' or 'The Good Son'. History may well judge 'Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus' Cave's finest hour. But this makes a strong, eloquent case for 'Murder Ballads', highlighting the vital contributions of players like Martyn Casey (directed by Cave to “play something sexy and evil”) and Mick Harvey, who appears to have acted as a kind of ringleader as well as the translator for Cave's more obtuse artistic visions. It also brings out the macabrely humorous inspirations of these lavishly violent songs, including some German Contiki-tour types whose early-morning party near a hungover Cave led to the songwriter concocting elaborate murder fantasies.

Perhaps the only glaring weakness of the record is 'Where the Wild Roses Grow', a duet with Kylie Minogue. While it was an important song in terms of bringing Cave to a wider, somewhat bewildered audience, it pales in comparison to the other duet here, 'Henry Lee' with PJ Harvey.

But overall this is grand fodder for the best kind of pub arguments and, crucially, it inspires you to go and listen to the original record again.

by Daniel Herborn