For those not in the know: Mick Harvey has been the reliable bulkhead of all of Nick Cave's projects, ever since the days of The Boys Next Door. A talented multi-instrumentalist, he has (at different times) played drums, bass, guitar, piano, glockenspiel, and everything else imaginable in both The Birthday Party and the Bad Seeds. As well as co-writing and arranging much of Cave's material, he has also found time to record several albums with his own band, Crime and the City Solution. This solo album, however, showcases Harvey's talents most effectively and - for once - gives him a chance to stand alone in the spotlight.
Intoxicated Man is actually an album of songs written by Serge
Gainsbourg - translated into English and reorchestrated by Harvey and friends. Being much of a
novice when it comes to the work of the notorious 
French songsmith, I approached this album
with trepidation the first time I listened to it, little knowing what delights lay in store.
Harvey's warm, deep vocals sit majestically upon the music, and are counterbalanced beautifully by the sensual tones of Anita Lane - who guests on about half of the tracks. Songs like '69 Erotic Year' and 'Song Of Slurs' are possessed with so much beauty and an air of romance, you can almost feel the Parisian sun on the back of your neck. While jazzier numbers such as 'The Barrel Of My 45', 'Chatterton' and 'Jazz In The Ravine' will have even the most reserved of foot tapping away happily. The most triumphant moment is, however, kept until last - an astounding rendition of 'Initials B.B.', resplendent with a joyous guitar riff which sweeps around a compelling string section, only to be topped off with the trademark breathy backing vocals, and a cherry. Earthshaking...
Another member of the Cave-entourage from way back when - and his first true muse - Lane was an important presence both around The Birthday Party and within the Bad Seeds. This album (produced by Mick Harvey) is really a collection of work stretching from 1982 to 1993, and features collaborations with everyone from Barry Adamson, to Einsturzende Neubaten. This wide range of co-conspirators leads to an obvious plethora of musical styles, from the rawness of The Birthday Party song 'The Fullness Of His Coming', to the ghostly ambience of 'A Prison In The Desert' (Bargeld, Cave and Harvey's theme to the film 'Ghosts...Of The Civil Dead').
But the one constant element is Lane's hauntingly evocative voice. Hers is in no way
the voice of a classically trained singer; emotions like the one's which she evokes cannot be
taught, they simply exist. Indeed, in her hands what would be a throwaway space filling cover -
Marvin Gaye’s 'Sexual Healing' - becomes a towering masterpiece of longing and burning
sexuality: when Anita sings "Baby, I can’t hold out much longer" you actually believe her,
which is something even Marvin couldn't manage! Even the disco classic 'Lost In Music' is
made to quiver sensually at her touch.
The track 'The World's A Girl' was remixed and released as a single in 1995, and is also worth getting (if only for the two duets with Cave - cover versions of Gainsbourg & Birkin song 'I Love You...Nor Do I' and the hilarious theme to the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore film 'Bedazzled').
A few years after leaving the Bad Seeds, Adamson - a former member of the classic punk/new wave band Magazine - made his solo debut with the album Moss Side Story, a sprawling funked-out soundtrack to an imaginary film about life in the suburbs of Manchester. The album received praise for both its originality and honesty, and it's an approach which Adamson has continued through the rest of his albums.
Soul Murder is a compelling aural assault in fourteen acts. It is as cinematic as music gets;
as violent and darkly humorous as Tarantino, as honest and incisive as Scorcese, and as
visually stunning as Wenders.
It reflects the hardships and extreme bigotry of society ('A Gentle Man Of Colour', 'Checkpoint Charlie'), the beauty of personal reflection and companionship ('Reverie', 'Un Petit Miracle'), and tells of a Jamaican child's dreams of being a Super Spy ('007, A Fantasy Bond Theme' - "In case there is trouble or we're under attack, have no fear because Bond is Black!").
Adamson's work is possessed of something which is sadly lacking in a lot of music - the honest beauty of sensitivity. And when he places this against the psychotic ravings of some lost muthafucker, it only makes the beauty that bit more heart-rending.
His other albums made since this - The Negro Inside Me, his soundtrack for the film Delusion, and last year's Oedipus Schmoedipus (which also features vocal contributions from Cave, Jarvis Cocker, and the late Billy McKenzine) - are heartily recommended as well.
It would be wrong to call Die Haut (German for 'The Skin' by the way, for those of you who did French) Bad Seed drummer Thomas Wydler's other band, as it was actually while Cave was guesting on four tracks on the 1983 Die Haut album Burnin' The Ice that he first met Wydler - eventually inviting him to join the Bad Seeds a few years later.
Since then the German quartet have released a few albums, and this is probably their best - and certainly the easiest to get into. Wydler is a focal point for the band, with most of the songs being pieced together around his drumming, which results in something quite unique. The track 'Subterranean World (How Long...?)' - which features guest vocals from Anita Lane and Blixa Bargeld (and is also included on Lane’s album Dirty Pearl) - is a fine example. The guitars and bass swathed in reverb, almost being moulded into shape by Wydler's rhythms. Ethereal is a really overused term, usually used quite inappropriately, but where Die Haut are involved it's really about as close as you can get to describing their sound. Not ethereal in a pansy-medieval ditty kind of way, but ethereal in a kind of 'smoke-filled bar on a sinking cruise ship' kind of way.
Wydler is probably the most underrated of all the Bad Seeds, but the sheer diversity of his percussive talents is quite staggering.
I'm sure I can't say anything about this lot which hasn't been said before. E.N. are to
some the originators of all music Industrial (they were pounding steel and recording jack
hammers in the name of music before Trent Reznor had even learnt how to spit). Their albums
have always been original and challenging (sometimes to an almost annoying degree), and have
won them praise from some of the most respected critics around the globe - as well as their fair
share of derision from a probably far larger number.
Tabla Rasa is probably one of their most refined albums - although that said,
it's not their most mainstream; if you want something which is easy to get into then try last year's
Ende Neu, which is about as accessible as they get. The term Industrial
has become blurred over the years to encompass all manner of electronic music, from dance to
metal - E.N. fall nowhere between these extremes, yet they are undeniably the most
Industrial band in existence. Indeed, maybe they're the only real Industrial band there has ever
been. They've calmed down a bit since their early days, and seem far more concerned with
evoking gentle moods than causing internal bleeding, which gives their music an air of lurking
danger and insanity unmatched by any.
