Description

Murder Ballads is the ninth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, originally released in 1996 on Mute Records. As its title suggests, the album consists of new and traditional murder ballads, a genre of songs that relays the details (and often consequences) of crimes of passion.

"Where the Wild Roses Grow", a duet featuring Cave singing with Kylie Minogue, was a hit single and received two ARIA Awards in 1996. Other prominent guest musicians on the album include PJ Harvey and Shane MacGowan.

Murder Ballads was the band's biggest commercial success to date, most likely helped by the unexpected repeated airplay of the "Where the Wild Roses Grow" video on MTV. MTV even nominated Cave for their "best male artist" award of that year, though this nomination was later withdrawn at Cave's request. Cave later said, "I was kind of aware that people would go and buy the Murder Ballads album and listen to it and wonder 'What the fuck have I bought this for?' because the Kylie song wasn't any true indication of what the record was actually like."

Upon release, Murder Ballads received widespread critical acclaim. Bill van Parys of Rolling Stone wrote that "never before have manic elements elevated Cave's shtick to art as on Murder Ballads", describing the album as "literate, sultry and tortured" and "the performance of Nick Cave's life."

Tracklist

A

  • 1.Song Of Joy
  • 2.Henry Lee
  • 3.Lovely Creature
  • 4.Stagger Lee

B

  • 5.Where The Wild Roses Grow
  • 6.The Curse Of Millhaven
  • 7.The Kindness Of Strangers
  • 8.Crow Jane

C

  • 9.O' Malley's Bar
  • 10.Death Is Not The End

Videos

More by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

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