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Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – “Henry’s Dream” Reviewed and Revisited

Nick Cave, early into his career, presented himself as a demon with style. His band, The Bad Seeds, were the devils tasked with doing his bidding. The band’s recordings and live shows contained violence, and Cave sang words like a preacher talking straight out of The Old Testament.

“Henry’s Dream” is one of the final times that the band allowed itself to get truly unhinged before reining things in and adding an air of respectability to Cave’s work.

“Henry’s Dream” was a well-received album in alternative rock and indie circles. Can it still be appreciated as one of the best bands by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds? In this revised review, I’m finding out.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - “Henry’s Dream” Reviewed and Revisited

Nick Cave’s Road to Making “Henry’s Dream”

Nick Cave isn’t just an artist who has hoped mythology would naturally be constructed around his work. He has prepared for it, documenting every step taken in his artistic journey. In fact, a Copenhagen-based exhibit, “Stranger Than Kindness,” was dedicated to showing Cave’s writings, photos, books, etc., in tremendous detail.

This means that many readers will already be familiar with the story. Nick Cave was the singer for The Birthday Party, an Australian punk band that moved to London. Their recordings were chaotic and sensational, and their live shows were chaotic and, often, violent.

Cave then left The Birthday Party and started a solo career backed by what he dubbed The Bad Seeds, an ever-changing line-up of underground, indie-rock alumni. By 1992, this included Mick Harvey, previously of the Birthday Party, or Blixa Bargeld, the leader of the noise art group Einstürzende Neubauten.

Nick Cave’s musical ability improved consistently. While the psychotic country-punk of debut album, “From Her to Eternity,” certainly has its merits, the Australian became a better singer and songwriter with each new record.

Cave took to learning the piano, using it to, occasionally, write tender ballads, as on the album “The Good Son.” He fought to kick a drug habit and took a keen interest in literature.

In 1992, The Bad Seeds were famous with cool, underground audiences. They were about to become ever more famous as the 1990s wore on, and Cave would reach his commercial zenith with “Murder Ballads” and the single “Where the Wild Roses Grow,” which featured Aussie pop star Kylie Minogue.

nick cave bad seeds

“Henry’s Dream” Reviewed

“Henry’s Dream” may just be the best Nick Cave album, first and foremost, because it finds the author still passionately in love with brutality and with sounds that express this, but also aware of how to make recordings sound lush and harmonious.

“Henry’s Dream” is really a fever dream, a tour through a world populated by people who have no way of getting into heaven and who know it too. Maybe this is why Cave keeps coming back, again and again, to biblical themes when describing this universe of ugliness and sin.

Album opener, “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry” is one of the loudest, most direct and memorable songs that Cave & the Bad Seeds ever produced. Live recordings, such as the one from the Paradiso concert in Amsterdam, have Cave nearly assaulting the audience. It’s a song that mixes a lullaby-like chorus to the talent of decay and inner-guilt.

The intensity is maintained with “I Had a Dream, Joe,” the album’s lead single. Over a ramshackle acoustic guitar that predates folk-punk, Cave sings about whores, religious ceremonies, and about seeing his friend Joe dead and ready to meet his maker.

Such darkness needs to be taken down a notch, and “Straight to You,” one of the first true blue love songs by Cave provides the album with one of its highlights. It’s a lovely moment, but there’s no more smooth sailing from here on.

“Brother, My Cup Is Empty” is another of Cave’s best songs, a tune about a murderous beggar led by his addiction to disaster. “John Finn’s Wife” is a tune about adultery and, once more, murder. And, yes, the beautiful melancholy of “Loom of the Land” ends in another confession of gruesome slaying.

The album’s conclusion, and the least refined moment on the album is “Jack the Ripper,” a blues about plotting to kill one’s wife, or, at least, about thinking about it constantly.

Cave sings much better than he had on his first solo albums. But it is The Bad Seeds who are often the stars of the songs. They create a wonderfully harmonious racket, a kind of biker gang playing folk songs while high on speed.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - "Wild God" Review

Legacy of “Henry’s Dream”

By 1994, Nick Cave was fully devoted to his wife and life in Brazil. He was writing songs like “Red Right Hand” and “Do You Love Me?” and making great commercial and artistic strides. By 1997, he was singing with Kylie Minogue and PJ Harvey and getting on MTV. And by the 2000s, he was a symbol of cultured rock n’ roll.

This means that “Henry’s Dream” often gets overlooked. Not by Alt77 though. I called it the best Nick Cave album in my article ranking his and the band’s discography.

The album was a modest hit. It and and its accompanying singles charted in Australia and the United Kingdom. Critics argued about its merits, and some like Melody Maker included it in their year’s end best of lists.

The truth is, however, there to be seen in all its gruesome form. Never were Cave & the Bad Seeds more genuinely filled with menace, ambition, and mighty good song ideas than on “Henry’s Dream.”

About author

Eduard Banulescu is a writer, blogger, and musician. As a content writer, Eduard has contributed to numerous websites and publications, including FootballCoin, Play2Earn, BeIN Crypto, Business2Community, NapoliSerieA, Extra Time Talk, Nitrogen Sports, Bavarian FootballWorks, etc. He has written a book about Nirvana, hosts a music podcasts, and writes weekly content about some of the best, new and old, alternative musicians. Eduard also runs and acts as editor-in-chief of the alternative rock music website www.alt77.com. Mr. Banulescu is also a musician, having played and recorded in various bands and as a solo artist.
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