Red Mosquito

Carnage and White Elephant back to back is simply amazing.

I've said it before but this guy is a treasure.

This is so good. And totally agree 'sleep.

So far i liked it more than Ghosteen, which i just couldt get into.

Listened to this once yesterday and really, really enjoyed it. Giving it another spin today.

yeah, it was ok but i wasnt super drawn to it. Ill come back for another listen, but i wasnt blown away.

Loving this album.

"I'll shoot you all for free if you so much as look at me."

This fucking guy, man.
___

Red Hand Files #159

I've always felt some sort of relation between you and Nick Drake. If you haven't heard of him he was an artist from England who wrote only about 60 songs about love, regret, happiness and some emotions I can't really describe. He sadly suffered from depression and died from an overdose only 4 years into his career. I may be very wrong in thinking so but do you feel that you share more than your first name with Drake?
RAGHAV, NOIDA, INDIA

Have you ever met a hero that didn't disappoint?
PAMELA, LOS ANGELES, USA


Dear Raghav and Pamela,

Whenever I have heard Nick Drake’s music over the years I have enjoyed it, but that’s not the reason for replying to your letter, Raghav. I want to tell you a story, a sort of Nick Drake story, and try to answer your question, Pamela, in the process.

Sometime in the early eighties, on London’s Portobello Road, I was approached by a man who wanted to take my photograph. He said that I looked ‘interesting’. He gave me his address and told me to come to his flat the next day. This is before I had developed an acute dislike of having my photograph taken, and when I was dumb enough to think that going to a stranger’s flat to have my photo taken might be a good idea. Anyway, the next day I went to his place, somewhere in Ladbroke Grove.

Inside the flat, the photographer told me he had to set up his camera and asked me to sit and wait on a little sofa in the middle of his rather dark living room. I remember that there was an unsettling atmosphere in the room, heavy and strange, but I sat down anyway. After a while, I felt a presence behind me, as someone entered the room, walked slowly around the sofa, and then very carefully sat down beside me. It took me a moment to realise that this person, this woman, was the singer, Nico. Now, Pamela, at that time in my young life, Nico, who had sung with The Velvet Underground and made some classic solo albums herself, was, by any measure, a hero, and she was there beside me, sitting very still, and wearing green rubber, knee-high wellingtons. She didn’t speak for a long time. Then she turned slowly toward me, and said, very deliberately, in her thick German accent -

“I knew a boy who was just like you.”

I said, “Oh yeah?”

She said, “He was a singer and his name was Nick.”

And I said, “Well, that’s strange, because I am a singer and my name is Nick.”

And she said, very slowly, “I know.”

Then she said nothing for a while and my mind rushed all over the place, and I’m thinking, "Fuck, I’m sitting next to Nico. Fuck, I’m sitting next to Nico."

Eventually she said, “He died.”

And I said, “Oh, you mean Nick Drake?”

And she said, “Killed by his own hand.”

And I said, “Well, that’s where we diverge.”

She turned to me and after the longest time said, “Really? That’s what you think.”

Then she stood up and in slow motion walked out of the room.

And I’m thinking, “What the fuck.”

Anyway, the photographer’s way of taking pictures was to have you look in a mirror, in this case, his bathroom mirror, and he would photograph your reflection. As I was arranging my face, there in the mirror, from the end of the hall behind me, Nico appeared, like an apparition, standing very still and looking into the mirror. The photographer took the photo and I said, “I want that one.”

Sadly, I can’t remember what happened to the photos. I’m not sure I ever saw them. But, sitting here now and remembering, I sure would love that photograph.

So, that was the day that Nico, who famously sang ‘I’ll be Your Mirror’, became ‘my mirror’, the day she wore green rubber wellington boots and moved very slowly, the day she prophesied wrongly my self-destruction, and the day she did in no way disappoint. I send the fullest version of my love to her, wherever she may be, and Nick Drake too, all of it.

Love, Nick

best story ever

This is great news. The original B Sides & Rarities is such a great collection. Super excited for this one.

_____________


Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds will release B-Sides & Rarities Part II, the follow up to 2005’s B-Sides & Rarities, on 22 October on double vinyl, double CD, deluxe double CD and all digital platforms. Pre-order the album here.

B-Sides & Rarities Part I and Part II will also be released together as a Limited Edition Deluxe 7 Vinyl Box Set including 83 rare tracks and exclusive sleeve notes. Pre-order the box set here.

B-Sides & Rarities Part II was compiled by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and contains 27 rare and unreleased tracks from 2006-2020, including the first recordings of ‘Skeleton Tree’, ‘Girl In Amber’ and ‘Bright Horses’.

Previously unreleased song ‘Vortex’ is available to stream now here. Taken from B-Sides & Rarities Part II, it was written and recorded in 2006 by Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos. As the band were never able to define the song as either Grinderman or Bad Seeds, it remained unreleased.

The original B-Sides & Rarities Part I was released in 2005 – compiled by Mick Harvey it comprises 56 tracks including rarities, outtakes, covers and B-sides from 1988-2005. This is the first time the album is available on vinyl.



“I always liked the original B-Sides & Rarities more than any of our other albums. It’s the only one I’d listen to willingly. It seems more relaxed, even a bit nonsensical in places, but with some beautiful songs throughout. There is something, too, about the smallness of certain songs that is closer to their original spirit.

B-Sides & Rarities Part II continues this strange and beautiful collection of lost songs from The Bad Seeds. I love the final side of the last disc because it reveals the small and fragile beginnings of some of my favourite Bad Seeds songs. ‘Waiting For You’ complete with bizarre ‘canning factory’ rhythm track, a gorgeous ‘Life Per Se’ deemed too sad for Skeleton Tree, and ‘Earthlings’ that some consider the finest track of the Ghosteen sessions.”
Nick Cave

The first 'single' for the b-side record is great.

https://www.stereogum.com/2157972/nick- ... tex/music/

Looks good.

I listened to the Part II songs today and they were, unsurprisingly, amazing. I'm waiting to see if the 7-LP box set's price comes down a bit, but I will also be happy getting just the new songs on the 2-LP set if it never does.

Bizarrely the original "B Sides and Rarities" was one of my first in-depth dives into Mr Cave. I hadn't listened to any of his albums in full before randomly buying that 3 disc set back in the day.

Looking forward to checking this one out for sure.

The UPS man is due to bring my copy tomorrow.

CD, of course.

I've been listening to a ton of Dirty Three and have just started diving into Mick Turner's solo work, and, man, this is a pleasurable experience.

Simple Torture wrote:I've been listening to a ton of Dirty Three and have just started diving into Mick Turner's solo work, and, man, this is a pleasurable experience.

https://www.theredhandfiles.com/memories-mark-lanegan/

"Do you have any memories of Mark Lanegan that you’d like to share? He seemed to be one of the most highly regarded and respected musicians by his peers. A rare lyrical talent with a voice like no other."

Higgs wrote:Bizarrely the original "B Sides and Rarities" was one of my first in-depth dives into Mr Cave. I hadn't listened to any of his albums in full before randomly buying that 3 disc set back in the day.

Looking forward to checking this one out for sure.

I’m still working my way through that first bsides album. How wacky to start with it !

I’m really enjoying nocturama at the moment. I originally thought it was the worst, but now I think it might be the best. It has the perfect balance between absurdity and sincerity, and has a song for every mood.(The album nocturama, not the song, which is on the aforementioned bsides album)

Simple Torture wrote:I've been listening to a ton of Dirty Three and have just started diving into Mick Turner's solo work, and, man, this is a pleasurable experience.

sure is

coptheriotact wrote:

Higgs wrote:Bizarrely the original "B Sides and Rarities" was one of my first in-depth dives into Mr Cave. I hadn't listened to any of his albums in full before randomly buying that 3 disc set back in the day.

Looking forward to checking this one out for sure.

I’m still working my way through that first bsides album. How wacky to start with it !

I’m really enjoying nocturama at the moment. I originally thought it was the worst, but now I think it might be the best. It has the perfect balance between absurdity and sincerity, and has a song for every mood.(The album nocturama, not the song, which is on the aforementioned bsides album)

This was my first Cave album (it was the new album at the time I discovered him). I feel like it definitely gets something of a bad rap -- there are lots of little treasures on it, and "Babe I'm On Fire" is awesome.