Tender Prey
It wasTender Preythat raised the delightfully unlikely specter of Nick Cave the pop star. What was even better was that the song that damn near did it--"The Mercy Seat"--was an epic litany relating the thoughts of a condemned prisoner awaiting his walk to the electric chair. "The Mercy Seat" is Cave and his Bad Seeds at their best: the former leavening his mordant tale with grim wit ("A ragged cup, a twisted mop . . . the face of Jesus in my soup"), the latter conjuring an appropriately demented squall of electric guitars and violins.Tender Preywas a massively important album for Cave: for the first time, he is unabashed about projecting his bleak and often misunderstood sense of humorandhis ability to write as good a pop tune as anyone.Tender Preyis the beginning of Cave's voyage toward acceptance by the general public and perhaps himself. Everything good he's done since--and there's been an impressive amount--starts here.--Andrew Mueller