Kicking Against the Pricks | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 18 August 1986 | |||
Length | 45:28 | |||
Label | Mute | |||
Producer | ||||
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds chronology | ||||
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Singles from Kicking Against the Pricks | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Pitchfork | 8.2/10 [2] |
Q | [3] |
Record Collector | [4] |
Record Mirror | 4+1⁄2/5 [5] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [6] |
Sounds | [7] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 8/10 [8] |
Uncut | [9] |
Kicking Against the Pricks is the third album released by the rock music group Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. First released in 1986, the album is a collection of Cave's interpretations of songs by other artists. The title is a reference to a biblical quote from the King James version of the Bible, Acts 26, verse 14.
The album marked the Bad Seeds debut of drummer Thomas Wydler, expanding the Bad Seeds line-up to Cave (vocals and keyboards), Wydler, bassist Barry Adamson, and guitarists Mick Harvey and Blixa Bargeld.
Cave would later downplay the importance of the record, but said it helped the band develop musically:
It allowed us to discover different elements, to actually make and perform a variety of different sorts of music successfully. I think that helped subsequent records tremendously. [10]
Remarking on the song selection, Cave said:
They were all done for different reasons. Basically a list of songs were made and we tried to play them. We tried songs by the Loved Ones and the Saints and all sorts of people that never got on the record. Some songs were tributes, like the Tom Jones song; other songs we didn't think the song was ever done particularly well in the first place. Some songs had just kind of haunted my childhood, like "The Carnival Is Over", which I always loved. [11]
The strings were arranged by Harvey and played by the Berliner Kaffeehausmusik Ensemble. "The Hammer Song" is not to be confused with the song of the same name from the 1990 Bad Seeds album The Good Son .
The album was remastered and reissued on 27 April 2009 as a collector's edition CD/DVD set. The CD features the original 12-song vinyl LP's track listing, while "Black Betty" and "Running Scared" are featured as bonus audio tracks on the accompanying DVD.
Recordings of seven of these songs, performed by the original artists, were later issued on the Original Seeds compilation CDs.
Some of the songs were re-titled (possibly through error), and one was miscredited, as follows:
1. "Muddy Water" by Phil Rosenthal. On the Cave LP the song is credited to John Bundrick, who wrote a song of the same title, recorded by the band Free. Previously recorded by the Seldom Scene, and Johnny Cash.
3. "Sleeping Annaleah" is the song "Weeping Annaleah", previously recorded by Tom Jones.
6. "The Singer" is the song "The Folk Singer", previously recorded by Tommy Roe, Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, and Burl Ives.
7. "Black Betty" is actually three songs recorded by Leadbelly as a medley: "Looky Looky Yonder/Black Betty/Yellow Women's Doorbells".
12. "The Carnival Is Over" was not co-written by Frank Farian; this credit appears as a consequence of his creating an extra verse for Boney M.'s cover of the song.
13. "Jesus Met the Woman at the Well" is credited as "traditional, arranged the Alabama Singers". While this song was recorded by the Alabama Singers, it follows the arrangement of an earlier recording by the Pilgrim Travelers, which is credited as "traditional, arranged J. W. Alexander".
Chart (1986) | Peak position |
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UK Albums Chart [13] | 89 |
UK Independent Albums Chart [14] | 1 |
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock band formed in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its career and presently consists of Cave, violinist and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, bassist Martyn P. Casey, guitarist George Vjestica, keyboardist/percussionist Larry Mullins, also known as Toby Dammit, and drummers Thomas Wydler (Switzerland) and Jim Sclavunos. Described as "one of the most original and celebrated bands of the post-punk and alternative rock eras in the '80s and onward", they have released seventeen studio albums and completed numerous international tours.
Tender Prey is the fifth studio album by Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 19 September 1988 on Mute Records. Produced by Flood, the album was recorded during several sessions over the course of four months in West Berlin—where the band were based at the time of its release—and London and dedicated to Fernando Ramos da Silva.
Murder Ballads is the ninth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, 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 of crimes of passion.
Nocturama is the twelfth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on February 3, 2003 on Mute and ANTI-. Produced by Nick Launay, the album is the last to feature founding member Blixa Bargeld who departed from the band shortly after the album's release.
Let Love In is the eighth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 18 April 1994 on Mute Records.
From Her to Eternity is the debut studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in May 1984 on Mute. Produced by Flood and the band itself, the album's title is a pun on the James Jones novel, From Here to Eternity, and its subsequent 1953 film adaptation.
The Firstborn Is Dead is the second studio album released by the post-punk band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It was first released in 1985. On this record, singer Nick Cave continued his fascination with the American South, with its references to Elvis Presley and bluesmen like Blind Lemon Jefferson. The photography is by Jutta Henglein-Bildau.
Your Funeral... My Trial is the fourth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 3 November 1986 by Mute Records. Your Funeral... My Trial was originally released as a double EP. The album was issued on CD with a different running order and the additional track "Scum". During this period in his life, Cave was steeped in heroin addiction, perhaps evidenced by the melancholy, desperate mood of this album. This was the final Bad Seeds album to feature Barry Adamson until he returned for Push the Sky Away (2013).
The Good Son is the sixth album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 1990.
Live Seeds is the first official live album by Australian post-punk band, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The album was recorded live from 1992 to 1993, at various concerts throughout Europe and Australia, at the touring stage promoting their previous studio album, Henry's Dream. Nick Cave wanted to give the songs a raw feeling as originally intended before production problems occurred. Live Seeds includes a not previously studio-recorded track, "Plain Gold Ring", which is a cover of a song performed by Nina Simone.
Anita Louise Lane was an Australian singer-songwriter who was briefly a member of the Bad Seeds with Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and collaborated with both bandmates. Lane released two solo albums, Dirty Pearl (1993) and Sex O'Clock (2001).
The Best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is a compilation album by Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 11 May 1998.
B-Sides & Rarities is a 3CD compilation by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in March 2005. It features over 20 years of the band's B-sides and previously unreleased tracks. It is also the first recording to include all members of the Bad Seeds, past and present up to the time of its release: current members Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld, Thomas Wydler, Martyn P. Casey, Conway Savage, Jim Sclavunos, and Warren Ellis, and former members Barry Adamson, Hugo Race, Kid Congo Powers, Roland Wolf, and James Johnston. A second volume, B-Sides & Rarities Part II, was released in October 2021.
Thomas Wydler, is a Swiss musician best known for being a core member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, of which he has been a drummer since 1985. Prior to joining them, he was a member of the experimental German band Die Haut. Wydler has been present on almost every Bad Seeds album, making his debut appearance on the group's third album Kicking Against The Pricks (1986). After the departure of founding member Mick Harvey in January 2009, Wydler became the longest-serving member of the Bad Seeds apart from singer Nick Cave.
The Abattoir Blues Tour is the second live album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 29 January 2007. The deluxe release includes two audio CDs and two DVDs.
Live at the Royal Albert Hall is a live album by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, released on 24 November 2008. It was recorded on 19 and 20 May 1997 during the tour for The Boatman's Call and eight of these tracks were originally released as a nine-track bonus disc for The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. It features a version of "Where the Wild Roses Grow" with vocals by Blixa Bargeld, which is delivered in a way that is similar to the demo version that can also be found on the B-Sides & Rarities three-disc set. These live recordings display the more mellow sound and performances that the group had been showcasing at that period, and would continue to deliver in the later No More Shall We Part.
"The Ship Song" is a song written by Nick Cave, originally performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on their 1990 The Good Son album. It was released by Mute Records as the first single from the album on 12 March 1990, as a CD single, 7" vinyl and a 12" vinyl release. The song reached #84 on the UK Singles Charts.
"The Folk Singer" is a folk song, written by Charles E. Daniels and American musician Johnny Cash and first recorded by Cash in 1968. It is also known as "Folk Singer" or, less often, "The Singer".
God Is in the House is a live concert DVD by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 26 August 2003.