Tender Prey

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Tender Prey
Tenderprey.jpg
Studio album by
Released19 September 1988 (1988-09-19)
RecordedAugust–November 1987
StudioVielklang Studios and Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin, Germany; Trident Studios and Strongroom Studios in London, United Kingdom
Genre
Length54:34
Label Mute
Producer
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds chronology
Your Funeral... My Trial
(1986)
Tender Prey
(1988)
The Good Son
(1990)
Singles from Tender Prey
  1. "The Mercy Seat"
    Released: 23 May 1988
  2. "Deanna"
    Released: 5 September 1988
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [4]
Drowned in Sound 9/10 [5]
NME 8/10 [6]
Paste 8.2/10 [7]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Record Mirror 4/5 [9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Spin Alternative Record Guide 7/10 [11]
Uncut Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [12]

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 London and West Berlin (where the band were based at the time of its release) and dedicated to Fernando Ramos da Silva.

Contents

Details

The album opens with frontman Nick Cave's signature song, "The Mercy Seat", which has been subsequently played at almost all of the band's live performances since 1988, and was later covered by one of Cave's influences, Johnny Cash, on American III: Solitary Man (2000). "The Mercy Seat" was released as a single in May 1988 prior to the album's release and "Deanna" was released in September. On the CD version, the video mix of "The Mercy Seat" is also included as the last track. "Deanna" is loosely based on The Edwin Hawkins' Singers version of the hymn "Oh Happy Day". Subsequently, Cave issued an acoustic version of a medley of both songs. Hawkins' version was later issued on Original Seeds Vol. 1. "City of Refuge" is noted in the credit listing as being inspired by a Blind Willie Johnson song "I'm Gonna Run to the City of Refuge". This was later issued on Original Seeds Vol. 1.

Upon its release, Tender Prey received positive reviews and charted in the United Kingdom and Greece. However, the album failed to chart in either the band's native Australia or the United States Billboard charts. The album was remastered and reissued on 29 March 2010 as a collector's edition CD/DVD set and in October 2010. It was also listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums , alongside The Boatman's Call (1997), in the Top 30. [13]

Cave later said, "It was a nightmare, that record. It is reflective of a group—particularly myself—who was just writing songs and there was no larger idea behind it. Sometimes some of the group was there, sometimes they weren't. I hear bad production and I hear bad performances as well." [14] Cave later admitted that the album, "was made at a difficult time in my life when things were spiralling out of control in a lot of areas." [15]

In 2012, the album was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia. [16]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Nick Cave, except where noted.

No.TitleMusicWordsLength
1."The Mercy Seat"Cave, Mick Harvey Cave7:17
2."Up Jumped the Devil"Cave, Harvey, Roland Wolf, Blixa Bargeld, Kid Congo Powers, Thomas Wydler Cave5:16
3."Deanna"  3:45
4."Watching Alice"  4:01
5."Mercy"Cave, HarveyCave6:22
6."City of Refuge"  4:48
7."Slowly Goes the Night"  5:23
8."Sunday's Slave"  3:40
9."Sugar Sugar Sugar"Cave, HarveyCave5:01
10."New Morning"  3:46
Total length:54:34
CD bonus track
No.TitleMusicWordsLength
11."The Mercy Seat" (video mix)Cave, HarveyCave5:05

Note: Early issues of the CD version of the album had a track indexing issue in which "Sunday's Slave" and "Sugar Sugar Sugar" were indexed as the same track.

Personnel

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Guests

Chart positions

Chart (1988)Peak
position
UK Albums Chart [17] 67
UK Independent Albums Chart [18] 2

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