Abattoir Blues-The Lyre of Orpheus

Nick Cave is a powerful songwriter, but he’s best in measured doses. Two full albums is not what we’d call "measured," but that's not to say these aren’t good albums. Abattoir Blues is filled with quasi-gospel rave-ups, messy blues stomps, and a banging funk-soul ode. The Lyre of Orpheus is generally more subdued: “Breathless” is an unabashed love song adorned with woodwinds and gentle acoustic guitar; the folksy “Babe, You Turn Me On” is another love song, albeit one with lines like “I put one hand on your round, ripe heart/And the other down your panties.” There are only a few clunkers spread across these two records, but the sheer weight of Cave’s relentlessly dark artistic vision gets a little overwhelming after a while.