It’s hard work sifting through a band’s discography trying to figure out where to start. Try going through artist’s like Bowie, Swans, Belle and Sebastian and so on’s entire catalog, it ain’t easy. Surely the beginning should be the most logical place? Not always. Here i take a look at one of my favourite artists and kinda talk about each one. Obviously I don’t have the patience to go through each and every single album, with The Bad Seed’s 15 albums, as well as side projects and early albums from The Birthday Party -that’s a hell of a lot of output but here goes. Let’s start.

Let Love In (1994) is the quintessential album for a new fan to start (even with the bias of it being my personal favourite.) No other album in the band’s discography has the balance that Let Love In has. It manages to take you on a ride through the different spectrums of what makes The Bad Seeds whilst managing to stay incredibly cohesive. When ranked in terms of Cave’s narratives efforts, this album won’t be up there. It doesn’t fully take you to the painful murderous details of Murder Ballads or the equally painful (in a much different way) candidness of The Boatman’s Call. However it sits somewhere in the middle. Really the easiest words to describe this album would be ‘just right’. Just right in it’s blending of genres: from the raucous post punk explosions reminiscent of their earlier work (Do You Love Me, Jangling Jack, Thirsty Dog) to the heartbreaking calmer semi-ballads (I Let Love In, Nobody’s Baby Now, Aint Gonna Rain Anymore) as well as the trademark songs that make you question your own existence (Red Right Hand, Lay Me Low). It’s all there. It’s ugly, yet beautiful at the same time – The thing about Let Love In, each song has it’s own leg to stand on. Ten songs that could easily make the only setlist The Bad Seeds would ever need to play.

Once you’ve started with Let Love In, follow this path into the discography. You’ll have a taste of the different types of songs that The Bad Seeds make and it’ll easier for you to make your way through the rest of their work. The first album listed will be the most essential and so on. (Similar songs on Let Love In are in the title)

Dark, Alternative (Red Right Hand) Starting with Tender Prey, then onto Murder Ballads, this category features Nick Cave at his lyrical best: morbid, explicit, never leaving any details to the imagination. Tender Prey features one of the Bad Seed’s most well known song: The Mercy’s Seat. A long album opener about a death row inmate, from there on Cave takes you through diverse tales of darkness and gloom. Murder Ballads is an album about, yes you’ve guessed it: people being killed in the most gruesome ways. Still manages to have a lovely Kylie Minogue duet on there though.

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Post-Punk explosive songs ( Loverman, Thirsty Dog, Jangling Jack) Starting with The Bad Seed’s first album From Her To Eternity, these albums are thrashing, noise-filled, grim and without the polished essence of some of the groups later efforts such as Abattoir Blues. The majority of The Birthday Party albums are here, after all they were a Punk band and From Her To Eternity simply feels like a continuation of that sound but with an added jittery rythmic subtlety that The Birthday Party didn’t quiet have with their brash tunes.

Almost bluesy, conventional Garage rock- (Do You Love Me, I Let Love in, Lay Me Low) Abattoir Blues/ The Lyre of Orhepus could have easily taken the place of Let Love In. I see it as the older brother (even though it’s younger), the more polished, more lyrical, the gospel to the world of Nick Cave. Everything about this album is more. The majority of this album feels like Cave is preaching to the masses with songs like There She Goes, My Beautiful World and Get Ready For Love which are filled with heavy instrumentation drenched in elegancy. Other albums in here include the two Grinderman projects (the Bad Seed side project)which diverge from the sound of Abbatoir Blues but yet somehow feels influenced by it at the same time. In addition to this, the first Grinderman went on to influence the next Bad Seeds album, Dig Lazarus Dig!!!, a gothic garage rock experience which takes the gospel elements of Abbatoir Blues and strips it apart to its own accord.

Quieter, piano driven songs (Nobody’s Baby Now, Aint Gonna Rain Anymore,,Do You Love Me Part 2) The Boatman’s Call is probably The Bad Seed’s most critically acclaimed album, full of heartbreaking ballads as Nick questions God, himself as well as the human race and their ability to love. Includes popular songs such as In My Arms and People Aint No Good. My second favourite Nick Cave album is also in this section: No More Shall We Part picks off where The Botman’s Call left off with a new added texture coming from Cave’s lyrics (after having married to his current wife and presumedly forgotten about the perils of PJ Harvey.) No More Shall We Part is still a painful record, but beautiful nevertheless. Here you will also find Push The Sky Away, the band’s latest effort and first album since the departure of long serving guitarist Mick Harvey. The absence of guitars is noticeable but it seems to work for the band with the album being one of the most stripped back in their discography. The lyrics portray Nick as a forlorn old man in a modern age. He’s never been more self referential.

Honorable Mentions: Still worth checking out after you’ve been through the rest but not as essential. These albums are decent, but they don’t hold their own when compared to the rest of the discography.