Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is a various artist compilation, which was initially released in June 1998. It was re-titled as Original Seeds Volume 1: Songs That Inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds when the follow-up Original Seeds Volume 2: Songs That Inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds appeared in 2004. Both appeared on the Rubber Records label in Australia and the United Kingdom.[1][2][3]

Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Compilation album by
Various artists
Released22 June 1998 (1998-06-22)
Length59:00
LabelRubber, BMG
ProducerKim Beissel
Various artists chronology
Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
(1998)
Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Vol 2
(2004)

The liner notes by the producer, Kim Beissel, describe the link between each track and works by Australian musician, Nick Cave, generally with his group, the Bad Seeds throughout their related careers.[4][5] Most tracks were directly covered by Cave, while some were adapted, or borrowed from, to form new songs.

In January 2009 Beissel appeared as a DJ at the Cave-curated festival, All Tomorrow's Parties at Mount Buller, Australia.

In 2019, Cave curated a Spotify playlist "Nick Cave's Hidden Songs" which included the original artist's recordings of "Avalanche", "Katie Cruel", "Tupelo Blues", and "Plain Gold Ring", as well as songs by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young and others. [6]

Inspirations

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While the liner notes reference many songs, the songs included on each CD that Beissel claims partly inspired new Cave songs are as follows:

Volume 1 – "Katie Cruel" ("When I First Came to Town"), "Tupelo Blues" ("Tupelo"), "Another Man Done Gone" ("The Good Son"), "I’m Gonna Run to the City of Refuge" ("City of Refuge"), "Oh Happy Day" ("Deanna")

Volume 2 – "Way Down in the Hole" ("Red Right Hand"), "Sara" ("Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere?"), "Perfect Day" ("There is a Kingdom"), "Street Fight" ("Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)").

Reception

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Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Rolling Stone     [7]
The Age    [8]

Both volumes received positive critical reactions. Of Volume 1, in September 1998 Tracey Grimson of Australian Rolling Stone gave the album four stars, writing "Altogether stunning...a journey through music's flirtation with death, love and the rest.". Patrick Donovan of The Age gave the album four stars and declared it "Album of the week" (24/07/1998), stating "the presentation is faultless". Of Volume 2, Noel Mengel of The Courier Mail wrote "An album of startling contrasts...plays like a dream radio station" (09/10/2004); Michael Dwyer of The Age called it "An inspired work of cultural archaeology" (02/10/2004); Stephen Fitzpatrick of The Weekend Australian called it "The perfect journey through pop's wilderness" (23/10/2004); Malena Rydell of Dagens Nyheter (Daily News, Sweden) wrote "A bunch of truly fantastic tracks" (01/12/2004).

Track listing

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Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
No.TitleWriter(s)ArtistLength
1."Long Time Man"Tim RoseTim Rose5:04
2."Cat Man"Gene Vincent, William "Sheriff Tex" DavisGene Vincent & the Blue Caps2:17
3."Avalanche"Leonard CohenLeonard Cohen5:00
4."Katie Cruel"TraditionalKaren Dalton2:20
5."Hammer Song"Alex HarveyThe Sensational Alex Harvey Band4:05
6."Weeping Annaleah"Mickey Newbury, Dan FolgerTom Jones3:24
7."Sad Dark Eyes"Gerry Humphrys, Rob Lovett, Ian Clyne, Gavin AndersonThe Loved Ones2:14
8."The Big Hurt"Wayne ShanklinScott Walker2:23
9."Tupelo Blues"John Lee HookerJohn Lee Hooker3:23
10."The Long Black Veil"Danny Dill, Marijohn WilkinLefty Frizzell3:09
11."The Folk Singer"Johnny Cash, Charlie DanielsJohnny Cash2:58
12."Another Man Done Gone"TraditionalOdetta2:09
13."I'm Gonna Run to the City of Refuge"TraditionalBlind Willie Johnson3:23
14."Oh Happy Day"TraditionalEdwin Hawkins Singers5:08
15."Je t'aime... moi non plus"Serge GainsbourgSerge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin4:22
16."By the Time I Get to Phoenix"Jimmy WebbIsaac Hayes18:40

Volume two

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No.TitleWriter(s)ArtistLength
1."Did You Hear About Jerry?"Harry Belafonte, Irving BurgieHarry Belafonte2:56
2."Way Down in the Hole"Tom WaitsTom Waits3:30
3."A Little Bit of Rain"Fred NeilFred Neil2:24
4."Love Like Anthrax"Dave Allen, Hugo Burnham, Andy Gill, Jon KingGang of Four3:19
5."Sara"Bob DylanBob Dylan5:31
6."Hey Joe"Billy RobertsTim Rose3:03
7."Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)"Mickey NewburyThe First Edition3:22
8."In The Ghetto"Mac DavisElvis Presley2:47
9."Plain Gold Ring"George StoneNina Simone3:56
10."Loose"The StoogesThe Stooges3:33
11."Looky Looky Yonder/Black Betty/Yellow Women's Door Bells"Traditional; arranged by Huddie LedbetterLead Belly3:00
12."Double Dare"Hoyt AxtonHoyt Axton2:32
13."Perfect Day"Lou ReedLou Reed3:46
14."Street Fight"Alice Cooper, Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neal SmithAlice Cooper0:55

Sources

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  • Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Kim Beissel, CD liner notes, Rubber Records Australia, 1998
  • Original Seeds Vol. 2: Songs that inspired Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Kim Beissel, CD liner notes, Rubber Records Australia, 2004

References

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  1. ^ "Original Seeds: Songs that Inspired Nick Cave – Various Artists". Allmusic. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Original Seeds, Vol. 2". Allmusic. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  3. ^ Original seeds songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Rubber Records. National Library of Australia, 1998, retrieved 4 September 2014
  4. ^ "Original Seeds Vol. 2: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds". Fasterlouder.com.au. 7 December 2004. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  5. ^ Turnbull, Phil. "Sydney Post-Punk Memoirs". N o N i g h t S w e a t s. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  6. ^ "Five unique playlists curated by your favourite artists". 21 March 2022.
  7. ^ Grimson, Tracey, Australian Rolling Stone, Album reviews, September 1998
  8. ^ Donovan, Patrick, The Age, EG CD reviews, 24 July 1998