The Art of Nick Cave: New Critical Essays ed. by John H. Baker, and: Autobiography by Morrissey (review)

Editor John H. Baker, a faculty member in English, Linguistics, and Cultural Studies at the University of Westminster, has assembled this work, a collection of critical essays on Australian rock musician Nick Cave, best known for the musical acts Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and Grinderman. Nick Cave has a cultlike following, which may have inspired this work. His songs, as well as his books, plays, and other output, draw inspiration from the Bible, and he stated in an interview with the Guardian that most of his songs can fall under the themes of love, possession, and violent death (Simon Hattenstone, “Old Nick,” Guardian, 22 February, 2008, http://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/feb/23/popandrock.features, accessed 19 September 2014). Musically, Cave has been inspired most dramatically by Lou Reed and David Bowie. More recently, he can be classified as Southern Gothic, having provided some of the haunting music for HBO’s True Detective series.

Baker explains in the introduction that the essays were culled from a one-day conference on Nick Cave organized by the University of Westminster, and that “papers on his work outside of songwriting would be particularly welcome” (p. 5). Perhaps because Baker is himself an English professor, he has included essays that focus almost exclusively on the literary aspects of Nick Cave’s work and very little on his music. The book is divided into five parts: “Cave, the Songwriter,” “Murder Ballads,” “Film and Theatre,” “Influences,” and “Sacred and Profane.” The contributors are primarily faculty in English, theater, and music at universities worldwide. Each essay has a bibliography, but there is no master bibliography for the book, nor is there an index. For the most part, while some essays could be read or reviewed out of context, the majority work best as complementary pieces of a larger body of Cave scholarship. This book is not for the casual appreciator of Nick Cave: the essays require a working knowledge of the singer’s life, his interest in theology and religion, and the folk tales and legends referred to in the songs.

The first essay explores The Boatman’s Call and is based entirely on the author’s interpretation of Cave’s lyrics. It is somewhat dry and challenging to read, much like a serious literary analysis of a poem or short story. The author does not use literary jargon or write in an exclusionary way, but instead analyzes the lyrics so deeply that it may be difficult for casual listeners of these songs to appreciate. For example, on page 16, the author, in describing the song “Lime-Tree Arbour,” says “tactile experience reaffirms itself again, as in the opening track’s potent image of being held in the beloved’s arms.” The author also assumes that the reader has seen Wim Wenders’s Wings of Desire and will accept the assertion that the “principal themes in that film offer an interesting, comparative commentary upon some of the central concerns of Cave’s album, The Boatman’s Call” (p. 13). Wings of Desire is a 1987 film that explores West Berlin from the viewpoint of two angels; the angels interact with a trapeze artist, and at one point Nick Cave performs with the Bad Seeds at a nightclub. Director Wenders later said of Nick Cave that “his songs deal with a desire for pure love or this longing for peace in spite of all the turmoil and unrest happening inside him” (Hattenstone).

The next essay (by Carl Lavery) almost ignores lyrics and focuses instead on the music and sound. To that end, the author states “I want to build on, as well as move away from, those academic studies that analyze Cave’s performance in visual and lyrical...