I have no desire to return to the world of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. The last time I went there I felt Nick Cave really wanted me to kill myself, since all he talked about was death, and he sounded really corny doing so. Henry's Dream was made a few years before Murder Ballads, so hopefully at this point the band wasn't so obsessed with death. I'm still dreading this.
Nick Cave still wants to sound all dark and dire. As I listened to "Papa Won't You Leave Henry" all I can imagine is Nick Cave forcing his mouth into a frown as hard as possible as he bellows out his lyrics. I don't know why his dark vocal inflections sound so forced to me but they do. It makes it feel like his persona is a calculated gimmick rather than an honest reflection of his character.
I'm getting the same vibe from this as I did from Divine Comedy's Cassanova. It feels like a phony, forced, and desperate attempt to sound epic and sad. Henry's Dream is mostly just an alternative country album, only made remarkable by Nick Cave's angry voice, and his fascination with just about every dark cliche you can think of. I'm seriously bored.
"When I First Came To Town" snakes a piano lick from Bob Seger's "Still The Same". It's only 3 notes, and it's not exactly the same, the rhythm is a bit off, but the key is about right. What that does to my brain is make it desperately want to go listen to some Bob Seger. It also makes me anticipate the rest of the riff, because all "When I First Came To Town" does is repeat the first three notes of the riff endlessly.
Whatever... In almost every way it was better than Murder Ballads, so that's worth an extra star I guess. 2 stars.
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