With guitarist/keyboardist Roland Wolf and Cramps/Gun Club veteran Kid Congo Powers on guitar added to the ranks, along with guest appearances from old member Hugo Race, the Seeds reached 1988 with their strongest album yet, the insanely powerful, gripping Tender Prey. Rather than simply redoing what they'd already done, Nick Cave and company took their striking musical fusions to deeper and higher levels all around, with fantastic consequences. The album boldly starts out with an undisputed Cave masterpiece -- "The Mercy Seat," a chilling self-portrait of a prisoner about to be executed that compares the electric chair with the throne of God. Queasy strings from a Gini Ball-led trio and Mick Harvey's spectral piano snake through a rising roar of electric sound -- a common musical approach from many earlier Seeds songs, but never so gut-wrenching as here. Cave's own performance is the perfect icing on the cake, commanding and powerful, excellently capturing the blend of crazed fear and righteousness in the lyrics. Matching that high point turns out to be impossible for anything else on Tender Prey, but more than enough highlights take a bow that demonstrates the album's general quality. "Deanna" is another great blast from the Seeds, a garage rock-style rave-up that lyrically is everything Natural Born Killers tried to be, but failed at -- killing sprees, Cadillacs, and carrying out the work of the Lord, however atypically. The echoing, gentle-yet-rough sonics on the Blind Willie Johnson-inspired "City of Refuge" and the gentler drama of "Sugar Sugar Sugar" also do well in keeping the energy level up. On the quieter side, Cave indulges his penchant for gloomy piano-led ballads throughout, and quite well at that, with such songs as "Watching Alice," "Mercy," and the end-of-the-evening singalong "New Morning." "Sunday's Slave" has a beautifully brooding feeling to it thanks to the combination of acoustic guitar and piano, making it a bit of a cousin of Scott Walker's "Seventh Seal." ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
Roland Wolf (Piano), Mick Harvey (Xylophone), Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Vocals (Background)), Roland Wolf (Organ), Nick Cave (Producer), Gini Ball (Strings), Peter Gruchot (Photography), Mick Harvey (Percussion), Tony Cohen (Engineer), Hugo Race (Vocals (Background)), Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Producer), Nick Cave (Harmonica), Bleddyn Butcher (Photography), Slim Smith (?), Kid Congo Powers (Guitar), Mick Harvey (Loops), Mick Harvey (Bass Programming), Audrey Riley (Strings), Blixa Bargeld (Vocals (Background)), Thomas Wydler (Drums), Mick Harvey (Guitar), Mick Harvey (?), Mick Harvey (Bass), Slim Smith (Design), Flood (Engineer), Chris Thompson (Mixing), Mick Harvey (Drums), Blixa Bargeld (Guitar), Roland Wolf (Guitar), Nick Cave (Vocals), Mick Harvey (Vocals (Background)), Tony Cohen (Mixing), Nick Cave (Piano), Hugo Race (Guitar), Mick Harvey (Piano), Mick Harvey (Organ), Nick Cave (Tambourine), Nick Cave (Organ (Hammond)), Chris Tombling (Strings), Nick Cave (Vibraphone), Mick Harvey (Guitar (Acoustic)), Chris Tomblin (Strings), Chris Thompson (Engineer), Blixa Bargeld (Slide Guitar), Kid Congo Powers (Vocals (Background))
Tender Prey contains Cave's 'signature' tune "The Mercy Seat", which he has subsequently played at almost all of his live performances since 1988, and was covered by Johnny Cash. The album is dedicated to Fernando Ramos da Silva. [1]
"Deanna" is loosely based on The Edwin Hawkins' Singers version of the hymn "Oh Happy Day". Subsequently Cave issued an acoustic version of a medley of both songs. Hawkins' version was later issued on Original Seeds Vol. 1.
"City of Refuge" is noted in the credit listing as being inspired by a Blind Willie Johnson song "I'm Gonna Run to the City of Refuge". This was later issued on Original Seeds Vol. 1.
Personnel
Nick Cave – Vocals, Hammond, Harmonica, Piano, Tambourine, Vibes
