Goff's Pick of the Week- Grinderman II by Grinderman

Nick Cave is a little like a pervy T.S. Elliot, that is if T.S. Elliot were accompanied by one of the dirtiest sounding bands in the business. Cave reads off what may best be described as beat poetry over top of whatever the rest of the band happened to want to play in the studio that day, and it really works well for some reason. And of course we have known this for a long time, Cave has been at it in various forms over the years, from his start in The Birthday Party, to his work with the Bad Seeds, to now with his side project Grinderman. Grinderman was an attempt to get Cave back to his grimy roots, to get into the studio and record without using any of the habits that the band had developed over the years. They may have only been together for two albums, but both of those albums have plenty of kick, especially their second album Grinderman II. Elliot writes about a guy who cant talk to women in his famous poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Similarly Cave writes about weak men, men who are controlled by seductive women, abrasive songs about men who are controlled by manipulative rapists. And while it is an interesting way to convey an idea, it gives Cave a lot of song writing wiggle room, allowing him to really write the angry songs he wants to without having the songs be any more morally objectionable than they have to be.

It also lets him turn around and write a love song or two, which in context come across as very insincere and desperate, which is how Cave seemed to have wanted it. There are exceptions to this however; a few of the songs here at least approach sincerity, especially the track What I Know which is exceptionally pretty sounding. The songs are good enough too that they do not sound like a departure from form, but rather just serve as a testimony to how well Cave can write a song. Take the song Palaces of Montezuma, where the narrator list things that he is offering up to his lover, among which are “The Palaces of Montezuma And the Gardens of Akbar's tomb”, “A custard-coloured super-dream Of Ali McGraw and Steve McQueen”, and my personal favorite “The spinal cord of JFK Wrapped in Marilyn Monroe's negligee”. The point that Im getting at is that Cave is particularly good at writing songs that will bother you a little bit, whether it be on a musical or a lyrical level, it gets under your skin just enough to give the already very tense songs the needed push over the edge.

In relation to Grinderman (refering to their first album) Grinderman II is just more of everything. While It may not have a single as good as No Pussy Blues, it stills has plenty of songs to wet your whistle. There is the excellent opener, Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man, the third track Heathen Child, the previously mentioned What I Know and The Palaces of Montezuma, and Evil! All of which are excellent tracks. Ultimately any song from this album if it had been placed on the first Grinderman album would have been the second or third best song on that record, Grinderman’s second outing is just far more consistent throughout, and it listens better too.