Original Seeds

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Rolling Stone	[citation needed]

Original Seeds: Songs that inspired Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are two compilation albums. Volume one was issued in 1998, Volume two in 2004, initially on the Rubber Records label in Australia, but also in the UK.^[1][2]

Liner notes by the producer Kim Beissel describe the link between each track and works by Cave throughout his career.^[3][4] Most 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 Nick Cave curated festival All Tomorrow's Parties at Mount Buller, Australia.

Track listing

Volume one

1. Tim Rose – "Long Time Man" (Rose)
2. Gene Vincent & the Blue Caps – "Cat Man" (Vincent/Davis)
3. Leonard Cohen – "Avalanche" (Cohen)
4. Karen Dalton – "Katie Cruel" (Trad. Arr. Dalton)
5. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band – "Hammer Song" (Harvey)
6. Tom Jones – "Weeping Annaleah" (Mickey Newbury/Dan Folger)
7. The Loved Ones – "Sad Dark Eyes" (Humphrys/Lovett/Clyne/Anderson)
8. Scott Walker – "The Big Hurt" (Wayne Shanklin)
9. John Lee Hooker – "Tupelo Blues" (Hooker)
10. Lefty Frizzell – "The Long Black Veil" (Danny Dill/Marijohn Wilkin)
11. Johnny Cash – "The Folk Singer" (Johnny Cash/Charlie Daniels)
12. Odetta – "Another Man Done Gone" (Trad. Arr. Odetta)
13. Blind Willie Johnson – "I'm Gonna Run to the City of Refuge" (Trad. Arr. Johnson)
14. Edwin Hawkins Singers – "Oh Happy Day" (Trad. Arr. Hawkins)
15. Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin – "Je t'aime... moi non plus" (Gainsbourg)
16. Isaac Hayes – "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" (Jimmy Webb)

Volume two

1. Harry Belafonte – "Did You Hear About Jerry?"
2. Tom Waits – "Way Down in the Hole" (Waits)
3. Fred Neil – "A Little Bit of Rain" (Neil)
4. Gang of Four – "Love Like Anthrax" (Allen, Burnham, Gill, King)
5. Bob Dylan – "Sara" (Dylan)
6. Tim Rose – "Hey Joe" (Billy Roberts)
7. The First Edition – "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" (Mickey Newbury)
8. Elvis Presley – "In the Ghetto" (Mac Davis)
9. Nina Simone – "Plain Gold Ring" (George Stone)
10. The Stooges – "Loose"
11. Lead Belly – "Looky Looky Yonder"/"Black Betty"/"Yellow Women's Door Bells" (Trad. Arr. Ledbetter)
12. Hoyt Axton – "Double Dare" (Axton)
13. Lou Reed – "Perfect Day" (Reed)
14. Alice Cooper – "Street Fight" (Cooper, Buxton, Bruce, Dunaway, Smith)

Critical reception

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.". 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" (02/10/04); 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).

See also

• Nick Cave

Sources

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

References