The Nick Cave of today is, admittedly, a sleeker creature than the rangy, wild-haired vocalist of the Birthday Party, but we all must change with the times. Although Cave has somewhat tidied himself up across the 47 years since his first release – a cover of These Boots Were Made For Walking by The Birthday Party – the singer has never ceased from defining the gothic vogue in his redoubtable, snarling style.
This, perhaps, is what has kept Cave’s music in the limelight for so long, even as his lyrical preoccupations have shifted away from murder ballads and towards religious hope.
