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Nocturama is as slight and as pretty as a walk through the snow on a sunny Winter day.
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At first listen a morose rumination on the many shapes of love, the album slowly unfurls as a grand, almost gothic epic of vast proportion and luxurious significance.
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But with two (admittedly gigantic) exceptions, Nocturama reneges on its promise-- something's still missing from most of these tracks.
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The missing link between Murder Ballads and Boatman's Call.
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BlenderPiano ballads and muscular thrash that hearken back to his days with proto-goth ghoulfathers the Birthday Party. [#13, p.91]
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It's what The Velvet Underground would've sounded like if they'd been psychopaths. With a heart.
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Cave's molasses ballads take you to a warm spot where the big bad world's cynicism gets disabled and the numb parts thaw.
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Most people this pretentious or literary don't rock so hard or write tunes so good.
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Nocturama feel[s] messy, unpredictable, and even a little dangerous--qualities Cave's music hasn't had in far too long.
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Another semi-spotty release.
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At times, 'Nocturama' feels like he's trying too hard. Some of the ballads suffer this way, as if Cave's straining to recapture the gravitas of 'The Boatman's Call' without excessive revelations or dramatic contrivance.
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Alternative PressThis journey to Nocturama's not to be missed. [March 2003, p.88]
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Often funeral-march slow, but there are also flashes of passionate energy.
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MojoCave has managed to move away from the stifling atmosphere and the false captive environment of No More Shall We Part and somehow create a Cave world where The Bad Seeds can indeed stretch, howl, riff, sniff, grind and bark with a freedom unheard on record since 1993's Live Seeds. [Album of the Month, Feb 2003, p.84]
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As ever with the great man, this is a record that rewards the attentive, and repetitive listener.
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Mostly in the quieter mode of his past few efforts, Nocturama presents songs of faith and devotion in the face of doubt, again demonstrating his newfound gift for understatement and the smoky croon.
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This is one of Cave's best album in years, if not an immediate candidate for a career highlight.
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UncutThis is his conscious attempt to inject a sense of urgency probably not heard on a Bad Seeds album since 1994's Let Love In. [Mar 2003, p.96]
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Cave proves himself to be a continually fascinating and vital songwriter.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 17
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Mixed: 4 out of 17
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Negative: 2 out of 17
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Mar 24, 2014
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Aug 27, 2010
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BrendanDAug 2, 2007