A late 2021 curio this one. But one worth taking notice of. Fifteen year old Nell Smith and The Flaming Lips cover nine Nick Cave songs and make something entirely else of them The resulting album Where The Viaduct Looms, is a proper treat and perhaps a late stocking filler, (you know what I mean, perhaps you own a particularly big stocking, if not just put it under the tree) , for a relative or friend who might appreciate it. They certainly won't be expecting it.
What you really get here, is the possibility to really hear Cave's songs without the presence of his encroaching and towering persona which I often find overpowers them for me, or at least imposes on my ability to enjoy them as much as I might do. I'm not really the man's biggest fan although I do recognise his staggering talent. Perhaps this is the Nick Cave album I've been waiting to hear all these years without knowing it.
Because I'm going to play this. A lot. Smith's voice has the purity and clarity you might expect from one of her tender age while the Lips arrangements are utterly buoyant and suffused with the most gorgeous and heavenly aspect. casting each of Cave's songs in a weightless light, contrasting remarkably with the way he and The Bad Seeds habitually present them.
None of this is intended to denigrate Cave or the Bad Seeds in any way. They after all wrote and performed these gorgeous songs in the first place. Where The Viaduct Looms is as I said, essentially a curio, but it's a rather beautifully realised one.
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