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Renegade outsiders, 'The Birthday Party' hit London from Melbourne with a force that still resounds today. Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Rowland S. Howard, Tracy Pew and Phil Calvert blazed through incendiary live shows and a string of albums and EPs of swaggering, raw-boned blues that were at odds with the plastic pop of the early 80's. The Bad Seeds' creativity continued to soar to ever-heightened peaks over their next three releases. 1994's imaginative feast, Let Love In, was produced by Tony Cohen, whose association with Cave dates back to The Birthday Party Days. With Cave now based in London, The Bad Seeds' impetus continued apace. 1996's Murder Ballads was a culmination of Cave's longtime fascination with "the language of violence" and allowed for further bold experimentation in musical style. Collaborations with Kylie Minogue and PJ Harvey on the singles "Where the Wild Roses Grow" and "Henry Lee," respectively, led to mainstream chart success and The Bad Seeds widest exposure ever. This album also saw the addition of two new Bad Seeds: Warren Ellis, of Melbourne's The Dirty Three, added vibrant violin, and New York NoWave troubleshooter Jim Sclavunos pitched in atmospheric percussion. March 1997 saw the release of The Bad Seed's tenth studio album, The Boatman's Call. Cave's most intensely personal work to date, the music was pared down to a beautiful simplicity, evoking magical atmospheres, while the singer explored the themes of love, faith and loss in unflinching detail. Just as Murder Ballads piled on the visceral details with evident glee, so The Boatman's Call stripped away all the veils of pretense to the bone of the emotions it evoked. The contrast between the two albums say much about Cave and The Bad Seeds' continual quest for excellence and illumination, as well as displaying all the versatility of the most singular ensemble in contemporary music.
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