Tender Prey

Tender Prey
Studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Released	19 September 1988 (1988-09-19)
Recorded	August–November 1987
Studio	Vielklang Studios and Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin, Germany; Trident Studios and Strongroom Studios in London, United Kingdom
Genre	Post-punk[1] gothic rock[2] garage punk[3] gothic country[3] blues[3]
Length	54:34
Label	Mute
Producer	Flood Tony Cohen Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds chronology
Your Funeral... My Trial (1986) Tender Prey (1988) The Good Son (1990)
Singles from Tender Prey
"The Mercy Seat" Released: 23 May 1988 "Deanna" Released: 5 September 1988

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Drowned in Sound	9/10[5]
NME	8/10[6]
Paste	8.2/10[7]
Q	[8]
Record Mirror	4/5[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	7/10[11]
Uncut	[12]

Tender Prey is the fifth studio album by Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 19 September 1988 on Mute Records. Produced by Flood, the album was recorded during several sessions over the course of four months in West Berlin—where the band were based at the time of its release—and London and dedicated to Fernando Ramos da Silva.

Details

The album opens with frontman Nick Cave's signature song, "The Mercy Seat", which has been subsequently played at almost all of the band's live performances since 1988, and was later covered by one of Cave's influences, Johnny Cash, on American III: Solitary Man (2000). "The Mercy Seat" was released as a single in May 1988 prior to the album's release and "Deanna" was released in September. On the CD version, the video mix of "The Mercy Seat" is also included as the last track.

Upon its release, Tender Prey received positive reviews and charted in the United Kingdom and Greece. However, the album failed to chart in either the band's native Australia or the United States Billboard charts. The album was remastered and reissued on 29 March 2010 as a collector's edition CD/DVD set and in October 2010. It was also listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums, alongside The Boatman's Call (1997), in the Top 30.^[13]

Cave later said, "It was a nightmare, that record. It is reflective of a group—particularly myself—who was just writing songs and there was no larger idea behind it. Sometimes some of the group was there, sometimes they weren't. I hear bad production and I hear bad performances as well."^[14] Cave later admitted that the album, "was made at a difficult time in my life when things were spiralling out of control in a lot of areas."^[15]

In 2012, the album was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia.^[16]

Track listing

1. "The Mercy Seat" – 7:17
   • Nick Cave – vocals, Hammond
   • Blixa Bargeld – slide guitar
   • Mick Harvey – bass loops, piano, guitar, backing vocals
   • Roland Wolf – guitar
   • Thomas Wydler – drums
   • Strings – Gini Ball, Audrey Riley and Chris Tombling
2. "Up Jumped the Devil" – 5:16
   • Nick Cave – vocals
   • Blixa Bargeld – guitar, backing vocals
   • Mick Harvey – bass, xylophone, backing vocals
   • Kid Congo Powers – guitar
   • Roland Wolf – piano
   • Thomas Wydler – drums
3. "Deanna" – 3:45
   • Nick Cave – vocals, Hammond
   • Blixa Bargeld – guitar
   • Mick Harvey – drums, bass, acoustic guitar
   • Kid Congo Powers – guitar
4. "Watching Alice" – 4:01
   • Nick Cave – vocals, piano, harmonica
   • Mick Harvey – bass
   • Thomas Wydler – drums
   • Hugo Race – guitar
5. "Mercy" – 6:22
   • Nick Cave – vocals, vibes, harmonica
   • Blixa Bargeld – slide guitar, backing vocals
   • Mick Harvey – bass, backing vocals
   • Kid Congo Powers – guitar, backing vocals
   • Roland Wolf – piano
   • Thomas Wydler – drums
   • Hugo Race – backing vocals
6. "City of Refuge" – 4:48
   • Nick Cave – vocals, Hammond, harmonica
   • Blixa Bargeld – guitar
   • Mick Harvey – bass, acoustic guitar, percussion
   • Kid Congo Powers – guitar
   • Roland Wolf – organ
   • Thomas Wydler – drums
   • Backing vocals – The Bad Seeds & Friends
7. "Slowly Goes the Night" – 5:23
   • Nick Cave – vocals, Hammond
   • Blixa Bargeld – guitar
   • Mick Harvey – bass, xylophone, backing vocals
   • Roland Wolf – piano, organ
   • Thomas Wydler – drums
   • Ian Davis – backing vocals
8. "Sunday's Slave" – 3:40
   • Nick Cave – vocals, piano
   • Blixa Bargeld – guitar
   • Mick Harvey – acoustic guitar, drums, bass
9. "Sugar Sugar Sugar" – 5:01
   • Nick Cave – vocals
   • Mick Harvey – acoustic guitar, bass, percussion
   • Kid Congo Powers – guitar
   • Roland Wolf – piano
   • Thomas Wydler – drums
10. "New Morning" – 3:46
    • Nick Cave – vocals, piano, harmonica, tambourine
    • Blixa Bargeld – guitar, backing vocals
    • Mick Harvey – acoustic guitar, drums, bass, organ, backing vocals
11. "The Mercy Seat" (video mix) – 5:05 (CD only)

Note: Early issues of the CD version of the album had a track indexing issue in which "Sunday's Slave" and "Sugar Sugar Sugar" were indexed as the same track.

Personnel

Writing

• Tracks written by Nick Cave, except where noted.
• Track 1, 5, 9 & 11 (words: Cave, music: Cave / Mick Harvey)
• Track 2 (words: Cave, music: Cave / Harvey / Roland Wolf / Blixa Bargeld / Kid Congo Powers / Thomas Wydler)
• "Deanna" is loosely based on The Edwin Hawkins' Singers version of the hymn "Oh Happy Day". Subsequently, Cave issued an acoustic version of a medley of both songs. Hawkins' version was later issued on Original Seeds Vol. 1.
• "City of Refuge" is noted in the credit listing as being inspired by a Blind Willie Johnson song "I'm Gonna Run to the City of Refuge". This was later issued on Original Seeds Vol. 1.

Personnel

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

• Nick Cave – vocals, Hammond organ (1, 3, 6, 7), harmonica (4–6), piano (4, 8, 10), tambourine (10), vibraphone (5)
• Mick Harvey – bass (2–10), backing vocals (1, 2, 5–7, 10), acoustic guitar (3, 6, 8–10), drums (3, 8, 10), percussion (6, 9), xylophone (2, 7), guitar (1), bass loops (1), piano (1), organ (10)
• Blixa Bargeld – guitar (2, 3, 6–8, 10), backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 10), slide guitar (1, 5)
• Roland Wolf – piano (2, 5, 7, 9), organ (6, 7), guitar (1), backing vocals (6)
• Kid Congo Powers – guitar (2, 3, 5, 6, 9), backing vocals (5, 6)
• Thomas Wydler – drums (1, 2, 4–7, 9), backing vocals (6)

Guests

• Hugo Race – backing vocals, guitar
• Gini Ball – strings
• Audrey Riley – strings
• Chris Tombling – strings
• Ian Davis – backing vocals

Chart positions

References

This page was last edited on 12 November 2023, at 07:32