Tender Prey


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 . "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, in the Top 30.
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." 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."
In 2012, the album was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia.

Track listing

  1. "The Mercy Seat" – 7:17
  2. *Nick Cave – Vocals, Hammond
  3. *Blixa Bargeld – Slide Guitar
  4. *Mick Harvey – Bass Loops, Piano, Guitar, Backing Vocals
  5. *Roland Wolf – Guitar
  6. *Thomas Wydler – Drums
  7. *Strings – Gini Ball, Audrey Riley and Chris Tombling
  8. "Up Jumped the Devil" – 5:16
  9. *Nick Cave – Vocals
  10. *Blixa Bargeld – Guitar, Backing Vocals
  11. *Mick Harvey – Bass, Xylophone, Backing Vocals
  12. *Kid Congo Powers – Guitar
  13. *Roland Wolf – Piano
  14. *Thomas Wydler – Drums
  15. "Deanna" – 3:45
  16. *Nick Cave – Vocals, Hammond
  17. *Blixa Bargeld – Guitar
  18. *Mick Harvey – Drums, Bass, Acoustic Guitar
  19. *Kid Congo Powers – Guitar
  20. "Watching Alice" – 4:01
  21. *Nick Cave – Vocals, Piano, Harmonica
  22. *Mick Harvey – Bass
  23. *Thomas Wydler – Drums
  24. *Hugo Race – Guitar
  25. "Mercy" – 6:22
  26. *Nick Cave – Vocals, Vibes, Harmonica
  27. *Blixa Bargeld – Slide Guitar, Backing Vocals
  28. *Mick Harvey – Bass, Backing Vocals
  29. *Kid Congo Powers – Guitar, Backing Vocals
  30. *Roland Wolf – Piano
  31. *Thomas Wydler – Drums
  32. *Hugo Race – Backing Vocals
  33. "City of Refuge" – 4:48
  34. *Nick Cave – Vocals, Hammond, Harmonica
  35. *Blixa Bargeld – Guitar
  36. *Mick Harvey – Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Percussion
  37. *Kid Congo Powers – Guitar
  38. *Roland Wolf – Organ
  39. *Thomas Wydler – Drums
  40. *Backing Vocals – The Bad Seeds & Friends
  41. "Slowly Goes the Night" – 5:23
  42. *Nick Cave – Vocals, Hammond
  43. *Blixa Bargeld – Guitar
  44. *Mick Harvey – Bass, Xylophone, Backing Vocals
  45. *Roland Wolf – Piano, Organ
  46. *Thomas Wydler – Drums
  47. *Ian Davis – Backing Vocals
  48. "Sunday's Slave" – 3:40
  49. *Nick Cave – Vocals, Piano
  50. *Blixa Bargeld – Guitar
  51. *Mick Harvey – Acoustic Guitar, Drums, Bass
  52. "Sugar Sugar Sugar" – 5:01
  53. *Nick Cave – Vocals
  54. *Mick Harvey – Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Percussion
  55. *Kid Congo Powers – Guitar
  56. *Roland Wolf – Piano
  57. *Thomas Wydler – Drums
  58. "New Morning" – 3:46
  59. *Nick Cave – Vocals, Piano, Harmonica, Tambourine
  60. *Blixa Bargeld – Guitar, Backing Vocals
  61. *Mick Harvey – Acoustic Guitar, Drums, Bass, Organ, Backing Vocals
  62. "The Mercy Seat" – 5:05
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

;Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds