Issue date: 2/13/03 Section: The Verge

On October 21, 1996, Nick Cave wrote a letter to MTV, graciously withdrawing from the running for best male artist.

The leader of The Bad Seeds started with sincere acknowledgment for years of support. He then marked out any further nominations in years to come as he felt the award should be presented to someone who felt willing to let their music compete with others.

His noble point is made, some poetry is spoken, and three paragraphs down Cave is speaking of a bloody cart of severed heads and glittering prizes-three paragraphs after any MTV executive cared.

In the early '80s, Cave was fronting the Birthday Party, a band with roots as the forefathers of gothic music. After the band broke, Nick gathered members from both Party and a band called Magazine.

From here on, Cave and the Bad Seeds cranked out 10 albums of music that pranced towards politics and danced on darkness. Even today, Cave doesn't know how to shut up, as it is made clear on "Nocturama" the Bad Seeds' latest released on Mute Records, a Euro label comprised of Moby, Goldfrapp and Erasure.

The group's 11th studio release is a good one. Neither he nor his backing band has lost a bit of the flame as apparent on "Babe, I'm on Fire," the final course of the album which drives for 38 stanzas and a dozen choruses.

Now that's just a taste and I may have given you too large a bit to digest, but chew slowly, the Bad Seeds are always a lot to swallow.

Since their '84 debut release, "From Her to Eternity," Cave and the B. S. (did they play that?) have built up quite a following while only brimming the mainstream, never quite spilling over. The most commercially successful album the group released was 1996's "Murder Ballads", which caused Cave to give MTV his two cents.

"Nocturama" strikes a bearing similarity to that letter dated six and a half years ago. The music is both enticing and effective, the lyrics are smart, but the songs just keep going long after they should have ended.

The opening track, "Wonderful Life," is a beautiful groove about the finding of love. The song pushed five minutes when it could have been wrapped up at four minutes, although at this point I was more than willing to forgive it.

The bona fide ballads are the treasures on 'Nocturama.' From the previously mentioned "Wonderful Life" to "Right Out of Your Hand" both shine on the record.

Immediately following is "Bring It On," a track that gets going and never stops as Cave declares his love for a woman and states how he plans to stick with her through the thick and thin.

"Dead Man In My Bed," is an organ pounding track as Cave sounds like a grizzled Tom Petty scowling out words that question death, a question that he has often asked.

The second half of the album weakens as indulgence rises alongside bland songwriting. The plateau of good is rarely reached on such tracks as "Still In Love," "She Passed By My Window" and "Rock of Gibralter," a song that would comfortably fit into the John Denver catalog.

And then came the final thrust of energy, a thrust of mammoth proportions in "Babe, I'm On Fire." Verses one through 10 I can handle, but 28 more stanzas of torment and hyperactivity I cannot.

Cave is a very talented man. His message is very sincere but sometimes he gets carried away. Ever had that smart kid in the class who knew everything and would be really cool if he'd just shut up? That man is Nick Cave.

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