Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "No More Shall We Part" 2xLP

No More Shall We Part contains a greater wealth of musical invention and lyrical intelligence in its 68 minutes than most acts manage in an entire career. Cave is not merely in a different league from most of his peers; he's scarcely even playing the same game. No More sees a renewed emphasis on the virtuosity of Cave's longtime backing band, the Bad Seeds (Cave's last album, 1997's superb The Boatman's Call was a relatively sparse affair). The Seeds decorate the sprawling ballads on No More Shall We Part with aplomb, helped on several tracks by the crystalline harmonies of folk singers Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Cave's lyrical preoccupations remain constant--God, love (and the loss thereof), and death. As ever, Cave deals with these themes with great agility and imagination, and, as ever, he is funnier than he is generally given credit for.