Nick Cave And Warren Ellis - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

by Daniel Cressey

published: 8 / 12 / 2007

Nick Cave And Warren Ellis - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Label: Mute Records
Format: CD

Above average soundtrack from Nick Cave and fellow Bad Seed Warren Ellis to new Western which, which while evocative, will largely appeal to die-hard fans only

Review

If Nick Cave ever gets bored of singing murder ballads his film soundtracks should ensure he doesn’t starve. Following on from the 2005 sound track to his own Australian western ‘The Proposition’ Cave has again joined with sometime-Bad Seed Warren Ellis. Another western soundtrack then, and this one set in the more traditional location of America. 'The Assassination of Jesse James…' continues his stellar work in this genre. Like his previous soundtrack work this album is as evocative as you would expect. It flows along with some fine instrumental work from the assembled musicians. No one puts a note wrong and it all goes off perfectly. Anyone nursing a hope that this will be more than a sound track, like this reviewer for example, however, is going to be disappointed. While this is an above average set of music it suffers from the intrinsic problem of all soundtracks in that it exists to support another piece of art, and not for its own sake. There is little trace here of the Nick Cave that inspires such passion amongst fans with his other work. While die-hards will find interest in these songs others will hope Cave isn’t spending so much time on these projects that he neglects his murder ballads.

Track Listing:-

1 Rather Lovely Thing
2 Moving On
3 Song for Jesse
4 Falling
5 Cowgirl
6 The Money Train
7 What Must Be Done
8 Another Rather Lovely Thing
9 Carnival
10 Last Ride Back to KC
11 What Happens Next
12 Destined for Great Things
13 Counting the Stars
14 Song for Bob