Die Haut & Nick Cave

This album is over 20 years old. As such, it used to be an ultra-rare and furiously sought collection piece for hardcore Nick Cave devotees. Now it too gets its day in the spotlight as a reissue, and those aforementioned fans can get their fill without dropping a fortune on eBay. All that aside, this CD plays more like a history textbook than an album. The seven tracks that make up this two-decade-old (previously only available on vinyl) offering are largely experimental and staggeringly dissident. This serves to be a powerful auditory snapshot of that particular era of artistic creation in Berlin, if nothing more. Further, it showcases a yet-unpolished Nick Cave taking up vocal chores, and even in these rawest of roots, you can see the first sprouts of the enormous talent that will rise from them. The unique packaging dishes up an extra helping of musical history lesson, complete with black and white photographs, and a booklet that contains a detailed history of early Die Haut (including band member bios). The first 5000 copies of this re-release come with a DVD of live Die Haut concert footage. While these clashing and often chaotic early sonic explorations may be too arcane for the casual listener, diehards both of Die Haut and of Nick Cave, as well as the genre aficionados and completists, will undoubtedly be all over this.