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Title: LOVE LETTER
Review: Far from the bats released in his youth, this is a recording for die hard fans only. He starts off by stabbing the ivories in an unaccompanied version of WEST COUNTY GIRL off the BOATMAN'S CALL album. The next thing you hear is the lighting of an obligatory cigarette. Then Nick launches into two lectures covering the nature of the love song, God, and the act of creation.The lectures are interspersed with melancholy renderings from Cave's past, plus a gem of a new song called LOVE LETTER. His essays are moving at times,especially when he discusses the loss of his father. In other places, our lecturer gets self-consciously absurd, for instance, Cave's analysis of a Kylie Minogue song is a little over the top to take too seriously.Throughout, Cave is adamantly confessional, making no apology for his observations. It's the very attitude fans have come to expect. As always, he lays it on the line but the candid intimacy with which he does it is something rare, brave and new.
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