Prayers on Fire

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Who ever imagined that something like the Birthday Party would crawl out of Australia? Like an Alfred Jarry version of Iggy Pop raging over some hitherto inconceivable fusion of Joy Division and the Magic Band, Prayers on Fire is a feast of grotesque imagery and lurching, convulsive riffs--rock as psychotic theater. The Party line was savage jazz punk, jabbed along by Tracy Pew's angular bass lines and the incomparable Nick Cave's regurgitative howling. Especially great: the frantic stampede of "Zoo-Music Girl," the menacing grind of "King Ink,"" and the freak-show horror-wallowing of "Nick the Stripper."" --Barney Hoskyns --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Album Description
Australian reissue of their second album (1981) plus two outtakes from the sessions for the album. 13 tracksin all.

Tracks:

Zoo-Music Girl
Cry
Capers
Nick the Stripper
Ho-Ho
Figure of Fun
King Ink
Dead Song
Yard
Dull Day
Just You and Me
Blundertown
Kathy's Kisses

Customer Reviews:

The Real Deal.......2006-09-26

An epochal No-Wave masterpiece, transcended only by its successor, Junkyard. One can see this album as the turning point upon which Nick Cave's sardonic dementia truly began to shine through in his songwriting. Features such indispensable classics as "Dull Day" and "Nick The Stripper", the latter of which is an unflinching take on self-loathing that Kurt Cobain could have learned a lot from. A must-have for all Nick Cave/Birthday Party/No-Wave enthusiasts.

they'll never reunite so buy their albums and own some history.......2006-03-15

rating 4.7/5
ok. what you need to know. Nick cave was originally the lead singer from birthday party. he later went on to solo stardom, as well as acclaim with his band the bad seeds. this is one of the coolest albums of all time. nick and the rest of the party slam through songs with psychotic abandon while nicky boy shouts poetic maniacal stream of consciousness lyrics describing venomous acts of spite and mayhem. this is one of the best "art punk" albums of all time. if you think you might like it then you will. get it.

Truly brave and wild.......2004-09-10

This early Nick Cave, truly but endearingly demented and willing to shred your brain with that dementia, won me with this album. The band is also much more interesting even musically than, say, Pere Ubu, to whom I'd feel comfortable comparing them. More artistic...dare I say more progressive? That still counts! A perfect blend of craziness going on, and on the strength of this one I got all four remasters. And of COURSE I'm over 13...!

Perfection at a Bargain Price.......2003-11-12

Like an aural nightmare. Guitars imbed themselves into your brain. The vocals imbed themselves into your soul. There is nothing like this Australian band of the personification of anxiety and terror. That it was released in the early 1980s is just amazing, isn't it? Nick Cave and his cohort Mick Harvey of the Bad Seed's training ground. Not to be confused with their current output, though. Absolutely not.

The lyrics to `Just You and Me' says plenty:

First: I tried to kill it with a hammer
thought that I could lose
the head
sure! We've eaten off the silver
when even the food was against us
and then I tried to kill it in the bed

Second: I gagged it with a pillow
but awoke the nuns inside my head
they pound their goody-goody fists
from the inside-so from the outside
I got good: I stuck it. Dead
Thirdly: I put my lips upon it
And blew a frost across
its flat
I wrote upon its outside-surface
"Tonight we're on the outside surface"
Just you and me girl: You and me and the fat

Fantastic album.......2003-10-16

Any Nick Cave album is hard to review. You honest opinion will seem slight and insignificant towards somebody like him. Because in these days he has become something of a legend. All I can say is that this album is brilliant from start to finish and is worth every last cent. That's all I can say really other than this album far outweighs it's successor, Junkyard, which was, in all honesty a complete drug addled mess. Still had some good songs though