Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | |
| Pitchfork | (9.2/10) |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable) |
Murder Ballads received almost unanimous critical praise with Rolling Stone awarding it 4 Stars and stating "...never before have manic elements elevated Cave's shtick to art as on Murder Ballads....literate, sultry and tortured....the performance of Nick Cave's life..." Entertainment Weekly rated the album a B+ and warned it was "Not for the squeamish, this is the rare pop record that resonates with the weight of the ages..." and the New York Times stated "...Murder Ballads is about more than storytelling. In each song, Mr. Cave meticulously creates a macabre fable and then distills it to a single image of death in much the way a photographer arranges a studio shoot..." In the English music press Q magazine awarded it 3 stars and observed "...Musically, the Bad Seeds touch on tinkling cabaret jazz, country-paced morbidity and every morose station between..." while it ranked #16 on Melody Maker's list of 1996's Albums of the Year and #7 in the NME's 1996 critic's poll.
Read more about this topic: Murder Ballads
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