With Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds sprawling 17-track behemoth Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus (2004) we have something that few could have expected – two albums that can both be regarded as self-contained masterpieces; two storming, driving, relentless, devotional, slinky, subtle, heartbreakingly-beautiful records that, lyrically, switch from the cynical to the sanguine, the defeated to the defiant, dealing in love, war, beauty, children, romance, rejection, Pethedine, poetry, panties, God, Auden, Johnny Cash, cold potatoes, too-much-money, not enough money, writer’s block, flowers, animals and more flowers. Home to the idiosyncratic singles “Nature Boy,” “Breathless,” “There She Goes, My Beautiful World” and “Get Ready For Love,” Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus was produced by Nick Launay and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and recorded at Studio Ferber in Paris, France.