Bad Seed Mick Harvey Plays The Two Of Diamonds

Mick Harvey of The Birthday Party and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds will release his latest solo album, Two Of Diamonds, on July 17 via Mute Records.

The follow-up to 2005's One Man's Treasure was primarily recorded live at Harvey's Grace Lane Studio and Atlantis Studios in Melbourne, Australia with his solo band: James Johnston (organ, guitar), Thomas Wydler (drums) and Rosie Westbrook (double bass). P.J. Harvey pianist/drummer Rob Ellis and Silver Ray pianist Julitha Ryan also contributed to the record.

In addition to a handful of originals, the LP features the Bad Seed fellow's interpretations of P.J. Harvey's "Slow-Motion Movie Star," Bill Withers' "I Don't Want You On My Mind," Emmylou Harris' "Here I Am," '60s Australian band The Loved Ones' "Sad Dark Eyes," The Saints' "Photograph," Cruel Sea's James Cruickshank's "No Doubt," Brook Benton's "A Walk On The Wild Side," and "Everything Is Fixed" by the late former Triffids member, David McComb.

"I'm not really a cover versions man, where you do it all dutifully and perform an exact rendition," says Harvey. "When I get to a part of a song that I don't think is right for me, I'll change it.

"You have to make it your version. It also relates to the way old folk and blues songs used to evolve over time and would have different verses added or lost through the years. I'd like to think the approach is part of that tradition."

Harvey formed both The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds with Cave, and he recorded six albums with Crime And The City Solution, whose "Home Is Far From Here" appears on Two Of Diamonds. He's also used his talents as a producer, arranger and musician on a variety of other projects, including film scoring.

The multi-instrumentalist has a side project called The Wallbangers, who also include Beasts Of Bourbon's Tex Perkins, who recently recorded an EP titled Kick The Drugs. He'll start recording a new Bad Seeds album this summer.

Harvey recently finished a European tour and there are no plans for any Canadian performances at this time.

Here are the tracks on Two Of Diamonds:

"Photograph"
"I Don't Want You On My Mind"
"Sad Dark Eyes"
"Here I Am"
"Blue Arrows"
"No Doubt"
"Everything Is Fixed"
"A Walk On The Wild Side"
"Little Star"
"Slow-Motion Movie Star"
"Out Of Time Man"
"Home Is Far From Here"