Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds — B-Sides And Rarities

The king of gothic blues collects 20 years of b-sides, outtakes and other unreleased material for an eclectic three-disc set. Designed in almost chronological order, the exhaustive package moves from his snarling lo-fi blues and debonair lounge lizard crooning to more recent, less experimental material. But within all this minor-key brooding are some standout covers, including a starry hymnal take on Neil Young's "Helpless" and some shameless studio horsing around for a silly version of "Tower Of Song" from the master of brooding storytellers, Leonard Cohen. Of course, there are a lot of collectors-only essentials, but the genre-schizophrenic scrapyard is still a refreshingly worthwhile rummage.