Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 27
 A five star with attitude April 15, 2007
Kalloudis Michael
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
Yes!A five star with attitude.At last, the music form that these four guys grew up and made us the ones we are know.Old like them and still looking for .The energy we need so we can put up with our miserable life.The best think is that there is no more piano. We all need sometime in our lifetime piano and "slow-moody" music but in the end the guitar is the savior. Thank you for the next big thing you just introduce to us. Rock music in general is evolving only when the newcomers can listen albums like "GRINDERMAN". Now the stakes are higher
 Don't be fooled, buy the regular import or domestic July 3, 2007
DJD (Boston, MA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
First let me say that the music is fantastic. The first two of three singles are mean and filthy, bluesy rock tunes, kind of similar to The Birthday Party but not nearly as angry and post-punk. This is the modern version.
It's challenging to the ear at first because it is so different from anything else you might hear, but great albums are often like that. You expect them to sound a certain way because that is what you have been accustomed to hearing from an artist. You'd have to go at least back to, "Murder Ballads", which is absolutely TREMENDOUS by the way, or all the way back to "From Her To Eternity" and "The First Born Is Dead", both of which are GENIUS good, to hear something similar to Grinderman, but of course it is not with The Bad Seeds, so it doesn't sound as polished.
These are tracks that they threw together over a weekend in a studio, I believe, and then decided to clean them up A BIT and release them. Why not right, all the faithful will buy it and they will make a few bucks. BUT, it is worth buying because there is nothing else like it. DON'T expect it to be Nick Cave and TBS because it's Grinderman. It's different. It's NOT all grit and grim, however, there are a bunch of quieter, ballad type tunes as well. They just used the tough ones to spark interest. 4 stars!
Now, about AMAZON. This was listed as Limited Edition with Special packaging, which I just expected to be a cardboard jacket, but what arrived was not just the wrong CD, it wasn't the domestic MUTE release or the UK MUTE release, it was a pressing that was MADE IN CHINA. I pre-ordered the "Special Edition" as soon as it was available to pre-order and waited about six weeks to get a CD from China. It took FOUR phone calls, which added up to many HOURS be on hold and talking, and SIX emails, but I finally did get a full refund and for some reason a second copy of the same record. What I found especially maddening about getting the refund is that the people on the other end of the line are not music collectors. They don't know what special packaging is, the warehouse did not pay attention to the fact that they were not sending out CDs in special packaging, which is bush league, and none of the four people I spoke with for hours on the phone knew what a bootleg CD from China was.
I know it's a little late for me to speak of this problem because they eventually figured out that they were stiffing their customers and issued refunds. They should have thrown in at least the real domestic copy or even the import, which is what we were ordering because come on, this is AMAZON. An enormous international corporation that takes in GOD knows how much revenue a quarter and satisfying a few hundred people is nothing to them. Keep in mind, this was LIMITED EDITION, so they couldn't have sold that many. They didn't even sell out. They did in England, but not in the US. OK, that's enough bashing. Amazon is GREAT 99% of the time, but they really dropped the ball on this one and it was inexcusable.
Boy, that felt good!
BUY THE GRINDERMAN CD!
It's Still a Wild, Wild World April 21, 2007
Gabriel Avila (El Paso, TX)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Although I truly believe "Go Tell the Women" and "Man in the Moon" should have been left out of the album since they don't seem to fit with the rest of the songs, I can't help loving this album. Grinderman is Mr.Cave and friends' way of saying "This is how it's done" to all those fake-punk-goth-whiners like Simple Plan, Panic at the Disco, etc. You gotta be gentle and smart as hell to get down and dirty like this. "Get it on", "No Pussy Blues", "Depth Charged Ethel", and "Love Bomb" are instant classics, while the bass line of "Electric Alice" will take you back to the wild, wild days of the Birthday Party. In fact, Tracy Pew comes back to life on that one. Long live Nick and his Cavemen!
 Get It On July 22, 2007
Richie Corelli
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Nick Cave is in an unfortunate position; his past accomplishments were so great that anything he does now that isn't stellar is a letdown. His work with The Birthday Party is essential, and his catalogue with Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds is monumental. So what happens when Cave starts a "new" band like Grinderman? He risks disappointment.
Grinderman is not a far step from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Which, considering the personnel, is not surprising. Each member of Grinderman has also worked as a Bad Seed and some of these tracks that appear on this self-titled debut could easily be reworked for the next Bad Seeds release. "I Don't Need You (To Set Me Free)" and "Man in the Moon", for example, both unfold in a shape and style similar to past Bad Seed songs.
Still, in spite of the shared elements, Grinderman is somewhat distinct from the group's other band. It is rougher, it is more disheveled, and it is less compromising. The guitar playing, or rather, the lack of guitar playing is particularly messy. Nick Cave plays the instrument himself and he is far from a virtuoso. Every pluck reinforces this. His playing is awkward and clumsy. And yet, his crude fingers also give this band added personality.
Take "No Pussy Blues", the album's first single, for instance. It begins with a driving bassline and steady, banging beats and then erupts with a spill of loud, confrontational guitar. The gawky instrumentation works well. When Cave starts to sing, his charismatic voice carries the track even further. "No Pussy Blues" is peppered with his rugged sarcasm. Lyrically, the song deals with failed sexual advances and the resulting frustrations. "I sent her every type of flower / I played her a guitar by the hour / I patted her revolting little Chihuahua / But still she just didn't want to". Every syllable is delivered with a tongue-in-cheek dark humor and smirking wry attitude.
"No Pussy Blues" is fast. It is propelled by its quick tempo, and other tracks follow a similar path. The raw excellence of "Get It On", the driving fun of "Depth Charge Ethel", the bending wines of "Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)", and rocking simplicity of "Love Bomb" all tumble forward on a throbbing bass and smacking rhythm.
Not every track relies on speed, however. "Electric Alice", which is one of the album's highlights, squirms along Warren Ellis's distorted violin strings. Voice and organ alternate their places at the song's forefront while bass and drums circle and contain the music. The song wanders and meanders blindly through psychedelic ambience.
Grinderman revisits the gritty attitude that Cave had in the 1980s, but misses the elegance. The music of Grinderman is often muddied and at least half of their songs shimmy along a sloppy path. Like an oil stain on the floor of a dirty garage, Grinderman is thick, dark, and ugly.
Simply rocks April 30, 2007
Aaron D. Stigberg (Chicago, IL USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I feel like a meathead saying that, but what can I say? I usually favor wussier music but irresistible messy energy seeps from every song on this disc. A fantastic album.
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