10 Near Perfect Post Punk Albums

This was when the gothic bard of post punk, began drifting into new realms of tortured madness. Lyrically sophisticated and ever terrifying, the fifth album from Cave and the Bad Seeds saw his ideas develop into an ever more poetic format.

The full engine of the Bad Seeds rumbles along on the opening number. Mercy Street, is a chaotic exploration of crime, redemption and salvation, told through the story of a man facing the electric chair. It's the kind of wild cacophony of sound early Bad Seeds records were known for, but as always, through all the madness they're able to pull out something triumphantly beautiful.

It's followed by Up Jumped The Devil - the musical ancestor to Red Right Hand - a bleak Dickensian tale of a sordid character doomed to a life of damnation. It's mood provoking in that uniquely Bad Seeds way. They change tack with Deanna, one of the closest songs Cave has written to being radio appropriate. The album continues with a mishmash of gruesome references to cesarean births, ballads of love and apocalyptic prophesying.

Cave was entrenched in a shambolic series of heroin binges during this period, which no doubt contributed to the scattered nature of these songs. For all that, this record is stunning.