Nick Cave & The Bad SeedsTender Prey

Feverish, combustible, and soaked in Old Testament dread. "The Mercy Seat" is the centerpiece: a death-row monologue sung from the electric chair, droning and swarming as the condemned man insists he's not afraid to die. "Deanna" gallops in on gospel-charged blasphemy, "City of Refuge" hammers like brimstone preaching, and "Watching Alice" goes hushed and aching. Cave made this battling addiction, and you can hear the chaos at the edges. His first masterpiece. Drop the needle and let it burn.