Your Funeral, My Trial

''Your Funeral... My Trial'' is the fourth studio album by the Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 3 November 1986 by Mute Records. The album was originally released as a double extended play (EP), while also issued on CD with a different running order and the additional track "Scum". During this period in his life, Cave was steeped in heroin addiction, perhaps evidenced by the melancholy, desperate mood of this album.
This was the final Bad Seeds album to feature bassist Barry Adamson until he returned for the band's fifteenth studio album ''Push the Sky Away'' (2013).

Cave later said, "That particular record, which is my favourite of the records we've done, is very special to me and a lot of amazing things happened, musically, in the studio. There are some songs on that record that as far as I'm concerned are just about perfect as we can get really- songs like " The Carny", "Your Funeral, My Trial", and "Stranger Than Kindness", I think are really quite brilliant." ''Your Funeral... My Trial'' was the band's first album to reach the ARIA Top 100 Albums Chart, where it peaked at number 98, and also reached number one on the UK Independent Albums Chart.

The album was remastered and reissued on 27 April 2009 as a collector's edition CD/DVD set. The CD features the original 8-song vinyl double EP's track listing and track order, while "Scum" is featured as a bonus audio track on the accompanying DVD.

Recording

Record producer Flood said, "I remember Mick Harvey arrived in the studio with the guts of an old grand piano, that was the basis of the sound. It was just the strings, attached to a metal frame. He tuned certain notes, and used a guitar plectrum to pick the notes. It then ended up as " The Carny". That was the first day of recording ''Your Funeral… My Trial'', and that kind of set the tone for the whole record."

Reflecting on the album in 2020, guitarist Mick Harvey noted: " he albumgave us the template to go forward with. It was organised rather than rambling. It all felt complete even though it was a disparate set of sounds and styles. It felt like it belonged to us. It sounded like The Bad Seeds."

Films

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds appeared in the Wim Wenders film '' Der Himmel über Berlin'' (1987), performing "The Carny" (which is heard once before the performance scene) and " From Her to Eternity". "The Carny" also inspired the animated twelve-minute film '' Jo Jo in the Stars'' (2003), which won the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Short Film. The film was created and directed by Marc Craste, who said about "The Carny": "The lyrics read like a short story, it seemed to suggest a film – a straight visual interpretation of the text ..."

Track listing

Personnel

Personnel for ''Your Funeral... My Trial'' adapted from the album's liner notes.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
* Nick Cave – vocals (1–9); piano (5, 7, 8); Hammond (1, 3, 4, 6); harmonica (1, 2)
* Mick Harvey – bass guitar (1, 6–9); guitar (1, 3, 5–8); drums (1, 3, 4, 8); snare drum (7); piano (2, 3); organ (2); glockenspiel (2); xylophone (2, 7); backing vocals (6)
* Blixa Bargeld – guitar (1–9); co-lead vocals (2)
* Barry Adamson – bass (3, 5)
* Thomas Wydler – drums (2, 3, 5, 7, 9); fire extinguisher (7)

Technical personnel
* Flood – producer; engineer; mixing
* Tony Cohen – producer; engineer

Design personnel
* Nick Cave – art direction
* Paul White – art direction
* Christoph Dreher – photography

Chart positions

References

External links

''Your Funeral... My Trial'' on the band's official web site
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Your Funeral... My Trial
1986 albums
Nick Cave albums
Mute Records albums
Albums produced by Flood (producer)
Albums produced by Tony Cohen