Anita was great at that middle part.” What she lacked, Cave explained was the latter stage which he aptly brought to the table for many of their collaborative projects. “The not knowing, the sudden knowing of what to do, then the doing of it. “There seem to be three parts to the creative process,” Nick Cave once said. On the sad week of her passing, we would like to thank her for that. It needed honing and refining, and it was at this pivotal moment, when The Bad Seeds rose from the ash heap, that they needed the force of Anita Lane’s vitalising inspiration the most. And yet, it was fated to be terminal from its very inception. For all of its defiant originality at a time where the fantastic incendiary brilliance of the late sixties finally began to wane into synth saturated sedation, it was a chaotic boon that summoned up a new sonic maelstrom from the embers in a melee of creativity. Signed in ink by Nick Cave, this edition is strictly limited to a run of 450 copies.Nick Cave’s first vehicle to stardom was The Birthday Party, and in truth, it was a vehicle that was always headed towards beautiful, flaming wreckage. The deluxe edition of Stranger Than Kindness comes in a hardback slipcase manufactured in heavy uncoated paper, with a black silk ribbon to pull out the book.

The images were selected from ‘Stranger Than Kindness: The Nick Cave Exhibition’, opening at the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen later this year.

The book has been developed and curated by Nick Cave in collaboration with Christina Back. Stranger Than Kindness asks what shapes our lives and makes us who we are, and celebrates the curiosity and power of the creative spirit. It features full colour reproductions of original artwork, handwritten lyrics, photographs and collected personal artefacts along with commentary and meditations from Nick Cave, Janine Barrand and Darcey Steinke. This highly collectible book invites the reader into the innermost core of the creative process and paves the way for an entirely new and intimate meeting with the artist, presenting Cave’s life, work and inspiration and exploring his many real and imagined universes. Stranger Than Kindness is a journey in images and words into the creative world of musician and storyteller Nick Cave. Stranger Than Kindness the book is out now.

Stranger than kindness by nick cave