In 1995, Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue recorded one of the decade's least predictable duets, "Where the Wild Roses Grow", originally released as the lead single from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Murder Ballads album. The odd couple recently re-recorded a sparse rendition of the grisly ballad for Minogue's new LP, The Abbey Road Sessions (released by Parlophone on October 29 in the U.K., and November 6 in the U.S.), on which she revisits a selection of hits from her 25-year career with the help of an orchestra at the iconic London studio. Listen above.
In a great new interview with the Quietus, Minogue talks about how Cave helped her come to terms with her pop past.
"I was going through my whole Impossible Princess... stage. And Nick said to me-- I'm really paraphrasing-- he wanted to hear me sing pop music. Which is kind of odd compared to what you'd think he would say. And the big turnaround was at the Poetry Olympics at the Royal Albert Hall, reciting "I Should Be So Lucky" which he willed me into doing. I tried to find numerous excuses not to do it, but I did it, and it really set me on a different course. It was like the equivalent of going to some sort of therapy group, or sitting in a hot teepee sweat-tent. I just went, "OK, that's it! I'm facing That Girl." From that moment on, I learnt to embrace my past and embrace pop."
Check out the pair performing the single on "Top of the Pops" in 1995.