Nick Cave to release Idiot Prayer live album and film

Nick Cave - Idiot Prayer
(Image credit: Bad Seed Ltd)

Nick Cave will release a live album and film in November. Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone At Alexandra Palace was recorded in June this year at the iconic North London venue as the UK emerged from lockdown. 

“The film Idiot Prayer evolved from my ‘Conversations With…’ events," says Cave. "I loved playing deconstructed versions of my songs at these shows, distilling them to their essential forms. I felt I was rediscovering the songs all over again, and started to think about going into a studio and recording these reimagined versions at some stage - whenever I could find the time. 
 
"Then, the pandemic came - the world went into lockdown, and fell into an eerie, self-reflective silence. It was within this silence that I began to think about the idea of not only recording the songs, but also filming them.
 
"We worked with the team at Alexandra Palace - a venue I have played and love - on securing a date to film just as soon as they were allowed to re-open the building to us. 
 
"On 19th June 2020, surrounded by Covid officers with tape measures and thermometers, masked-up gaffers and camera operators, nervous looking technicians and buckets of hand gel, we created something very strange and very beautiful that spoke into this uncertain time, but was in no way bowed by it. 
 
"This is the album taken from that film. It is a prayer into the void - alone at Alexandra Palace - a souvenir from a strange and precarious moment in history. I hope you enjoy it."

The film Idiot Prayer - Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace will have a cinema release on November 5, while the soundtrack will be released two weeks later on November 20. It'll be available on CD and double-vinyl, as well as via the usual streaming channels. Full tracklist below.

Idiot Prayer: Nick Cave Alone At Alexandra Palace tracklist

1. Spinning Song
2. Idiot Prayer
3. Sad Waters
4. Brompton Oratory
5. Palaces of Montezuma
6. Girl in Amber
7. Man in the Moon
8. Nobody's Baby Now
9. (Are You) the One That I’ve Been Waiting For?
10. Waiting for You
11. The Mercy Seat
12. Euthanasia
13. Jubilee Street
14. Far from Me
15. He Wants You
16. Higgs Boson Blues
17. Stranger Than Kindness
18. Into My Arms
19. The Ship Song
20. Papa Won't Leave You, Henry
21. Black Hair
22. Galleon Ship 

Idiot Prayer (Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace)

(Image credit: Bad Seed Ltd)
Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.