Career-spanning anthology announced for late Bad Seeds legend Conway Savage, created with Mick Harvey

A career-spanning anthology has been announced for Conway Savage, the late member of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds.

Savage joined the band in 1990 and played on every one of their albums (except ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’) until his death in 2018 at the age of 58 after battling a brain tumour.

Now, a collection covering his entire career, titled ‘Too Dark To See: Solo & Collaborative Recordings 1992-2010′, has been announced. It is due for release on July 17 via Impressed Recordings and you can pre-order your copy here.

It has been made with the guidance of The Bad Seeds’ Mick Harvey, who initially approached Impressed Recordings with the idea for the album, and it includes music from as far back as his debut solo EP in 1993, with the title track ‘Too Dark To See’ among those included.

His interpretations of traditional folk songs ‘Fair And Tender Ladies’ and ‘You Did As You Were Told To Do’ are part of the 24-song tracklist, as are tracks from his solo records ‘Nothing Broken’ and ‘Wrong Man’s Hands’.

Conway Savage – ‘Too Dark To See’ tracklist: 

1) ‘Fair & Tender Ladies’ 
2) ‘1000 Days’ 
3) ‘You Did as You Were Told to Do’  
4) ‘Trail of Broken Hearts’ 
5) ‘I Trust You Had a Good Time’ 
6) ‘The Cross’ 
7) ‘Marlo’ 
8) ‘Sisters & Brothers’ 
9) ‘Old Soul with a New Hole’ 
10) ‘Tanist’ 
11) ‘These Are the Waves’ 
12) ‘Nothing Broken’ 
13) ‘Strings of the Earth & Air’ 
14) ‘Cruel Trick’ 
15) ‘Night Life’ 
16) ‘Only Ghosts’ 
17) ’Just One of Those Things’ 
18) ‘Quickie for Ducky’ 
19) ‘The Saint of Shitty Little Rooms’ 
20) ‘Too Dark to See’ 
21) ‘Don’t Plan on Leaving Town’ 
22) ‘Say It Aint So’ 
23) ‘Crumbling World’ 
24) ‘Tonight’ 

When news of Savage’s death was announced, the Bad Seeds wrote: “A member of Bad Seeds for nearly thirty years, Conway was the anarchic thread that ran through the band’s live performances. He was much loved by everyone, band members and fans like.

“Irascible, funny, terrifying, sentimental, warm-hearted, gentle, acerbic, honest, genuine – he was all of these things and quite literally “had the gift of a golden voice”, high and sweet and drenched in soul.”

Nick Cave added: ”On a drunken night, at four in the morning, in a hotel bar in Cologne, Conway sat at the piano and sang ‘Streets of Laredo’ to us, in his sweet, melancholy style and stopped the world for a moment. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Goodbye Conway, there isn’t a dry eye in the house.”

Last September, a festival was held in Dundalk, Ireland to celebrate Savage’s life and music, with friends and bandmates playing in tribute to him.