Nick Cave and Debbie Harry share new single ‘On The Other Side’
The Task Has Overwhelmed Us, the long-awaited fourth volume of The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project series, is nearly upon us. The collection, almost a decade in the making, is soon to arrive, with its first previewing single arriving today. The first offering is a collaboration between Debbie Harry of Blondie and Nick Cave, titled ‘On The Other Side’.
The new compilation album follows 2009’s We Are Only Riders, 2012’s The Journey Is Long and 2014’s Axels and Sockets and showcases a collection of Pierce’s seminal Gun Club and solo career tracks covered alongside new material gathered from rehearsal sessions and songs only performed live.
Cave and Harry first displayed their harmonising compatibility with a beautiful rendition of ‘Free to Walk’ on We Are Only Riders in 2009. This was later followed by ‘The Breaking Hands’ on volume two, volume three’s ‘Into the Fire’ and now ‘On The Other Side’.
Pierce only performed ‘On The Other Side’ live on a handful of occasions, but now it’s here to stay with Cave handling piano, Cypress Grove on guitar, Warren Ellis on synthesisers and Guido Benigni on bass guitar while Cave and Harry exchange lines.
“He genuinely cared about other people,” Cave said of Pierce in an interview with Gene Temesy. “He was very genuine. And you know, I loved him very much. And I think he was a great songwriter. He had a good heart…. And, you know, it’s surprising how great his lyrics were, how original they were.”
‘On The Other Side’ arrives with an accompanying video clip, a montage of photos featuring Jeffrey Lee Pierce and The Gun Club courtesy of photographer David Arnoff. The photos were taken across various shows in Los Angeles and West London between 1981 and 1992.
Listen to Nick Cave and Debbie Harry’s rendition of ‘On The Other Side’ below.
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