[1][2][3] The liner notes by the producer, Kim Beissel, describe the link between each track and works by Australian musician, Nick Cave, generally with his group, the Bad Seeds throughout their related careers.

In January 2009 Beissel appeared as a DJ at the Cave-curated festival, All Tomorrow's Parties at Mount Buller, Australia.

In 2019, Cave curated a Spotify playlist "Nick Cave's Hidden Songs" which included the original artist's recordings of "Avalanche", "Katie Cruel", "Tupelo Blues", and "Plain Gold Ring", as well as songs by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young and others.

Of Volume 1, in September 1998 Tracey Grimson of Australian Rolling Stone gave the album four stars, writing "Altogether stunning...a journey through music's flirtation with death, love and the rest.".

Of Volume 2, Noel Mengel of The Courier Mail wrote "An album of startling contrasts...plays like a dream radio station" (09/10/2004); Michael Dwyer of The Age called it "An inspired work of cultural archaeology" (02/10/2004); Stephen Fitzpatrick of The Weekend Australian called it "The perfect journey through pop's wilderness" (23/10/2004); Malena Rydell of Dagens Nyheter (Daily News, Sweden) wrote "A bunch of truly fantastic tracks" (01/12/2004).