Ghosteen

Why are there so many Nick Cave albums on this list? This is nearly impossible to listen to.

If you’re looking for something fun and upbeat ‘Ghosteen’ isn’t the album for you. It’s the sound of a father’s grief for his dead son. It’s harrowing and unbelievably sad, yet cathartic and…wonderful. Production is minimal and sparse, but immersive and as interesting as any ambient album going around. I suspect that over time and repeated exposure ‘Ghosteen’ will become one of my all-time faves.

Ouch. This is a heavy album. A beautiful album but really heavy. If you've ever lost someone, it will hurt to listen to. But it's beautiful, and compassionate, and lushly arranged. The 14 minutes of Ghosteen, and the painful wish of Ghosteen Speaks are the highlights, but really, the whole album is one big highlight. I won't listen to it often, it's too painful, but I will love it.

Wow. To call this music doesn't do it justice. To call it a work of art doesn't do it justice. The way that the album digs into the depths of grief is so powerful. It's heartbreaking, but in a way that elevates the experience to connect to a deeper humanity. Compared to some of his other work, this takes what's best and leaves what is "Nick Cave."

Brilliant, moving, heart-breaking at points, but also with an eye on recovery and the future. One of the most astounding and memorable pieces of music I have heard in a very long time.

What universe do I have to live in to think this was enjoyable to listen to!?

Achingly beautiful, raw in its emotions, the kind of record that stops you in its tracks and demands your attention. Such naked honesty is rare and Cave’s generosity in sharing the processing of his grief will, I sincerely believe, help others dealing with their own. That’s a pretty powerful accomplishment and elevates this album to a considerable work of art.

Album won me over. Really enjoyed the style and weird poetry.

I previously listened to Nick Cave’s Skeleton Tree in 2016 and it never quite left me. But the grief and heartbreak of that album was always too much for me to return to directly. So I have not since sometime in 2017. Nor have I listened to its follow up and trilogy-ending, double, 2019 album, Ghosteen. Well I’ve re-listened to Skeleton Tree once today. And visited with Ghosteen thrice. When driving around with it on at night, I was best able to experience this album. That is, Cave’s lyrics, emotional journey, and spiritual arcs as an artist and human being who is selflessly sharing his deepest heartbreak with any who will listen. There’s a lot to take in. And that it caps a decade when many other artists seemed to turn inward with equally emotional, heart-wrenchingly personal albums—Mount Eerie, Sufjan Stevens, Japanese Breakfast, and so on—a decade whose collective grief was buoyed by politics and “grand finale-ed” with 2020 and everything after…it makes Ghosteen seem especially potent. Nick Cave feels to me to be the elder statesman of this moment in music. If anyone can be. His trauma is particularly horrific, even, fateful. And his musical interpretation and communication of personal and personal-made-communal grief is lush, complex, and most often beautiful. Where many artists strip away flourishes and non-acoustic sounds for their most intimate albums, Cave seems to layer upwards. What he does strip away is words. Rather than filing his grief through doomed babbling like other searching artists might, he often lets soundscapes and ambience do the speaking for him. Or other musicians and/or singers all together. After all, how can the right words even be found, let alone without the help of others? I don’t know. It also just all seems silly to say anything about this album at all. It’s stunning.

Having only listened to one other Nick Cave album (that being Henry's Dream), I wasn't sure what to expect here having heard it goes in a completely new direction. What I ended up finding was a haunting, yet beautiful record dealing with the subjects of life and death, and all that surrounds it. Not something to represent all of his previous work, but a great listen nonetheless. Favorites: "Spinning Song", "Sun Forest", "Ghosteen"

A heartbreaking Five-star album from the legendary Nick Cave. And yet, I won't listen to it again anytime soon. I'll rarely put it on even if I want to hear Nick sing. Instant feels but the feels ain't good. This is not a record I enjoy but it's a record whose fragile beauty I recognize.

Poems with muzak

I just don’t get Nick Cave and I just don’t get why so many of his albums are on here. It’s nonsensical poetry that sounds like it was written by an angst 14 year old. This was such a chore and I’m glad it’s over.

Not good, could not listen, who the hell thinks this is good music.

Always been a big Nick Cave fan (mainly his lyrics). This was hardcore listening particuraly in light of its backstory. It stands up as a testament to grief, loss, love and making peace with trauma. Not something you'd want to listen to reguarly but an increadiblly powerful peice of art that like all great art takes you between darkness and light.

It's like if GY!BE tried to go mainstream. More vocals, and some piano. It tries to be so unbelievably melancholy at points it feels almost corny. With that being said though, it was still a great experience. Would recommend listening to while walking in the rain.

First time listen on this one, like Nick and the seeds generally but don't particularly like ambient music. But this is different, had never noticed the link between Cave and another hero of mine Leonard Cohen, but the connections are undeniable on this album. Beautiful songs throughout. Really Liked "Galleon Ship" and "Hollywood" as standout tracks. Amazing that this isn't all about the death of Nick's son Arthur. The songs are so darkly beautiful throughout, his usual collaborator Warren Ellis obviously influential in the Synth accompaniment.

Really good album. Lots of awesome instrumentals and the vocals pair really perfectly to create a fantastical, ethereal experience. Love it.

There were some very pretty moments here and there, but everything else felt like I was listening to an audiobook. I feel like this should've garnered a more emotional response from me, but it just didn't

This album was right up my melancholy street. If I didn’t know the story behind the album I still would have rated it high but it definitely adds something more knowing about his son. Everyone deals with grief in their own way and Nick Cave dealt with it by dropping this beauty

Needs help

A sparse, poetic and heartbreaking expression of a father's grief. One can only hope the act of making it helped bring some sort of peace to its creator. Rating: 5/5 Playlist track: Ghosteen Speaks Date listened: 27/12/23

I've heard this when it came out and it really is incredible. It' an extremely tough listen with the lyricals seemingly mostly motivated by the death of Nick Cave's kid. While the themes are somber and presented beautifully, the musical experimentation cave and warren ellis have going on here is some of their best. It's a challenging listen but extremely rewarding.

So here it is sports fans - my first 5 star rating for an album I’ve never heard of before. Admittedly not listened to much Nick Cave at all, but I love his work on The Proposition and his score for The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford is one of my favourite film scores of all time. I could hear bits of his work there in this album - maybe it’s the way he composes music, I dunno. Don’t know enough about music to pinpoint it so I’ll stop there with that bit of expert commentary. First track had me straight away and got me reading up on it. Listening to the rest of the album in the context of his life struck something in me. Apple Music said it’s an album about love, loss and letting go and I think that genuinely comes across. Stunning throughout. Very deep for the start of a New Year but why not? So there ya go - my “5 on a first listen.” Delighted this list got me to listen to this.

A beautiful, haunting album - you can hear everything that's been poured into it and it's heartbreaking.

🟦 100 🥇 Bright Horses 🥈 Waiting for you 🥉 Ghosteen

Ugh so fucking beautiful, I’m a Nick Cave stan now.

Beautiful. 5 stars

A legitimately beautiful, but profoundly sad record.

Oh, a newer Nick Cave album? I’m looking forward to checking this one out. It’s achingly beautiful- I did not know his son died in 2015 a d this is essentially a eulogy to him. So heartbreaking and amazing. Definitely going to get more spins…

Tough one to rank. I prefer Cave's rockers to his more somber work, but this is easily his best somber album. Haunting and beautiful.

Well, that was absolutely dreadful, and I have no idea as to why “Ghosteen” is even on this list… I’ve seen comments along the lines of “great lyrics” and “subtle instrumentation changes throughout are awesome” and I’m like WTF are they talking about??? I get that this is an authentic album, and was born out of grief – but that alone doesn’t make it awesome… To be honest, it sounded like one long, drawn-out funeral dirge – which is fine if you like that sort of thing… Also saw that this was rated as one of the best albums of 2019, and I’ll stick with my premise that it’s NOT because this was a great album, but because there is a real lack of musical “greatness” today – especially the authentic kind, as compared to what was being produced in the 70’s… Normally, I highlight some of the best songs on the album, but nothing to show for this one… The ONLY song that I bothered to look at title throughout the album, was the last song – “Hollywood”… Not sure if there was a little more in that one, as compared to all of the rest, or after about an hour, I had been completely worn down – but ether way, even that track is nothing to write home about… This was incredibly rough, but I’ll give it a 1, as at least if was authentic…

This album blew me away. It steps away from Nick Cave’s narrative heavy songwriting style in favor of something that is more focused on creating moods and exploring emotions and existential themes of love and loss. The music itself relies on drones and ambient synths supplemented by strings. This gives the music an ethereal feel and lends extra weight to the lyrics.

Nick Cave is the best songwriter in my opinion and so it's no surprise that I will say only positive things about his albums. 'Ghosteen' is another masterpiece but I understand the scepticism of people who have not much connection to Nick Cave's work. In the grand scheme of the discography of him and his band it's certainly something. Brooding, ambient, some say dark but on other parts quite uplifting. Abstract and challenging. Sometimes I miss more of the band because most of it was made by Nick & Warren Ellis alone. I still recommend everybody to listen to this though.

This is a beautiful yet heartbreaking album. It's simultaneously a joy to listen to because of the masterful performance, but a serious downer when you remember what Nick had to go through. It's amazing, it's just not something I can throw on whenever. That doesn't stop it from getting a 5'er.

This album took a full week to hit me. It’s so, so sad. You can just feel the grief and wonder and anguish in every song, but in particular songs it hits this crescendo, where you know he’s talking about his son. It’s like real grief: on waves between sorrow and anguish and peace and feeling. It took me a while but I started to feel really, really moved by this. I mean, the crescendo track, “Ghosteen,” it got me to cry, I actually rode with it. This album is not for everyone, nor is it for everytime, but you have to just marvel at its sheer intensity, it’s operatic quality, the storytelling that Nick Cave has perfected and is really special at a moment like this. Are there things I would change? Yes, it’s overly long, hard to grasp, the instrumentation is a little too saccharine, too dirge-like for too long. But tell me you’re not grabbed by Nick Cave’s performance, his lyrics. And yes I had to read the lyrics to really, really get it there. I’m so bad of a lyrics person, even Nick Cave needed some translation for my brain. But yeah... I mean, god damn. Probably only listening to this again in the most tender of moments, but you have to respect it. 5/5, if this was staged I would watch the hell out of it and probably weep.

Heavy, haunting, heartbreaking. It's one thing just to listen to it but even more heartbreaking to understand the background around this record. It's a very beautiful and unique album, but I don't know if I wish to listen to it again for a while. Favourite: Hollywood

Nick Cave wrote this album after losing his son. It’s beautiful and haunting. I’m glad I happened upon it. Absolutely stunning.

I really liked this for some reason. I thought it was hauntingly mellow for the most part. Another one where it's on track 4 for the second time before I realise it's looped already and I'm listening to the same thing I've already heard. Yeah, really flows well this one.

Always brilliant

I liked the instrumentals on this album a lot. It was all very grand, slow, and epic sounding. I still don't really like his voice, which keeps me from actually enjoying it. The songs did feel very samey, it felt at likes like I was listening to one long continuous song. It felt a little sigur-ros-y at times, but then Nick's voice came over it and kind of ruined the vibes. 5/10, I likely wouldn't ever put this on again.

Quite tired of ambient bad seeds. Miss the filth. Worst album cover of their career. That aside, still quite great, feel the heartache. P.S. Good lord this list needs some diversity. @me

It's now almost a rite of passage to mock the fact that Elvis Costello has a bizarrely out-weighted representation on this 1001 list. But at Costello's worst he's at least palatable. ...and so here I was when I initially wrote about how there are (at least!) 4 Nick Cave albums. FOUR - and how at some point you've gotta read the room - I get it, absolutely give us 1 since everyone should hear (almost) everything/everyone once, and if you insist on a 2nd fine but you have to know half the audience is gonna nope right out. Even my favourite artist I'm gonna push 2 on you tops and after that you're on your own to discover more of them. I wrote all this and more (including questions about the album cover) without having yet listened ... ..annnnnd then great: I then read that he wrote this about and for his son who died. So who's the asshole now. Sigh. So. I listened. Here's the amazing and fun thing - it is and was nothing at all like I'd expected (i.e. nothing like the previous 3 of his I've had). The music is actually undeniably ...lovely?? Soaring, sad, dramatic. Almost hints of Brian Eno. His voice is ...emotional and tentative? Sensitive? Of course too often he reminded me of Leonard Cohen whose vocals I can't abide by. But there is definite distinction - this is definitely better in that I feel more emotion (although I'm likely reverse engineering this knowing what I do about his inspiration for the record). In the end maybe a different singer but definitely with the vocals backed off a little in the mix and I could have bumped this to a 4. Still I never expected to give Nick Cave a 3 and will tip my hat to him for a surprising, different, and emotional ambient project. I guess that's the point of this damn thing (I've only said that at least 10 times). TL;DR: Shockingly and unexpectedly different. 7/10 3 stars

You can hear the emotion, Nick has been through some shit. Musically I like this more than the many other albums of his that have appeared so far. But, honestly, I can't helping thinking that the thing that ruins Nick Cave's music for me is Nick Cave. At least his voice. It's like my brain just instantly disengages the second it rumbles onto the track.

Would say that he's "my kind of weirdo", but he's actually a very different type of weirdo that I don't like so much. Didn't hate it though.

Nick Cave is a SERIOUS artist.

I'm sure if you're high this is a spiritual experience.

Never listened to Nick Cave before. Have heard his name here and there. This was my first time listening. It's okay.. but Scott Walker did it better. I did some research and found that Nick Cave was heavily inspired by Scott Walker and I 100% believe it.

I was very torn rating this album. I wanted to find something to like here and to see why this album made the list. At times there were some rumblings of something interesting happening that made me think upon further listens I might find something to like here. Unfortunately I am only listening to each of these albums once and giving my initial gut reaction for rating them and I could not find it in me to rate this anything higher than a one. The album drones on in a very monotonous way throughout the duration of its run time with fleeting glimpses during the albums climax at what could have been had they decided to try anything different. I can appreciate that it is wholly different from anything I’d ever seek out to listen to and that there may be something appealing about it to someone but that someone is not me. Entirely boring, utterly forgettable.

Is this a rock album or a game of Dungeons & Dragons? Nah.

vibey but not enjoyable. Fitting for a spa waiting room.

A masterpiece. Simply beautiful. Was lucky enough to see Nick Cave live a couple of months back and it was astonishing. Bright Horses was breathtaking. Warren Ellis is a star.

Really just a gorgeous record all around. I think understanding the context of what was going on with Nick when he wrote this record is essential to fully appreciating it, but even without that context it’s still just a beautiful sounding album. 9/10

It’s a perfect album. Lyrically heartbreaking and sonically sumptuous.

Oh my f God was this a great album. This is the second NCatBS album I've listened to since I started and I'm all on board. I will probably buy this one and it will be in my official at work rotation. I need to listen to it again. I was cleaning while listening and going through so many emotions. Like I said in my other review Nick Cave is someone I've known of for years but had mixed up for some reason with several other different artist none of whom sound anything like this band. I hope I have another 40 years of life left to get to enjoy and celebrate their catalogue and this album in particular. Just as solid as his 80s and 90s.

I am ~100 albums into this weird odyssey. This is the first time I am writing anything. This album just moved me. The backstory is so tragic. Son dies. Devastated father tries to make sense of a child's passing. I felt compelled to write because I know some will play this without context and may miss the brilliance. It's atmosphere and depth. Hollywood could possibly be the most amazing song I have heard in my older years. It's Stairway to Heaven mixed with Dylan's stream of consciousness with pure Nick Cave brittleness. BTW, I was so into it, I listened to Carnage and Australian Carnage (live version of many of these songs). Anyway, I get it if it's not for you. But if you are even slightly intrigued, give it a second listen.

Ethereal masterpiece, first time listening to Nick Cave and wasn’t disappointed a single bit

Superb

Wow. This was not what I was expecting to listen to early this morning. This is a powerful album that wonderfully expresses the emotions and thoughts around loss, greif, and love in a way that very few works of art are able to. I didn't expect much from so recent an album being a "Must listen to before I die" but this certainly is.

Sublime.

This may be the review I spent the most time thinking on. It's very unique but I'll be damned if this isn't artistic. I don't think it's perfect from a purely musical point of view but the rawness, honesty, and connection to what someone is going through is what music and poetry are meant to bring. This is the opposite of the hollowness but clean sound I've heard on many top albums on this list that seem focused on how to get an audience to be successful. This is an expression and the more I listened to it the more I appreciated it. It may be the last album I'd put on with a group, but as a solo listen on headphones where you're paying attention, this is beautiful to listen to.

Hef aldrei verið Cavefan, en um leið og ég las að platan væri um sonarmissi þá ákvað ég að nálgast hana af virðingu. Hún er mjög hæg, næstum ambientleg, hófstillt, sorgleg en líka falleg. Ég finn til með honum en ég er líka glaður að kynntist þessari plötu. Ég mun koma að henni aftur.

As that other (admirable) review puts it: "I don’t know. It also just all seems silly to say anything about this album at all. It’s stunning." I will only add a few things. There's a misconception that this album as a whole is Nick talking to his deceased teenage son. Cut "Ghosteen Speaks" is about that, sure, and the tragic story of Arthur Cave's death is central to the overall narrative of this indeed stunning record. Yet I believe that what most of those songs are really about is Nick slowly and gently trying to have Susie Bick, his wife and Arthur's mother, return to the world of the living, while passing through all the stages of grief himself. Not that this misconception changes a lot of things. Listening to *Ghosteen* is a harrowing experience, but also a strikingly beautiful one. And if you listen to it the right way, it's also a record filled with faith and hope. Extremely sad, obviously, but also mystical. You feel like you're staying silent next to the characters depicted in those songs while they muse about their past and current lives in front of the sea, a grey overcast sky looming over them as the twilight takes hold. Rarely in the history of music in the last fifty years or so has a so-called "one-note" album offered so many memorable moments like that. The record, which uses minimal input from the Bad Seeds apart from Warren Ellis, also contains two of Nick Cave's most beautiful songs ("Bright Horses" and "Waiting For You"). Which, given his huge body of work, is no small feat. "Galleon Ship" and "Ghosteen Speaks" recycle Ellis's trademark circular loop sound -- already used in "Jesus Alone" on previous LP *Skeleton Tree* -- to great effects. Wordless background vocals abound, mostly performed by an angelic choir. And Cave is a commanding presence just as he takes us into a fascinating maze of melancholic impressions. The "second part" of the album containing the two long narrative songs "Ghosteen" and "Hollywood", linked by the short meditative interlude "Fireflies", is a whole cinematic adventure all by itself. "Ghosteen" starts with Cave using all his powers to see hope on the horizon through an early climactic build-up, before a lengthy, more muted and subdued sequence ensues, showing how fragile hope still is in his predicament. And "Hollywood" cryptically narrates the story of Cave and Bick trying to escape from their unbearable pain on the other side of the world, with Cave recognizing that it's gonna be the place where he's waiting for his time to come as well -- reminding the listener that death will always be around the corner for each one of us, and that it's up to us to make the best out of the time that's left. That closer is in turn ominous and soothing, displaying the sort of obsessive one-note bassline that already sounded so great in that other masterpiece that *Push The Sky Away" was. An ambiguous finale, adding to the whole mystical mystery of the album, where Cave eventually goes full falsetto to convey his most intimate thoughts. Who would have thought the eighties Prince of Darkness was able to convey so much grace? I tried my best here, yet it still feels "silly to say anything about this album at all". It's the sort of record that can't allow you to do anything else while you listen to it. It works in relentless waves, and you either fully yield to them or you don't. Hope there's enough strength and empathy in you to do so Number of albums left to review: 57 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 408 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 234 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 302

This album is heartbreaking. I hope I never have to listen to it in the same place he is. This is probably the heaviest album I've gotten on the list. Masterpiece.

Soaring and haunting. His best.

Great art made from awful circumstances. At times so open it's a difficult listen. Not much more it feels even appropriate to say, but joins Black Star and other albums where the context is inescapable.

I wasn't looking forward to listening to this album and I found the last offering of a double album by Nick terribly painful. This was the exact opposite. Sweet sublimation. Well done Sir.

Brilliant, moving, heart-breaking at points, but also with an eye on recovery and the future. One of the most astounding and memorable pieces of music I have heard in a very long time. 5 Stars

Compelling and strangely beautiful.

Wow! That was tragically beautiful.

A more heartbreaking and authentic expression of grief you will be hard-pressed to find. Devastating and beautiful.

Oh Nick Cave my ear has such a complicated relationship with your works. What to make of this fantastical album cover that would be completely at home on a pre-teens sweatshirt? For me, promise… I admit a not-so-secret love of such work. From the outset I felt very at home in this world. It’s a very dark place we are traveling but there is something hopeful to be found in these ethereal shadows. I can’t stop reflecting on this album, staring at the cover art while I lose myself in the haunting music.

Sem nenhuma afetação, todo o esplendor da beleza a partir da melancolia. Ou o uso da arte para enfrentar a dor.

restrained, introspective, excellent

Really beautiful record - especially if you feel like remembering someone who has passed away

Brutal

Perfect as always!

Not a feel good album, not a fun, happy, upbeat bop, it's just Nick Cave with his usual haunting beauty, this may plunge you into the depths of grief you never knew you could go to.

Bellísimo álbum del gran Nick Cave. Melancólico, sutil y envolvente.

One of the best expressions of grief I've experienced. One of the great artistic statements of the twenty-first century, full stop.

This is my 9th album. I saw the beautiful, breathtaking cover and already knew I would give 5 stars, but listening to it felt nice again. I will probably give every Nick Cave album here 5 stars, because they're all amazing. Nick Cave is a poet, a God and overall someone who understands grief, sadness and love at suc a deep level. Ghosteen is for some people his best -or one of- work. I understand that, though I disagree. Bright Horses is monumental and beautiful, like the Colosseum in Rome or so, but the rest of the album does not have a standout song in my opinion. With more easygoing songs, I would give this album probably 6 stars, but it's not an easy one to listen to, partially due to the length. 5 stars. And I recommend listening to Bright Horses to everyone here.

If you're ever wondering why Nick Cave has so many albums, and ask why one from 2019 is on the list, all it takes is one listen to understand why. Haunting, haunting record. Heart breaking every step of the way. Proving without a shadow of a doubt how great Nick Cave is as a songwriter. Multiple times throughout the album I nearly cried (title track got the closest). This record is phenomenal and a true instant modern classic

Very sad, but very good. Knowing this is about grief after the death of Nick's son really helped open up this album for me. It's a cathartic listen yet also heartbreaking.

Usually Nick Cave rubs me the wrong way for some reason, but this one won me over. Maybe I prefer his voice when its over more ambient music

Damn. I guess I'm a Nick Cave fan. Got a lot of catching up to do — he's got like 250 albums. Yeah, this is long. But I sank into the sonic sea and was mesmerized by Cave's haunting moan.

He strikes me as an Australian Leonard Cohen. Interesting and intriguing.

Hauntingly beautiful. And with reason. Nick Cave poors his grief out in this tribute to his son. I'm not one to be emotionally sucked in by music but this album tears me apart. 5/5.

Nick Cave has a knack for writing albums that tip me into a different (parallel? complementary? contrasting?) emotional space. I love his songs individually, but I do struggle with listening to a whole album in one go because of this. This album is particularly haunting, knowing that it was part of Nick's processing of his son's death. It's a beautifully produced sparse soundscape that swells and ebbs in an emotional flow. So, while I am giving it 5 stars for its musical ambition (and the fulfilment of), I'm unlikely to listen to it regularly at this point in my life. I hope I never find occasion to need this to speak to my soul 🧡

My favourite album from Nick Cave, can't stop listening in loop waiting for you.

Really beautiful sad album

Prior to starting this journey of 1001 albums, I held no expectations that I would give a first time listen all five stars. I must give five stars to Ghosteen. Only Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush move me such as this music.

I think it was good to be forced to listen to Ghosteen again, because it really is one of the most beautiful records ever made. It's just much too depressing to listen to on a regular basis.

“I am here and you are where you are.” Should have picked a different time to be cutting onions.

It is so painful and emphatic, never heard so sadly music, but it is great!

Profoundly moving. Really quite amazing.

Absolutely lovely. It’s said that great art comes from great suffering and I’m sad that such a beautiful album wouldn’t exist without such pain. Definitely one to revisit.

Grief comes in a myriad of forms. Nick Cave took the more humanistic form in regards to its expression. The sudden, tragic passing of his son in 2015 has colored not only the music made by Nick since but people's views of him as he tapped into the very emotions and thoughts that were deemed unexpected of him. Ghosteen, however unfortunate the situations surrounding it were, could very well be the best work of his long, well-traveled career, which shouldn't be a thing one says in regards to this but it applies. Not a note is wasted, not a word misused as a light is shone ever so beautifully on life, death, grief and all the corners that represents it. Whatever Nick does next, it will be hard to top this. But there's no doubt that he'll find a way.

Push the Sky Away is the last Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album I was familiar with. It is an excellent record, but they have so many killer records (basically anything during the period: From Her to Eternity - Let Love in) there is always a better album to get back too. Ghosteen: knowing the back story I understand it is a highly personal album, and that might be one of the reasons I could hardly connect with the record at all initially. The other reason is that most of the tracks at first just sound like (very) sad, slow soundscapes, often with some spoken word / minimal singing over it. It is only until Ghosteen Speaks that things changed a little. A really good song. Leviathan also good and the rest of the album stays on track. In fact, Ghosteen is pretty impressive too, especially after a couple of listens. So, initially, I thought I would probably not listen to it again but during the afternoon I backtracked completely and now believe it is another truly outstanding Nick Cave record.

Kenne zwar viel von Nick Cave, aber dieses Album nicht. Und finde es super!

Admittedly I only joined the Bad Seeds fan club a few years ago but they seem to be maturing like a fine wine, and this album has a legitimate claim to being their best. I won’t pretend to know what all of Nick’s lyrics are about but there are some devastating lines that cut through, and his poetic imagery really compliments the ethereal, fairytale soundscapes that Warren Ellis helps to create. It’s far more graceful, beautiful and euphoric (or maybe cathartic is a better word here?) than an album about grief has any right to be, really. And then it closes on a song as bleak as Hollywood, suggesting that the grief remains after all, partially or completely unresolved. That jarring change in the bass pattern at 9 minutes in… amazing stuff.