Ghosteen

very sad. Wasn't in the mood but I can respect the gloominess I guess.

What a beautiful album cover. Looks like such a pleasant place. I think in a different state of mind I could really vibe to this album. Listening to it while working made it seem rather dark and depressing, or maybe that was just Nick Caves voice and delivery.

Ovo nije album koji moraš odslušati prije nego što umreš. Ovo je album koji možda nije loše odslušati kad HOĆEŠ da umreš pa da te pogura, što od dosade što od želje za samoubistvo u svakoj sekundi predugog trajanja.

Sombre

Beautiful but very heavy album. It has this incredible mix of grief and hope that stops it from being too bleak to listen to. I’m not normally a big synthesiser fan but I think it’s used here to make these wonderful emotive soundscapes. And there are some really evocative lyrics. It’s not an album I would casually put on, but I loved it. I’ve picked a favourite and least favourite song because I always do, but I really think it’s one to listen to as an album and there weren’t any songs I disliked. Fav song: Hollywood Least fav: Leviathan

Nick Cave is unbearably awful. It's talking with barely any music.

No thanks.

*91 Ekstremt betagende. Jeg elsker ideen om at skabe noget smukt og eskapistisk midt i mørket. Der er ikke noget som sorg, der kan vise at livet er smukt, og det gør denne plade på allerbedste vis.

Det er ikke alle numre på dette album jeg synes er lige gode. Dog gav både numre som "Bright Horses" og "Waiting for you" mig gåsehud over hele kroppen. 4 flotte

Jeg lavede alle forberedelserne: en god kop kaffe, måske en lille snus, den gode stol placeret lige midt i sweetspottet foran anlægget, godt skruet op for volumen. Ja, der blev investeret en smule mere opmærksomhed i dette album, end jeg har givet fx Dolly P, men ikke albums er skabt lige. Og efter Brians anmeldelse var der også lagt i kakkelovnen til en oplevelse. Det er svært at sige, at jeg blev blæst bagover, fordi det jo i hvert fald ikke er energien i musikken, der skulle gøre det. Men lyrikken, stemningen og sorgen er fuldstændig unægtelig. Det er så fint, følsomt og storladent, mens det er skrøbeligt og sårbart, og det ville dø som baggrundsmusik. Det er stort set perfekte produktioner og kompositioner og alt hører simpelthen så godt sammen. Jeg har aldrig lyttet så meget til Nick og de dårlige frø, men han er også en kunstner, der kræver noget af lytteren, og jeg har endnu ikke givet ham det, han giver mig. Derfor er jeg også nu helt vildt glad for, at det er dette album, der blev det første fra ham, jeg hørte fra start til slut med udelt opmærksomhed. Det fortjente det. Bravo I dag er det en: 4.0 I takt med livet og sorgerne, der uundgåeligt følger med, så stiger det helt sikkert, hvis jeg stadig kan og vil samle op og returnere, hvad Nick sender ud

Det er ren perfektion for mig. Ellis og Cave's kompositioner og lydbillede ville næsten have været nok i sig selv, men koblet med konteksten for albummet og Cave's dybfølte og inderlige levering går det hele op i en højere enhed. Og det er foruden alle de små produktionsmæssige geniale detaljer. Det er mørkt og smertfuldt ja, men så helt utroligt smukt og stadig med et glimt af håb. Tror ikke noget andet stykke musik - eller kunst i det hele taget - har ramt mig så dybt som der her album gør. Måske er det fordi jeg selv har set, hvad det gør ved forældre at miste et barn, måske er bare fordi jeg selv er far (eller er blevet gammel og grådlabil), men hvis man kender baggrunden for albummet og kan høre 'bright horses' eller 'waiting for you' uden at blive rørt til tårer, er man gjort af et andet stof end mig. 'And the little white shape dancing at the end of the hall Is just a wish that time can’t dissolve at all'. Har hørt den sang mindst 200 gange, og jeg får stadig kuldegysninger hver eneste gang.

Crap

It's a record you're obviously supposed to sit and listen to closely. Given the subject of the record, it deserves this much, but I wasn't able to do this

Forgettable. I was not impressed, this felt like random music to have in the background and then you forget it's playing.

I was going to give this a lower rating as its not my sort of music, but once I found out what it was about I went back to the beginning. A devastating journey about a fathers grief. Still not my kind of music though

2.5

I prefer the more agressive and rockikg Nick Cave, but this album has grown on me. 4 stars

I feel bad being down on this album because it came at a really challenging time in Nick's life, following the death of his son, but it's not for me. I really don't like the ambient new age soundscapes and I just don't find the songs themselves very memorable. There's a few highlights, including "Bright Horses", but I'm not very high on it overall. Very light 3 stars.

I once dropped my teddy down the Ovingdean Gap so I can partly relate. Whole album is such a monumental tingling outpouring of grief, a huge seeping Noah’s Flood of lachrymosa that it’s almost enough to sweep oneself over the edge! It really is masterful the gravity of the vocal delivery and with incredibly splendid, deeply moving orchestration, little hints of unnerving synth and pretty much all beatless like some Enya record where the mood is 100% anguish. I can’t go fully 4 stars on this because some tracks do drag but I would put it in the book 100 times over the likes of Henry’s Dream. Interesting that Nick Cave and Coldplay within the space of a month put out a double album whose album lengths could have easily fitted on a single disc.

Ugh! Can't stand the vocals!

I didn't know this was about the death of his son or a way for him to grieve, so maybe that's why I didn't like the album, but I had to force myself to listen to the whole thing. It's so boring and depressing, and the lyrics made me cringe sometimes. I don't know how this got Album of the Year in 2019.

Listened before? No Familiar with the artist? Yes (I at least know "Red Right Hand" and a couple other songs) Thoughts: This is definitely an album that I would need more time with to fully appreciate, but on these first couple of listens it's beautiful, and a less difficult listen than I thought it might be given the subject matter. Favorite track(s): Bright Horses, Galleon Ship Least favorite: I don't dislike it but I'd have a difficult time listening to "Hollywood" again.

I knew i wasn’t going to like this before even listening, but i persevered in the name of science. Can confirm that it is hot ass.

Very good

The intense lyrics of this album make up for the repetitive mature of the music itself. However it plays more like an audio recording of a Nick Cave book rather than a true musical work. I did enjoy it but not sure that Nick Cave would even mark this as the work of his that should appear in this list.

A few albums in, I’d filed Cave’s Bad Seeds work with Tom Waits, ramshackle-by-design music made to showcase hackneyed language delivered by mannered, flashy vocals. It’s the clear, familiar sources of the tropes that tire, the absence of revelation in Wait’s Bukowski suit with Beefheartian trimmings or Cave’s southern gothic punk, Jesus here, Jesus there, murder, widow, virgin, maybe an ass, skipping between Sinatra and Brel without the fire. This album’s different. The first half is overlong, but has an ache and beauty that linger. The second half is blindingly good. Knowledge of context is the album’s cheat code, sweeping away any doubts over authenticity. Jesus and some of Cave’s other heavy tropes still appear, but they trail concrete detail tied to imagery clearly calling on pain and reaching for hope. The specificity of his loss gives rise to something more universal than his earlier Mardi Gras carnivals and parades. The abstract synth, machine sound and church organ vibe is a better setting to Cave’s funereal tendencies than the rattling bar rock of most of his records. For once, the music has me tipping my ears to the speaker. “We are fireflies trapped in a little boy’s hands/And everything is distant as thestars/ And I am here and you are where you are” - this brought a gulp. “Hollywood” is devastating.

The last of the many Nick Caves of our journey, Mark. I surprised myself by quite liking this first time around ("Harrowing and quite beautiful in places... Tough but enjoyable overall") but overexposure has blunted his work and I've downgraded today. Suffers particularly in comparison to the bleak but unfussy arrangements of Nick Drake yesterday.

No lo esperaba, es un álbum tremendamente melancólico y triste. Pero te atrapa de principio a fin. Hermosa hora y 10 pasé. 7/10

I can appreciate and respect the context here. Still a weird fucking album. And frankly that album cover art is comical. On the whole, there are far worse listens, but there are also so many infinitely better ones, including those about loss and grief. So, Mr. Cave misses again. I am sorry man. I truly am.

++*: Fireflies ++: Waiting for You, Night Raid, Sun Forest, Galleon Ship, Ghosteen Speaks, Leviathan, Hollywood +: Spinning Song, Bright Horses, Ghosteen 9,1/10

Are you kidding me? Two Cabes’s albums in that list; particularly this? Come on!

All the more heart wrenching for his grief, but not something id listen to normally especially as theres no enjoyment in hearing any of it. And its too long.

Why are they obsessed with Nick Cave?? This is like the 4th Nick Cave album I've had to listen to. I don't get it. This was a depressing albums. The songs were sad and weirdly religious. I looked it up and it was written after the death of his son which makes the songs make sense. I still didn't like it though.

This was a surprise. A lot of heavy feels alongside gorgeous instrumentation. I don’t think I will listen to this album again, but I’m glad I got this one time with it. I’ve never heard anything like this before.

Well this is the opposite of yesterday's Little Richard album. *whiplash* I don't know how to rate this one. It was very heavy and definitely to be avoided if you're actively grieving. It's beautiful but not something I may ever listen to again. It feels too personal and cathartic for me to enjoy as a spectator. I'll call it 3 stars, but that's not really fair.

The poetry is good, but it is not really music. It's more of a nice recital with painfully bad noise in the background.

A poetry reading set to music. Although I've never clicked with Nick Cave, I can understand and appreciate where this album came from. Grief needs an outlet.

I'm forever near a stereo saying, what the fuck is this garbage? And the answer is always Nick Cave.

This sounded like an overly-ambitious soundtrack to a bad movie nobody saw.

This is bad boring Tom Waits.

I summoned this one with my last review. I know Nick Cave has a fantastic reputation but I’m guessing that’s only among the deaf

This is unfortunately my introduction to the vaunted Nick Cave. It’s an hour+ of shimmering ambient whole notes and tentative arpeggios and heavyhanded lyrics sung in a voice which must be an acquired taste. Taking forever to get nowhere. You might appreciate the timbres of these whole notes, the subtle changes the arpeggios and counterpoints undergo, the restraint Cave shows. It’s beautiful at times, but I’m having a hard time finding it interesting.

I have always been a fan of Nick cave’s aesthetic and consistency of sound- much like Leonard cohen but darker. I listened to Let love and Murder Ballads but otherwise i couldn’t name many albums or songs by him. So I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this beyond the “oh, yeah, sounds like Nick Cave.” Instead, I found myself sitting with this album for the past week or two, returning to it over and over. It’s especially good on my big headphones with its great use of long pauses, his solo voice or single instrument tracks. It’s just a lovely album and not as sad as you might expect- given the loss of two beloved children.

Ugh. Even more Nick Cave. Now over an hour of him. Just pick the one album that is best. This guy does not feel 5 albums on this list worthy.

Nice, but after a while the etherealness becomes a bit too much.

9/10 Best songs: Sun Forest, Hollywood This is an extraordinarily dark, melancholic album (for obvious reasons). It's sparse, centering Nick Cave's vocals, with the occasional chorus or orchestral backing. It's not bad by any means, but you definitely need to be in a very specific mood to listen to this - and to enjoy it (if "enjoy" is the right word). I was a bit hesitant to come across yet another Nick Cave album on this list, especially one that was released so recently - taking a spot away from frankly more significant and influential musicians of the last decade. That being said, this album is a great depiction of grief and sadness, so yeah, I definitely think it belongs on this list.

devastating...

ok so, I get that this is a grief album. I've never heard a Nick Cave album before but from what I gather, this might hit harder already knowing his rock stuff? I think I'll need to come back to this one, maybe when I understand the subject matter a little more personally. Pretty tough to listen to though, like objectively not emotionally.

Definitely a Nick Cave album that I've been meaning to check out but have hesitated because of the length of it. This was actually solid! The time didn't seem to drag even though it was nearly 70 minutes. The album has one of the most beautiful covers ever, and it totally reflects the sound of the music. The music itself has some of the best luscious ambient soundscapes I've ever heard; such a breathtaking atmosphere. At some points in the album notably in "Leviathan" it goes to a similar place to Berlin Trilogy-era ambient Bowie (which I adore a lot; Bowie, and that song for the vibes.) One more thought is that the song "Bright Horses" is pure serenity and is everything that is good on this Earth. Final thoughts: This album is so peaceful and a bit heartbreaking knowing what Nick Cave went through which led to the creation of this album. I think this is deserving of being on the list. Highlight Song/s: "Bright Horses" and "Night Raid"

Nobody screams pretentious better than Nick Cave.

Kukaan ei tee musiikkia kuin nick cave. Juuri tähän tilanteeseen sopi tällainen hidastempoinen ja vähäeleinen musiikki jonka pääpaino on hyvin ymmärrettävässä lyriikassa. Hienoa työtä teet!

Ok so I love Nick Cave. I love the melancholy vibe he always has. I like the kind of downer/dark tinge to his music. This album is a little too much though. I mean the circumstances of it's creation are tough, that's clear. But I think this is such a personal album that it is hard for most people to relate to. If you've ever lost a child or someone that close, I'm sure this would just be tears the whole time. I thankfully haven't had that experience so this album is a little too out of my zone. It's not bad by any means, if any of these songs randomly came up on a playlist or something I would absolutely listen. But over an hour of this is a little hard to get through. It's basically a spoken word album, pretty much like him reading his diary set to music. Hard to rate, would I listen again? No. But it is worth listening once for sure. Not my favorite from Nick Cave. 3/5

it's quite heavy, but also gets a bit boring too after a while

Heard before?:❌️ Will listen again?:❌️

Very talented. I like songs of his orher more

I actually do really like the ambientness of this and the ethereal nature. I think ultimately it was sort of boring - if one was on a hallucinogenic drug it would probably be amazing though.

I never thought about turning it off. It has that going for it.

That is one unique album, Nick. I did go back and listen to Push the Sky Away and Skeleton Tree after my first listen of Ghosteen to see if it made more sense as a trilogy. It didn’t. Believe it or not, this one was a little more upbeat. It’s an eerie, slow, positive lament to his lost 15 year old son (and another sure sign that Robert has a weakness for albums with spoken word songs.) I think it makes The 1001 Must Hear List because it’s thought provoking and may just be the perfect listen if you’re morning a loss. (2.84*s) With a ghosteen dancing in his hand and the thought that we are fireflies a child has trapped in a jar, feels like he’s missing his son and just waiting peace and his time to come…

Ghosteen...an epic about the death of Nick's teenage son. An eerie, atmospheric event. Could be the score to an emotionally charged movie. Despite the deep meaning and work put in, I'm bored. Are the 1st two albums of this series must listens now? I'm hoping they don't take up any precious list spots but I may listen to the threefer in succession one day. Could probably even tuck in The Boatman's Call for a trip down the River Styx before Arthur ascends to the heavens. Rough time for Nick and I give the seeds credit for having range but with multiple of their other records making this list, Ghosty not worthy in my opinion. I'm probably ghosting this one at 1.58 stars.

Unfortunately Nick Cave's good favor that he established with me as a new artist early on this list has been eroding. The Boatman's Call was a tough listen and Ghosteen was only marginally better. I much prefer when Nick & The Bad Seeds roll into some punky blues rock to the slow, depressing, acoustic nonsense that we got on this one. I'm sure some stuffy critic can take inspiration out of this but I found it comparable to a trip to a bad off-broadway spoken word art show. The whole thing was a pretentious mess of pretty obnoxious "ambient pop" that I can do without. How this is the highest rated album of 2019 and shows up on countless end of year lists is truly a surprise. Nick Cave is certainly a polarizing artist in my book. He's run the gamut from bad to good on this list and I'm starting to lean more towards bad than good when I think about his music now. "Universal acclaim" for an album like this only further makes me reject critical reviews for what is to be considered high art. 1.20 stars

Entregou o que eu precisava: paz e foco

Beautiful and Painful As with most albums on this list, I went into it knowing absolutely nothing about the artist. What I found was... heavy. Really heavy. This is not an album you put on to have a good time. It's an album you sit with, and it kinda demands your full undivided attention. Unfortunately, I was listening to this at work, and so it was extra difficult to get through. The album deals with the death of Nick Cave's son, and you can feel that grief in every single track. As someone who's also lost a close family member, I can appreciate the weight of what he's doing here. But man, this album is a just grief encapsulated, and grief is a swamp. The music is mostly ambient, sparse, and a bit repetitive. Some songs are genuinely gorgeous: "Bright Horses" and "Galleon Ship" are highlights. But most of it just kind of blends together into a hazy, sad background noise. I respect it, but I don't think I'll be coming back to this. "Spinning Song" - Very dreamy song with a spinning keyboard in the back. Almost ambient. Hypnotic. Very sad. This first song really encapsulates some early feelings of grief or rather how it always seems to come back. Like a spiral that keeps going on different levels. 5-6/10. "Bright Horses" - In some ways my favorite song on the album. This song's theme of reality vs a fiction that helps you cope digs deeply at the human condition. The background vocals are haunting and gorgeous. The breathing strings add. Very cinematic song. Is this disillusionment or blind self-deceit? 7-8/10. "Waiting for You" - In some ways the most emotional song from the singer here. Very simple in its composing, piano led with strings and synth. The repeated "waiting for you" is really heavy but also musically not convincing. It's a rather nasally delivery. 4-5/10. "Night Raid" - There is a rather liminal feel to this song. The description of hotel's grand fountain and the ambient percussion. "Just a sigh released from a dying star" is a great lyric. 5-6/10. "Sun Forest" - The song starts very ambient, almost shimmering backdrop of music. Then the piano comes in. The synth is nice with a flute-y sound. The choir is gorgeous. I actually think the singing of Nick Cave here is a detriment to the song. "As the past pulls away and the future begins" is a perfect description to how time keeps moving in the face of grief. Overall a bit boring. 4-5/10. "Galleon Ship" - Sounds incredibly alien. Very dreamy feel. And then the piano comes in and washes over everything along with backing choir. 8/10. "Ghosteen Speaks" - Mostly atmospheric background. Very sparse musically. Kind of boring. 3-4/10. "Leviathan" - Another rather sparse song. Pretty hypnotic sound. Almost like a mantra? Still pretty boring. 2-3/10. "Ghosteen" - A continuation of the rather ambient electronic feel songs. Builds layers. Very long. Boring for the first 4 mins. I mean there is somewhat of a prettiness here. But you really have to listen. 3-4/10. "Fireflies" - Also a pretty ambient boring song. 2-3/10. "Hollywood" - Pretty hypnotic and drawn out. Kind of like a movie. Weird lyrics. When the singing comes in its pretty cool. The synths at some parts make it sound like a sci-fi soundtrack. "The kid drops his spade and bucket and climbs into the sun" is pretty fucking harrowing. I actually really like the poetry here. The mustard seed Buddha story is a classic and I love how it is used here. 5-6/10. Final Verdict: Ghosteen is a beautiful and painful album that I respect more than I enjoy. The poetry is incredible at times, the emotions are raw and real, and the themes are handled well. But the music itself is often too sparse, too ambient, too slow. It's the kind of album you have to be in the right mood for, and that mood is probably "sitting alone in a dark room thinking about death." I'm glad I listened to it, but it's probably not something I'll revisit. Rating: 6/10

Ok

This is just awful. Please just write your words in a book and then I'll ignore that as well.

Maybe the backstory influenced me, but this was not terrible. Only 1 more Nick Cave album to endure…

Really quite dull. There’s a handful of Nick Cave stuff I really like, but a lot of it I find very preachy and maudlin. This one was just a bit too damp for me.

01) Spinning Song - 6,5 02) Bright Horses - 8,0 03) Waiting for You - 8,0 04) Night Raid - 7,0 05) Sun Forest - 7,0 06) Galleon Ship - 7,0 07) Ghosteen Speaks - 8,0 08) Leviathan - 7,0 09) Ghosteen - 6,5 10) Fireflies - 6,5 11) Hollywood - 6,5 TOTAL: 7,09 (71/100) Current ranking: 521/984

Seeing This Much I Know to Be True in the cinema was an experience. It opens with the triple whammy of Spinning Song, Bright Horses and Ghosteen, which had me weeping so much I was worried I might be physically unable to watch the rest of the film. Bright Horses is one of Cave's most beautiful songs but I can't listen to it too often. Ghosteen Speaks is a tearjerker and I can't even articulate why. This whole album is a gorgeous sad dream. The main criticism I could level at Ghosteen is that it's so relatively sparse it feels like it should barely count as a Bad Seeds "band" record, but what it does do and gain in terms of pathos and atmosphere is so wonderful. The soft, synthy instrumentation feels spacious and ethereal and otherworldly but also terribly intimate. The album makes you feel like an eavesdropper on a parental grief so immense you almost want to apologise for intruding on it. I generally prefer Nick Cave when he rocks a little harder, but Ghosteen is such an emotionally powerful milestone in his catalogue that I can't begrudge anyone who holds it up as his best work. It may well be. I rarely listen to it because it's not a casual undertaking, but when I do, I'm in it – I'm in that radiant Edenic garden on the cover and I'm crying. Music very rarely makes me react that way, which is what nudges Ghosteen towards full marks over Cave albums that I might like more according to catchiness or play count. Now I've got a bit of a cry-headache.

Trying to ignore the timing of this album and the adjustments made subsequent to his son’s death, still find it doesn’t stand well on its own as an album to listen to. Might have been cathartic to Nick himself but I want music to enjoy or at least entertain. The second half must be the most miserably depressing stuff I’ve ever heard. Would rather just read the lyrics (which is more or less what he was doing anyway) and listen to the background music on its own at another time. Perhaps just not in the mood for this and can’t imagine ever being so.

So stunningly beautiful. I don’t really have words to explain how touching this was. I understand that Cave had just lost his son when this record was recorded and whilst you can say this is a bit of a depressing record (which to be clear it absolutely is!), I do think it is much more than that. Its a record about love and grief the heartbreaking, world shattering, gut punching emotions we feel when we really love someone (and not just romantically)- harrowing but actually kind of wonderful. I also really like the cover which looks like a copy of a Jehovah Witness magazine.

My favourite Nick Cave record, I could bathe in this sea of analogue synths forever. Unfortunately, the lyrics and weight of emotion is too much, and so I can probably count on both hands the amount of times I've heard this record all the way through. Snatches of grief, overheard from another room, and all the more powerful for it. Also, it's a double emotional barrage because it's linked in my brain to the very start of Covid and the sense of absolute fear and desolation that existed then - I can remember very clearly listening to this and Everything Everything's 'In Birdsong' one morning and feeling like the world had literally ended and we were all just disintegrating in the afterglow, hearing the last vestiges of culture from the before times echoing in nothingness. It was a beautiful, yet massively crushing feeling (which is sort of my preferred emotional state a lot of the time tbh)

A: What in the Medieval-Stardew-Vampire-fan-fic-jesus-my-horses-are-dead-queen is this? Lät exakt likadant igenom hela albumet plus en kort eerie-David-Bowie-på-droger-del. Vill höra orden i någo skedet. Om man int kan välja mellan musik o en ljudbok??? 5/5 (C eller D tier) D: Känns som att de aldrig har lyssnat på musik före de bestämde sig att laga sådant. Det hoppade från kungar och drottningar till hotell till Jesus?? Surreal upplevelse. Vet inte ännu heller om det var musik jag lyssnade på. Svårt att säga nåt annat när Agnes sa allt roligt ren. 3/5

Grande trabalho feito aqui. Épico e angelical, grandioso e ao ouvi-lo, ha de sentir uma espiritualidade captada. Ao mesmo tempo que, mesmo harmonicamente ele consiga sintetizar todo o “Nirvana” espiritual que se propõe, em certo ponto fica meio maçante, pois todo é como se fosse um conto cristão, não convencionalmente cantado como outras obras se comparada, então fica como se fosse um “conto” cristão, com todo o som atrás. É interessante de escutar, mas la pela quarta faixa a frente, ficou um pouco entediante.

Wonderful

The dreary howls of a haggard man.

Very beautiful album. Like an ambient Blackstar except it’s about someone else’s death.

This is an album that is very hard to grasp unless you know what happened to Nick Cave’s 15 year old son passing away. Ghosteen also acts as the final part of a trilogy starting with Push The Sky Away and Skeleton Tree. If you haven’t listened to those, it also makes Ghosteen a very hard listen. Out of the 3, personally for me, Ghosteen was the hardest one for me to get into. Not only because it’s very sparse musically but it’s also emotionally heavy. The album seems alien and could easily be considered a drag. The first part of the album (first 8 tracks) are about the perspective of children leaving the real world and going into another world comforting the parents so to speak. The final 3 tracks are about the parents dealing with their grief. I’d say for me I needed to listen to this album, shelve it and come back to it many times in order for it to click. This review just made me go back to it and it hit me like a truck. It’s not something that you can listen too on the daily. But the emotional complexity and the situation Nick Cave has gone through and expressing it in such a fashion is just insane. The music no longer seem to drag but rather takes its time to set you into a state of understanding. The thing is not everyone is willing to go there and it’s understandable. But for the ones that want to go there and can take it, it might reach you to new levels of empathy that you wouldn’t think possible.

I didn’t really connect with this artist or his music, and found that one listen through was plenty. Always try to go in with an open mind, read a bit about the album and the life experiences that served as inspiration, but at the end of the day I was glad when it was over. Can’t see a reason I would seek out any more.

A sad story behind this album but music wise it’s just ok. Nothing too bad. I hope making this album was cathartic for him

such a shame that we've had a ton of nick cave albums that really set me on a path of not enjoying him. honestly, i think all the other albums should be taken off and this should be the only one left on. reading about the background of this album makes it hit so much harder. an album that deals with the loss and grief of a son makes for a really impactful album out the gates, but i think that we can hear the difference in Nick Cave this time around. the sadness in his voice just seems to carry so much more than in previous albums. and i think it really shows a difference overall with the tone of the album. that said, i think the narrative songs on CD2 take away from this album a bit, but overall i think this is my favorite nick cave album so far.

Did I judge a book by its cover with Nick Cave by hearing Murder Ballads first before any of his other music? Possibly, I know I’d have a different opinion of him if I heard this album first, but either way, it’s still not my cup of tea.

I really don't like Nick Cave, and I came to this album expecting his new stuff to definitely be worse than his peak. You know what, I was wrong. I think this style of music matches his voice way better than anything I'd heard previously. I still don't really like it. I probably would have given it a higher score without the Nick Cave background from this list, but it's definitely better than I was expecting.

This album is kind of a downer. Some haunting melodies, and some that don’t quite work IMHO. Some Peter Gabriel sensibilities, which is a plus. I have mixed opinions about this one.

felt too much like poetry to me. I want to hear songs, not spoken words. I liked the Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus album SO much more

Review - sorry to say this album is boring. Lyrically it may be great but as I often do, I find his singing self indulgent, and the synthy backing is very dull. Score - 4.5/10 Need to listen? NO

I’ve loved Nick Cave for a real long time, but there’s a lot of his work since, say, about 2000 and onward that I never took the opportunity to really invest in. As he’s gotten older, I had found his stuff a little more challenging and less accessible; when I’d try to listen to his more recent stuff, I’d lose some patience and turn back to his old records. I think I wanted Nick Cave to stay macabre and intense and furious, and his newer stuff seemed more exploratory and mellow and introspective and it just seemed to require some patience of me that I guess I hadn’t really been interested in giving him. One thing I’ve been appreciative of this project for is that it’s given me a chance to sit and wade through some of his newer stuff. Some of that newer stuff is resonating a lot more with me in my elder years. Ghosteen is one of those records. It’s awesome and intense, but it’s intense in a different way than his earlier records; Ghosteen is really emotionally heavy. But it’s beautiful and haunting. Parts of it sound like an Old Testament lament put to music. I love it. It might be a new favorite. 10/10

1,2/5

This album sounds like the inside of a coffin. I think it successfully portrays the grief and pure unfiltered sadness that Nick was feeling after the loss of his son. However, it's not a very easy listen and I had to, multiple times, take a break before resuming. It's just so heavy and so ambient. I'm going to give it a 5/10.

I'll admit this started out ok for me. I can appreciate the instrumental work but after about 30min even that couldn't overcome the cons for me. I'm just really not into the free meter spoken lyrics.

I like Nick Cave and have seen him love a number of times. Whilst this is an ok album it is not my favourite of his by some margin. Not bad, but not that memorable.

I didn't really want to engage with a long album about grief and loss on a Thursday. I'm don't know whether I'd play it again because I'm not sure I ever want engage with long albums about grief and loss. Some of the lyrics are very good and the music fits them well. That sounds like faint praise - I don't know, still gets a 4.

I love this. I think in the end it gets a five. While it perhaps loses a point (or even two) because it honestly slips into the background - I'm giving it an extra point because it's art and sometimes I can recognise the art even if I don't fully appreciate it.

The only reason its not a 1 for me is that the background music could be nice on its own

I like the non murderous Cave. I know this was about losing his son which was sad, however the songs felt happier than his other albums in this list.

I regret giving them a 1 on a different album so even though it wasn’t a great album it gets a 4

Not as good as Boatman's Call. The second half really drags this down. Otherwise it is very hauntingly beautiful. It's just too long and too slow. If the second half hadn't been there, it would get a 4.

Did not enjoy this as much as other Nick Cave albums. Very ethereal & kind of drones on too long

0.5 - Please Kill Me

I remember when this came out and everybody raved about it. I never listened then because I had the sense I wouldn't really like it, or it had been too hyped and I would be disappointed (I can't remember exactly) I did enjoy this but I'm glad it got me in a decent mood as this could be a real struggle to get through depending on where your mind is. It's morose and pretty sparse throughout, as I expected, and certainly emotional and full of vulnerable moments. It can also be quite peaceable too, like with Night Raid, which was a highlight Highlights: Hollywood, Night Raid, Ghosteen

This was truly such a boring and nothing album. I really don’t have anything good to say about it. barely made it through, by the halfway point i just started scanning through the songs. Really not a notable album.

Very critically acclaimed but mostly a downer in my opinion

Wat Frans van Dusschoten en Trudy Libosan konden, dat kan ik ook, dacht Nick Cave en hij maakte zijn eigen Lekturama-Luistersprookjesalbum. Met een flinke scheut liefdeslyriek, want hij is op het romantische pad. En voor iemand die maar al te gretig verkondigde dat hij er allemaal niet in gelooft (in 'Into my arms') besteedt hij hier wel heel veel tijd aan allerlei christelijk-religieuze thema's. Er valt (opmerkelijk voor Nick Cave) geen onvertogen woord, maar het gaat ook heel erg in slakkentempo. En aangezien er geen Lekturama-sprookjesboek bij zit (met zo'n ping-geluidje dat vertelt dat je de bladzijde moet omslaan) ben je al snel de draad kwijt waar het eigenlijk over gaat. Dan wordt het een lange zit. Sfeervol, maar lang. Ik waardeer wat Nick hier probeert te doen, maar de helft speeltijd was meer dan genoeg geweest.

Ik gaf eerder een rechtvaardiging van het opnemen van 4 albums van Nick in de lijst. Ik zat er naast. Ik werd vandaag verrast door een vijfde album. Er zijn toch ook grenzen, 1001. Een extra reden om het niets toevoegende The Boatman's Call uit de lijst te wippen. Dit album schept wederom een duistere sfeer. Echter niet op een negatieve manier. Het biedt vooral berusting bij die duisternis. Wellicht is dat ook het element dat ik eerder bij Nick niet wist te benoemen. Je ogen moeten altijd even wennen, maar duisternis kan prachtig zijn.

Goh, Nick Cave, die hebben we nog niet eerder gehad in de lijst ... Ik heb de hele begrafenis uitgezeten. Ergens is het natuurlijk wel indrukwekkend, maar ik had er meer voor open gestaan als dit niet de zoveelste nick cave plaat was. Nu ben ik murw gebeukt en geef ik slechts 2 sterretjes

man doing this has really opened my eyes to how amazing nick cave is… even tragedy cant wipe away the resilience his music embodies….

Grief

Beautiful and bleak. One of those albums you should definitely listen to once and potentially only once. A grief stricken soul lain bare. It’s a challenging listen but very worth sticking it out for.

fine

4/5

Νίκο μου έχεις βγάλει και καλύτερα. Και πολύ καλύτερα. Δε λέω είμαι σίγουρη θα έχει στιχαρες, άλλα μουσικά κούρασε πολύ

Not my favorite Nick Cave album but this one is haunting an emotional.

This album feels haunted in a number of ways, clearly the grief and loss at the heart of it focuses on a absence but the absence is tangible but unknowable and musically there’s a haunted quality- Melodys that appear and disappear, or dissipate into pulses or fragments of sound. caves voice is fractured and searching. The whole thing almost feels like an intrusion on his grief. Beautiful but heartbreaking

It’s very good I just don’t know if I will ever listen to it again, it makes me feel so sad. But I love the lush production in the first song and Ghosteen. I don’t know much other Nick Cave but this piqued my interest.

"Mama bear holds the remote / Papa bear, he just floats / And baby bear, he has gone / To the moon in a boat" I know the circumstances are tragic, but I dunno if these metaphors fully do the subject matter (or the beautiful synths) justice

Absolutely drenched in sorrow, this album is difficult enough to listen to until you learn that Nick Cave lost another son within a few years of its release. My heart aches for his losses and though this is haunted and gorgeous, I doubt I'll be able to listen to it again.

I was nervous after not liking the other Nick Cave album(s?) I’ve listened to so far, but was pleasantly surprised that I liked this one a lot! Disc 2 was a little long for me though. Melancholic and atmospheric which I enjoyed (music really affects me emotionally though so I’m glad this was only an hour long!). Really sad to hear the backstory on this one. I think this album could be comforting for other people dealing with grief. 3.5/5.

Extremely boring and depressing album. Easy one to fall asleep to.

A serious departure from the lion share of Nick Cave's catalog but executed as well as everything that came before it. A whimsical and heartbreaking album with ethereal production. Certainly requires a specific mood to listen to though.

Meditativ, beruhigend Göttlich-behütend

Very emotional sounding music I enjoyed it

Some beautiful melancholy moments but it's just too heavy going.

I know this album is “good” but I couldn’t get into it

this was so desperately sad i actually couldn't fully focus on it. i have no idea how to rate it tbh. feel it needs more time to listen but also not sure i can ever come back to it.

This is my fourth of 5 Nick Cave albums, and I haven’t historically liked them too much, but this was a great listen today. Lyrically complex and provoked my imagination, I may have to revisit my previous ratings. 3.75/5

Sun Forest

A moving meditation on grief. At times it can feel a little too one-paced across its 68-minute span, but no denying the beauty of so much of it.

Très bonne première chanson Bright horses, Sun Forest ! Quelle jolie balade, quelle tristesse L’album finit fort en plus, 9/10 Le plus proche de ACLAM

Why

Heard Before? Nope. I thought I was somewhat of a Nick Cave fan, but this list shows me that some people go all out. Notes: - for the love of all that is holy, this list needs a two-albums-per-artist limit, NOW! - clearly this is a lyrics album, and i wasn't feeling it. - had i been paying more attention i might have found it haunting and minimal instead of irritating and empty. - typically i prefer songs that show evidence of songwriting. - i never mention cover art, but seriously what is this thrift store Thomas Kinkade bullshit? Verdict: What if Nick Cave but only new-age synths and speak-singing? Listen Again? I really should give it another try when I'm in a better mood and can actually care about the words. On the other hand, I always prefer music that is musically engaging rather than a pleasant setting for verbosity.

Also.. meiner Meinung nach hat dieses Album nicht verstanden wie emotionen funktionieren. Aber es kann auch an mir liegen

I usually really dig Nick and his Seeds but this album just leaves me flat. I don’t understand why, and I can’t explain it. But there it is.

Day907 - i thought i accidentally played a tenacious d album. it’s safe to say nick cave helped make the list

Raw songs of loss and pain. Hauntingly beautiful.

I like early Nick Cave- it’s nostalgic as we listened to it at the knitting store I worked at in high school. But this 17th album (!!!)- I found it hard to listen to. It’s dramatic for sure.

More of an hour-long elegy than an album. Very sad and poetic, but next to no musical merit.

"Well, sometimes it's better not to say anything at all." - Should learn to practice what you preach Nick. Pure self-indulgent toss.

Insufferable

Easily the worst of his so far

Ethereal angelical

6/10 I didn't dislike it, but it is so dark and depressing that it would be difficult to say I enjoyed the experience

Very different than what I knew from them, pretty good.

Not for me

Es el segundo disco de Nico Cueva que me toca. Increíble que tenga más de 1 dentro de los 1001. Está ya la intro me hizo querer sacarlo antes de que empiece. Update escuché 4 canciones y me hace creer que "goodbye moonmen" de Rick and Morty puede ser un gran tema y no una huevada irónica humorística.

I just really do not like nick cave.

Did not like this. This was just really hard to sit through tbh, and not because of the themes here. I get what this album is about and appreciate the effort, however it connects to me in no way. There's really not much to say here. I feel bad giving it a 1, cause it is trying to create a really imersive experience of the artist. So I'll compromise on a 2 purely for that reason. But it truly is repetitive and lacks a punch to really connect with me. Fav Track: ???

Brilliant

i dont know what to say about this. im a big Nick Cave fan and actually saw him live last week. This album is a thing of beauty but a difficult listen and not one i put on regularly. ive 3 kids and the pain and sadness is writ too large to engage with for me. on a surface level, warrens loops and instrumentation are beautiful, as are the piano and singing. definately a work of art that deserves to be heard, not something i want to return to in my current state

Listening to Nick Cave always feels like fucking work. Like I have to get ready before listening, and give it my full attention. And I just don’t need that on an album about his dead son

341/1089 nick cave and the bad seeds no. 3 let’s go. i already liked what i’d heard of nick but then seeing him in the Kylie doc made me appreciate him more. the end of spinning song into bright horses is so beautiful. Very strong Low Roar vibes. really liked the first two tracks, then it merged a bit in the middle and brought it back together from the title track to the end this has 5 star potential for me once i give it another listen or two maybe 81/100

I remember listening to this when it first came out. Has a very spooky and somber moody excellent production and emotion but didn’t resonate with me as much as I expected.

I thought it was fine until it wasn’t and then I realized how constantly droning and depressing the whole album was. Maybe there are better Nick Cave albums but this one really wasn’t to my liking

'& you're sitting at the kitchen table / Listening to the radio.' The difference between a record like this & Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is substantial but not all that meaningful, i.e., this one's a failure of a success whereas the latter is a failure of a failure. But failure is failure, however you want to cut it, & Ghosteen embraces prog dimensions far more than I can take, even if Cave demonstrates a believable penchant for the ballad form & often 'sings his heart out.' Don't call it mystical, magical, or spiritual, it's really just Christianity for a Christendom that ought to be obsoleted. Sure, there are moments of beauty ('Night Raid'), but the ethereality is no more than the pangs of his religiosity. Tom Waits & Bruce Springsteen do better.

This has got to be one of the most boring albums I've ever listened to. It's like 70 minutes long and is basically just a guy reading poems over a theremin

im so sick of this nick cave bullshit

Day #007 I am familiar with Nick Cave and know some of his work, but he isn't heavy in my rotation and I don't own any of his albums. Push the Sky Away was the last record I think I fully listened to. I have a few friends who are huge fans and actually saw him this week in Germany, so I’ve been seeing a lot of footage pop up on my social media. His live performances seem incredibly impressive, but maybe also a bit intense and overwhelming. Because of that, I’ve never taken the plunge to see him live. I listened to this album during my commute to work. It's normally a 20-minute ride, but due to a roadblock and traffic jam, I managed to finish almost the entire record. In a sense, it is really beautiful how Nick processes the death of his beloved son, and I am glad I've now experienced the full album. It is incredibly well-made. The ambient, atmospheric sound fits the heavy subject matter perfectly, but it is just a bit outside of my usual listening range and taste. 3/5.

it's never going to be my favorite thing, but i was pleasantly surprised compared to the other album i got from them a few weeks ago (abattoir blues). at least this is kind of interesting and the voice is much more tolerable

The instrumentals on this album are beautiful and haunting, creating an unsettling scene. Then Cave started talking, and I got kinda bored. The child/parent double-album concept was interesting in theory, but in practise I didn't care that much, and it was kinda a slog to finish. Album cover is cool, though.

Uggh. I have sympathy for his loss. But, musically, this album is all but unlistenable for me: banal, Enya-esque, new age tracks with Nick Cave’s pretentious spoken word and atrocious singing covering almost every moment. No thank you.

Damn...

masterpiece+++++555, MA +6

Every time I listen to Nick Cave I feel like I'm entering another planet. A dark place full of strange creatures that make you feel uncomfortable. That would be excellent as a movie soundtrack. As an album... not so much. 3 stars.

WHAT IS THIS THINGS OBSESSION WITH NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS I HATE IT 😭

Definitely an emotional record with the backstory and you can hear it in Nick's vocal delivery, but I'm just not vibing with it. I'm starting to think Nick Cave is just so aggressively not for my taste. Some beautiful piano though.

A pretty album, but a little too quiet for me.

Tough listen, but so good. Spinning Song and Waiting For You are incredible pieces of music.

Alright already with the Nick Cave. This album was the worst of all his albums I had to suffer through. Not only is this guy a terrible singer but his song writing is such self pretentious poetry that I had to stop myself from throwing up numerous times while suffering through this epic tale of garbage.

love aussie nick cave, i really needed something a bit more upbeat today tho…… but still enjoyed. talk singing is so fun lol

A pretty good album, I liked Bright Horses and Galleon Ship the most. Wasn’t that big a fan of a couple songs that were more talking than signing.

Overwrought AND boring.

1/5 Favorite Song: Night Raid

3 1/2 I liked it. I should listen to it again.

4/10

Mellow

utter bilge. Self indulgent maudlin crap. Didnt finish it

Highest rated of 2019? The rest must be absolutely dreadful then. Christ, his son probably killed himself because he has no choice but to listen to Nick Cave. Even my speakers shut off for a solid 5 minutes during it. The stream was still going but Alexa offed herself when she heard this. This isn't offensive to the ears as such, the music part isn't horridly out of tune or anything, but it's fucking shit. Tragedy doesn't automatically make something worthy of praise, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

Beautiful, but very sad.

Dark and moody but also kind of boring.

Fue lindo de escuchar, pero no hizo en mí el impacto que pareciera que busca generar. Lo sentí más bien como una recopilación de poesías recitadas con música de fondo más que como un todo integrado en canciones. ↑: Waiting for You, Ghosteen ↓: Night Raid, Ghosteen Speaks, Leviathan, Hollywood

This is a very profound and beautiful album. I felt moved by the lyrics and exploration of grief but not in a wholely negative way. It seems there is a sense of peace and comfort in this album too. A really gorgeous album. Favourites: Bright Horses Night Raid Ghosteen Fireflies

Aims for heartfelt, too often hits boring.

I think I'd pick Push the Sky Away for later career Nick Cave - Higgs Boson Blues is maybe the only time his whole thing has really worked for me - but I think later Nick Cave is better than mid-career so I'm going up to three stars

This will be my most Real review yet. A bit of self reflection. I’m at least somewhat of an Art Guy. I put a high value on seeing how people document their experience of being alive, and I’d like to think I’m fairly open minded to different forms etc. Along with this, for whatever reason, I am not a very emotional guy. I often feel like I’m missing part of whatever art I’m taking in because it’s hard for me to connect with things in a way that is emotionally provocative. Nick Cave is a new thing for me via the list, with mixed results. He’s dramatic and self-important in a way I typically don’t appreciate in art, and at worst those things add up to him being overly corny a lot of the time. BUT FOR SOME REASON, his music, especially as he gets older and more vulnerable, gets to me emotionally in a way that very few other artists do. I guess by default, this puts him in a much higher tier for me than I ever would have guessed. I get something from Nick Cave that I rarely get from art. It’s pretty cool.

Seems incomplete. Sounds like music for a stage production or ballet.

I don’t like Nick Cave at all. It’s a unique sound but it’s such a chore to listen to it.

there were some real moments of beauty in here but i found myself unable to care about a lot of it. and it felt a bit corny at times? i can name an album with a similar style of writing that i liked more because it felt like it wasn't taking itself as seriously. is what i mean fave track: sun forest

On the cusp between music and poetry, the lyrics are fantastic but the tempo is just too slow for it to be a properly enjoyable listen.

2.75 -- i love his voice and hear clearly the grief. I was moved to tears at a couple points. It was however too slow for my listening tastes so I couldnt imagine reaching for the album to listen to as a whole agian. Saving a song tho.

Ooof another Nick Cave. I mean he's fine but just way too mellow for me. Great now he's discovered synth. Not sure I am going to make it through this album if this first song is any indication, it bad. Okay, I'm out - this album is just so damn depressing and slow I can't take any more. I know there is some Nick Cave out there that I like but this is definitely not it.

Spoken word poetry with backing music = no thanks

Absolutely stunning and amazing!

I didn't realize Nick cave was capable of writing a good song.

I really disliked this. Way too long. Way too brooding

mid 4.5.

Great for a study session, especially in archaeology.

So devastating. I couldn't listen to it all. I am assuming that a lot of it references his first son's tragic passing. Gut wrenching moments of absolute despair with pared back production.

Painful. I know this album was written in the wake of a personal tragedy, but it’s so far up its own backside that it’s difficult to care. Easily one of the worst albums so far.

Somewhat meh. But that is better than pretty much everyone else's meh. 2.5/5

i hate spoken word poetry. like now i just want to listen to Spelling Would I listen again: no Deserves to be on this list: no 2.3

I love Nick Cave, and I don’t want to take anything away from him dealing with his loss, but everything he has recorded in the last twenty years is unlistenable.

It's another Nick Cave album. Oh Boy

I have been meaning to get to this one after Skeleton Tree took me out behind the shed a couple years ago but until now it hadn’t happened. I didn’t even know Ghosteen was a double album, nor that it is by and large lyrics that run closer to spoken word poetry, albeit over a very ambient and haunted production. It’s fascinating and drenched in alternating hope and sorrow, but it’s no Skeleton Tree where the grief was very audibly at home, front and center in his voice and his head and engraved in the melodies despite the album already being written before the loss of his son. There’s grief here too of course (It lives on in perpetuity if you let it), but it’s on the other end of time that has allowed it to be processed and reflected while the album was written. Which isn’t bad of course, it allows for clarity of feeling that Cave is trying to get across. One is him immediately suffused in grief. The other is a man wanting to talk to his son across the afterlife. They’re both immense records. But this just doesn’t hit as immediately across the board. It’ll grow on me whenever I come back around to it, I’m sure. Spinning Song, Bright Horses, Galleon Ship, Ghosteen Speaks, Leviathan and the title track are all immaculate.

Sounds ethereal I think

Wasn’t ready for this one. It was heavy, deep and just a lot sounded the same. Tough getting through it other than a couple songs.

It feels like I’m in the corner of the room while Nick is mourning his lost child. I can’t relate to his grief so I just feel uncomfortable like I’m somewhere I don’t belong. Nice cover art. Rating: 1.4

A good album for gazing out the window on a somber, rainy day. Unfortunately, today was sunny.

I’ll give him 70 minutes because he lost a child, but this is a wailing not for me.

A haunting window into the heart of the cave.

Fine but I was mostly just bored

Not as bad as previous records. On the boring side

Boring, as always.

C'était super, je pensais détester et je me suis retrouvé a adorer l'album

The album have a heavy sad energy i wouldn't listen to it again 3.77/10 I read its about his kid who died me personally I dont like sad songs

A tough listen. He’s clearly devastated over the loss of his son (who wouldn’t be). I wouldn’t listen to it again

Emotionally wrecking.

I feel this was an album more for him than it was for us, and it seems to have done wonders for him. Glad it was made but not one I'd put people onto.

Even though I rarely shy away from depressing or dark music, reality is heavy enough without queuing up a double album by a man grieving the loss of his 15-year-old son. So Ghosteen is always going to be a pretty tall task for any listener. Fortunately, it abounds with beauty and wonder. Nick Cave’s novelistic sense of lyrics are a real high point here, as he borrows liberally from biblical imagery and allegory to grapple with his shattered psyche and sense of loss. Sonically, too, there’s an ethereal, sweeping and orchestral quality to this album. The predominant synth gives heavy Vangelis “Blade Runner” vibes, especially on the title track, which also takes a detour on the chorus into Flaming Lips territory (the two groups are not dissimilar in how they ruminate on the wonders and celestial complexities of life, even if they have stylistic and other differences, it dawns on me). This takes some time and patience to get into, and I think the second album may be the strongest, both musically and lyrically, because it suggests a kind of acceptance and the narration, as it were, becomes so riveting. I’m left feeling that — much like his live shows — this is a work of catharsis that speaks to the universal themes of humanity, love and loss.

Clicked to see how many Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds albums there were in this project. Surely no more than three, I thought. Then I saw. Five of 'em. Yikeswhy. Surely one of them must be worthwhile? Maybe it's this one? [68 minutes later] jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus. you say this was about the death of his teenage son? fuck. I mean, I guess I'm more an Elliott Smith-sad song guy than a Nick Cave-sad song guy because this stuff... overwrought! All this adornment! I get that we each process grief in our own way, but this feels way too gilded for me.

Though I am a big fan of the Birthday Party and 80s and 90s Nick Cave, his recent sad and pensive era doesn't interest me at all.

darkie

On a loosing streak woohoo! Had some lcd sound system yesterday and this is alot of the same. I liked some older nick cave somewhat at least. It gets worse with age though. This one i thought was pretty bad. The talk singing is abysmal. I really really hate it. And I dont care about lyrics so I really have nothing to gain from listening to this. And the music sucks too. Its minimal and just plain uninteresting from start to finish. So there really isnt anything for me here. Just a wash all around. I get it if this is your thing. Its not artisticly bankrupt or anything. Its just doing all the things i dont appreciate. I get nothing from anything here. If you do then im happy for you but for me it doesn't have any worth

That was difficult and beautiful.

This was emotional and affecting. I couldn't afford it the listen it deserved today but I can tell this is a deep record. Still not my style/thing so only 3 stars.

When you hear the first songs, you cry with the artist. After the last you want to jump from the balcony. Too sad at the end.

I adore Nick Cave and I almost never listen to this album because of how devastating it is. And no wonder it is devastating, having in mind its themes and the tragedy that inspired it. But it is also very moving, as grief and loss is such a universal human experience. Ghosteen is also poetic, freeing and cathartic, and in the end - even hopeful. It is not something I would be willing to come back very soon, but it is a work of art.

An album exploring loss, death and existentialism, as well as empathy, faith and optimism with synthesizers, loops and ambient elements = really not for me

I understand powerful grief is entrenched in this album but it didn't make the listen any less excruciating.

Instead of giving you a review on yet another average Nick Cave album, here’s a list of notable artists who have less albums on this list than he does (a whopping FIVE): Stevie Wonder Prince Miles Davis Pink Floyd Radiohead R.E.M Metallica Black Sabbath The Cure Madonna Marvin Gaye Kate Bush Joni Mitchell Fiona Apple And COUNTLESS others. What was the author of this book on??

Wie Öde und langweilig und immer die selbe Stimmlage. Warum verleiht der Musikexpress 6 Sterne dafür?

This was quite beautiful but not something I would revisit because it is both depressing and a bit samey throughout. Not my favorite of his stuff even if it may be some of his best.

грустно, что у тебя корзина умер,да крутой альбом записал, но чееееееееееееееееееееееееееееееел мне скучноватьо было энто слушать почетная 1/5

I was having difficulty connecting with and understanding this album. It seemed more like a mood poem and rather repetitive in the sadness. Halfway through I learned that this was the first album Nick Cave made after his son died and it all instantly clicked. This is beautiful and contemplative of the sorrow of loss and the ability to go on. Definitely need to be in the right headspace to appreciate this.

The inspiration behind this album is sad and I feel bad for Nick Cave. However, this is quite droning and dull to me.

Terrible

Couldn’t finish I fucking hated this

excruciating

This was a tough listen. Nick Cave is sorting his grief around the loss of his 15 year old son and creates one of the most hauntingly beautiful albums I’ve ever heard. As a soon to be father of 2, it puts you in a headspace you’d rather not be in. I can’t say loved is the right word, but I was very moved by this one. It’s absolutely a 5/5 album and I never want to listen to it again.

Write a book instead.

A beautiful manifestation of grief but needs the right time and place otherwise comes across as rather boring

Rock, 2019 -> 2

While I don’t dislike its somber and melancholic tone, the lack of variation made it feel somewhat monotonous over the course of the album. Waiting for You stood out to me, as it felt slightly more immediate and emotionally accessible, even though it shares the same overall mood.

This is a hard album to criticize but, with all sympathy to its author, I just don’t care for it.

5.5/10

meh it's whatever. didn't like it as much as the other nick cave we listened to, a little too ambient for me to stay engaged. but it was pretty.

Когда на альбоме есть композиции по 15 минут, то ничего хорошего от него не жди. Крайне нудный эмбиент с вокалом

he's just talking

Not into ambient.

Second Nick Cave in a handful of days. This one didn’t work for me. I respect what it is, but for listening enjoyment I found it too long, too slow, and a bit too heavy and dramatic. I struggled to keep my attention on it and not fall asleep frankly. 2.5/5

Meh

Interesting. Quite liked the music but unsure of the vocals. Obviously very emotional as an album but didn’t quite land with me. Produced very well.

Beautiful in moments, but drifts too much to fully hold me.

i feel like this will only get either 1 or 5 stars

I have loved Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds for a long time. I recall checking out a book about "Goth" culture when I was in school and seeing Nick Cave emblazoned on it's pages. But I would not listen to his music until some time later. I lived alone in a bottom floor garage made into an apartment when I first started listening to Tender Prey. Nick Cave was a constant companion in the dank loneliness of what essentially was the basement of the family living above me. I could hear them walking, living, much like the narrator in From Her to Eternity. I'd open my door to damp foggy evenings interwoven with the briny smell of sea spray, and the Bad Seeds and I would escape into the dark. Ghosteen is the haunting revelation of loss and grief and acceptance and hope that people first mistook Skeleton Tree for. Unlike the barren and jagged soundscapes of Skeleton Tree, Ghosteen enfolds itself in tender and sweeping piano, stripped down melodies, and long soft soundscapes. Ghosteen is filled with the loneliness of staccato notes reverberating with Cave's cracking voice; Ellis' haunting falsetto weaving in a almost naive melody; broad swelling synths reaching toward heaven. Ghosteen is deeply beautiful and deeply sorrowful, and I believe you could count "Bright Horses" amongst the best that Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have ever written. And yet, some of the songs are ponderous, plodding, too indulgent in their lugubrious airs. Some of the music is not meant for us, but is an expression of something else and othering. Sometimes the dirge weighs down too much, and as a listener you get lost, wander off. Ghosteen is a record I am glad to have listened to, and find worth reflective engagement, but it is not one in which I find myself returning again and again.

Terrible music - could not get past the third song - felt like torture

Through this project I've found many new artists who I never heard of who I now love. I've also had a chance to learn about artists I had heard of, but never took the time to listen to, and now love. Then there's the other group, that Nick Cave falls into sadly. The group of artists I didn't know much about who I now dread as they're just so terrible. I thought this album would be dreadful and it indeed was. Overlong, overwrought, vocals that reminded me of a goat bleating, awful ambient background noises, songs that just drift along going nowhere, a total waste of my time when I could be listening to just about anything and it would be better. One star.

Beautiful and sad.

Almost an album or poetry as much as it is music. Compelling to listen to

Yap

I liked the Ghosteen song…good music for looking at your own feet absent mindedly

I love nick cave and the bad seeds but this was a tired ass album if you ask me. Felt like he was trying to do a black star but didn’t have the conviction. Every track felt sick of itself at some point

I wanted to like this more because it’s basically a good ambient album but with Nick cave talking over it and I love ambient music but god he really doesn’t do wonders for it

He has a great voice and I do like the music, but it’s too slow and ethereal for an entire album for my tastes. Good background working music

Too slow and quiet which is strange because that is what I like.

A weaving melody of melancholy and regret, almost nothing like most of the Nick Cave ouvre.

Overrated hype

i've hated every nick cave song i've heard up til now, but this was a huge surprise

Hard to put this one into words. I didn’t know the entire backstory about Nicks son until today. Knowing that, there were parts of this album I found genuinely heartbreaking. As a parent I can’t even begin to fathom what he’s gone through. Overall it’s a brilliant album but not one I think I will go back to very often.

Too slow for me, maybe I need to be in the right mood - So many other better nick cave songs.

Beautiful and Haunting.

I listened to this thing three times over the weekend. It was painful, beautiful, tragic, and sweet. My fatherhood is still fresh and raw. To hear the grief of a fatherhood lost, to hear that pain expressed with such poignancy, and to hear Nick still choose to find hope and to look at the world with optimism and purpose, to hold onto belief, was overwhelming. No father should have to bury their child. I’m sorry, Nick.

Meh. It's an example of why I don't really listen to Nick Cave

Good group, and good lead singer. Good music.

Wow c'était NUL

not entirely my thing is it 5/10

Magiskt vackert! Nästan lite överjordiskt för mig. Det är stundtals nästan lite jobbigt att lyssna på då det är så vackert och sorgligt. Nick Cave är en hel upplevelse och har man sett honom live så förstår man vad jag menar. Mycket fint album!

originally gave this a 4 but i think after listening to it a couple more times that it is better than that

Plutôt sympa et mélancolique

on ronfle

Faut aller se faire foutre Nick cave, comment ça 14 minutes le dernier son !? C'était mid comme d'hab (quand même mieux que Costello) mais par esprit de protestation ça sera 2

Very beautiful and probably deserves more attention that I can give it. I do find there’s something about most of Nick Cave’s work that doesn’t work for me but I can’t put my finger on it

Gear: Grado Hemp Artwork: 🐎🦚🪻 Production: 👂🩺🧈 Music: 💔🕯️🌈 Rating: 👻👻👻👻👻/5

Brb, obviously I am sobbing. You can not possibly critique the work of a parent trying to process the loss of a child, I have written at length about this. Cave does what any person in his position would do (in the medium that they are most used to); he grieves and tries to make sense and writes songs about it because that truly is the only thing he could possibly do. This is obviously a haunting album, a brilliant one too, and probably the purest work he has ever made.

Really brought a very sad energy to the function (of getting the train) this morning. I got big into this album when it came out, partly because I was writing about it and was a bit depressed at the time lol. Looking back with a bit of a clearer head I can see that it's too long and a bit of a dirge at points, but then the central concept in the lyrics of imagining yourself out of grief still remains extremely moving so it still gets four stars. Now if only Nick could imagine himself out of his anti-cancel culture screed he's so obsessed with these days

I loved the instrumentals but the vocals killed it for me

Good

Deuxième album groupe sur lequel je tombe. C'était très différent de l'autre et franchement beaucoup mieux, même si je trouve qu'il est un chouïa long. Il y a vraiment une atmosphère particulièrement triste et mélancolique, inspirée si j'ai bien compris par le décès du fils de 15 ans de Nick Cave. C'est très centré sur les nappes de synthé, c'est assez simple, mais très efficace. J'irais pas jusqu'à mettre 4, mais c'est un joli 3.

For years Len Houmous had been obsessed with ghosts and teens but never the two together. 4.3 2/11 Bright Horses

Nick cave continues to be overrepresented here for how I didn't even know of him before. This album is insufferable. I listened to 4 songs (3 of which were highlighted by apple music), and I was just done. I don't need this to drag me down on a Friday. 1*

Holy shit that was beautiful, really felt like her spiritually guiding me through each soundscape he created that was amazing

I thought this was excellent poetry, with some beautiful synth. This is my first Nick Cave album, and I'm looking forward to the rest. A "must relisten" for me. Might even bump it up.

3.27

2 not for me

This is ... fine but not for me. I like the cover more than the album.

I just can’t get into his singing. He’s creative and all, but the singing (a mix between Elvis and Tom Waits is just too affected. A 2.

This album coming on the heels of 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' really highlights the contrast between childish angst and true pain. I think that's what rubs me the wrong way about Corgan; he parades his juvenile tantrums as somehow profound when they're anything but. Grief is profound. If you don't already know that, you will. Grief is *the* ubiquitous experience. It gets us all. I can't imagine how excruciating it must be to lose a child. The fact that Cave can create beauty from that agony makes this album worth a 5 even if I did not enjoy a second of it. Art doesn't have to be enjoyable. It just has to speak to some truth of the human experience. If you've not experienced deep grief, I can't imagine you'd get much out of this album. It's got not a single banger. The songs are unsingable. Some are dirge-like and plodding. Much of it is ambient. There's nothing to sink your teeth into or ground you. It just hangs in the air. But, if you know it, the feeling of this album is completely recognizable. It's the sound of a grief that you've sat with for a few years. One that's taken up residence in your home and seeped into your memories. A grief still there long after the rage and guilt have passed. It doesn't stop hurting. You just learn to live with the pain. It means you loved someone dearly and that love is worth accepting the pain. That's the price of it. "I am here, and you are where you are" - yup, I understand that feeling.

Overall: 8/10 Nick Cave took his grief and made it into something truly beautiful. I can understand why some might not enjoy this because it's incredibly depressing and moody, but I think it's an album that everybody should give a chance at least once in their lives. That makes it perfect for this list in my opinion. Fav Song: Ghosteen

Ghosteen by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds is not your average Bad Seeds album. It’s completely different in sound, production, and lyrical tone. It’s a stunning record, absolutely beautiful, but it lacks the punch and rock and roll of Tender Prey or Let Love In, and it doesn’t have the same style of ballads as The Boatman’s Call. It feels totally unique in their catalogue. This is not a fun or easy listen. Ghosteen is grief and pain laid out across an album. As a huge fan, I struggled with it when it first came out. It takes time, patience, and the right mindset to really connect with it. Interestingly, hearing the songs live, especially through Live in Copenhagen/Idiot Prayer-era performances, helped me appreciate them more and understand what Cave was doing here. That said, this album can also be healing. It’s delicate, reflective, and at times genuinely moving. There are some incredible moments, Spinning Song, Bright Horses, and Waiting for You are all standouts, and the album opens beautifully. I also love Leviathan, which is just a stunning piece of music. I do love this album, but it’s not one I return to as often as Skeleton Tree or The Boatman’s Call. It demands a certain mood, but when it clicks, it’s something special. Favourite tracks: Bright Horses and Leviathan Least favourite tracks: Every track earns its place Album artwork: Magical cover, like the album, it feels completely different to anything else they’ve done, with so much going on

Another Nick Cave album. Hurray.

Probs solid but not my kinda stuff

A bit too brooding for me. Was hopeful for the last three songs for some reason, but no.

VERY enjoyable! Really indulgent Disc 2 but Disc 1 was a mournful wistful delight. Bright Horses is my favourite.