Ghosteen

I liked the fact that there are animals on the cover. This made it pleasant to look at. The disc inside is a nice round shape which fits perfectly on most record players I’d imagine. There is a little hole in the middle that the spiky bit goes through and I found that this prevented me from knocking it off the spinning plate. It is black and shiny like Nick Cave’s hair.When you spin the disc around and make the scratchy pin go on to it a sound is produced and it turns out that this is the sound of Nick Cave and his friend Warren. This is funny because the picture of the animals says Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds but actually it’s just Nick and Warren. The other Bad Seeds I think have gone to hide because the music made them sad. Or they are just being very quiet.If you like horses then this record is for you because Nick sings a lot about them here. It’s good to get insight into a song man’s head and here we can learn that Nick likes horses. This is not something I knew. He used to like heroin (a drug) but now it is horses.The sound of the music that you hear when Nick is doing words is sad but it’s futuristic too. In a way that is old fashioned. It mostly reminded me of the film blade runner which is about robots and Indiana Jones in the future.The first disc is followed by another disc which is in a different bit of the cover. This disc functions in much the same way as the first one. The thing that is different is that this one only has three songs. It was a good idea to put these ones on a different disc because if you are the kind of person who is put out of his wits by long songs you won’t want this disc to be there. Or if you are on a day when you can’t do long songs because you don’t have time for that. With this album it is easy to pretend they are not there and you can forget about them.They are good songs too but if all of the songs in this world were made to be this long we wouldn’t have time to listen to as many songs.It would also take a long time to sing happy birthday to someone.

It's not the first time I have bought a record without listening to it first because the cover was so interesting to look at. I don't suppose it will be the last either. I'm not sure what is trying to be achieved here if anything. If it's about poetry then it isn't. If there is meaning to the words then I don't get it. They don't paint pictures or a story in my head. What might pass as music is really just sounds. The music is rather like what may be a long intro of a song with much better to come, but the better to come never happens. The record might well be useful for sending me to sleep, but falling asleep listening to vinyl on a manual turntable is not a good idea. However a 128kbps mp3 would serve without any audible difference I would guess, based on the lack of musical content.Me being a person who likes listening to catchy numbers and popular cheese I might be too unsophisticated to appreciate this. Sometimes a record grows on me over time when I listen more carefully but in this case I don't think that will happen because there isn't really anymore on the record to discover from listening more carefully although I have played several times now in case there is something I am missing. The second record is very short with loads of run off. Sometimes less is more because the second record is marginally more interesting but only by a very small margin.The pressing quality on the other hand is top notch. The grooves are actually in the right place and surface noise is almost non existant. No clicks or pops. So many new records are crackly straight out of the sleeve but not this one. So great job done by the pressing plant. Sonically what content there is, is well recorded. Vocals are clear and free of sibilance. Modulation output is high but didn't give my turntable and stylus any problems at all - clear and clean sounding right to the end of the side. However, this is no audiophile dream. Anyone hoping this recording will put their expensive hifi system through its paces and reveal how fabulous the equipment is is going to be disappointed. There simply isn't enough content within the grooves.There is a hell of a lot of pricey merchandise available to compliment this release - T-Shirts, Hoody's, Bags, Mugs, etc. So as a marketing exercise every effort has been made. And it may well be that is what it's all about. Just a very good marketing excercise. All window dressing and no substance. After all the clever marketing worked on me. I don't send records back. I add to my collection and archive, because for me a record collection is more than just the music.I'm not saying to people don't buy. I'm saying this record doesn't impress me. The video of the record is on You Tube and I will recommend listening to that first. I did read a positive review in The Guardian, but I'm very Daily Mail so that probably says it all.

The haunting beauty and pain embraces the soul and brings both sadness and a sense of unforgettable love to the listener. Nick Cave is a master in the genre of songwriting . This offering is served on a plate of sadness with a sprinkling of joy.

A while back - before this album came out - I had begun to think that it was impossible for Nick Cave to release something that I wouldn't like. However, a first couple of listens to Ghosteen challenged this assumption. I was initially dismayed that the songs seemed to be so samey, so undifferentiated. But then, a little further on, slowly and incrementally, the soundscape of this very distinctive and brave recording began to make sense, and I have now reached a point where I think the whole thing is perfect. I honestly can't fault a single, mesmerising moment of it, either musically or lyrically. Even when those lyrics descend into cliche and apparent banality, it's a move that seems deliberate and appropriate to this listener. Additionally, the apparent allusion to mystical Johannine theology (the Farewell Discourse?) in 'Ghosteen Speaks', and the appeal to the story of Kisa Gotami from the Pali Canon in 'Hollywood'are especially poignant, though I do wonder if this is Cave's first flirtation with Buddhism, as the song 'Babe, I'm on Fire' from Nocturama seems to me to be an eloquent illustration of the Second Noble Truth from the Buddha's Deer Park Sermon. But anyway, having said all this, if you are one of those fans of Cave that prefer a more abrasive style of music making and remain unimpressed, I do sympathise. Nevertheless, for me personally, it doesn't get much better than this 70 minutes of ambient blues.

An album that you might need to be in the right mood to listen to. A brilliant album from start to finish, very deep and emotional.