Album Rating: 4.0

This and Skeleton Tree are far more consistent than most of his previous albums. Apart from my personal fav (no more shall we part), I always found that the "average" nick cave album was half amazing songs and half filler (especially the earlier ones, no offense). However, the last 2 albums flow really well and I find listening to them in one sitting quite easier than most of the rest of his discog.



68min might be a tad much though. And dropping the rhythm section altogether is a pretty big risk considering his past work. Anyway, I can see why this would throw some fans off.

Nick's been my main mon for about 10 years now, but this new joint really does help me take a nap. Night Raid comes on and im drifting asleep.

its not bad by and stretch but far from a go-to for me.

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

Omar have no soul

Whats your top 5 Cave, Mr. Plainview ?

Album Rating: 2.5

Something about the way this guy approaches music just refuses to click with me in any meaningful way. As a human I feel for what he's gone through, but this is not a record I would ever choose to listen to in my free time. I really tried with Let Love In too and it left me stone cold. Just a data point against the idea that Cave's output is universally adored.

Album Rating: 1.0

Yeah I'm in agreement that this is pretty weak (also let love in is mad overrated). Find a lot of this cheesy and lame after like 5 spins

Album Rating: 2.5

Almost all people can talk about is the lyrics, which I consider the least important aspect of music. Probably the same reason I don't get on with any down-in-the-boots troubadours like Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Lanegan, Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed or even Jack White. Music is about sonics for me, not personality or poetry.

Album Rating: 4.0

Nick Cave has always been campy to some extent. It's part of his charm.

Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen and Cohen all had great instrumentation though. Especially Waits, who would often invite several professional musicians to work on his albums.

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

'Whats your top 5 Cave, Mr. Plainview ?'



1. No More Shall We Part (96%)

2. Skeleton Tree (94%)

3. Ghosteen (92%)

4. Boatman's Call (86%)

5. Let Love In (84%)



I'm that awful person who prefers latter Cave.



Also I really like:



Dirty Three - Horse Stories (97%)

Dirty Three - Dirty Three (92%)



So a lot of the time I sorta prefer the backing band minus Cave :/

Album Rating: 4.5

"Music is about sonics for me, not personality or poetry."

It's a combination of all of this for me. I'm a huge lyrics guy, so music can sound incredible but if it's emotionally vapid it loses its edge.

Album Rating: 4.5

For me it's Ghosteen > Skele Tree > Abattoir Blues/Lyre

"1. No More Shall We Part (96%)"
I'm a big fan of a lot of this one, but please explain how an album with Sweetheart Come on it can score 96%?

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

I'm more an 'add all the good together rather than overly worry about the occasional dud' fella when it comes to ratings

Glad to hear it (although how you can combine that with such a precise metric is beyond me)!

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

it all sort of falls into place - you just look at the album's neighbours in the ratings and settle on it being a bit better or worse than another album...ratings aren't set in stone for me so they do shift



my AOTY ratings account is starting to look the way I wanted anyway.



https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/doofy/

"Also I really like:
Dirty Three - Horse Stories (97%)
Dirty Three - Dirty Three (92%)

So a lot of the time I sorta prefer the backing band minus Cave"


TIL: The bad seeds is just Warren Ellis and Nick cave

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

I presumed the other two might have guested on at least one of Cave's albums but guess not.



Anyway, the main point is I like other stuff from Ellis, perhaps even more than most of what Cave has released with him

"you just look at the album's neighbours in the ratings and settle on it being a bit better or worse than another album"
Gotcha, I use this method for rankings too. However, since you're ranking a finite number of albums on a continuous variable, does that mean some element of normal (or otherwise) distribution ends up working its way in?

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

'since you're ranking a finite number of albums'



finite how?