I legitimately cannot think of a better three-album run by any artist, particularly a three-album in which each album has been even better than the one that preceded it. Push the Sky Away began this stately, soft, at times menacing sound direction that Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds took, giving us two gigantic, cathartic monsters of songs in Jubilee Street and Higgs Boson Blues, songs that almost like some preordained gift (particularly if you've heard the live versions), plus a host of other fantastic pieces like We No Who U R and the title track. Skeleton Tree doubled down on the quiet, menacing qualities and gave us a record with devastatingly heavy, dark tracks, closed out by three songs, one of which is beguiling in its despair and struggle (I Need You) and then two breathtakingly hopeful, uplifting songs.
And then Ghosteen has come along and someone made those two records seem like early sketches of the full vision. It's remarkable.
Song-wise, I think Galleon Ship is my favourite.
Warren is indeed a genius, and I get such a kick out of the love the share for one another, and the ridiculous musicianship on display. I think it was the show I saw from his Conversations tour earlier this year, where he talked about Warren being there for him and Suzie when his son died, how he was able to intimately know how to be around someone grieving, making cups of tea. So beautiful. The album is dedicated to Conway Savage, the Bad Seed who passed away last year;
there's a beautiful note about him not on the Red Hand Files but Nick's website.
As Ghosteen has closed a trilogy, and Nick has it, the Red Hand Files and the Conversations shows as an outlet for his softer side, I think we will very likely get a Grinderman album in the near future, and
he said earlier this year that Grinderman II was the second part in a yet-to-be completed trilogy.
