Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Over three LPs, this impressive compilation covers album tracks, singles and B-sides across 30 years of Nick Cave's nigh-on flawless work with The Bad Seeds. Following the progression of the band through these 45 lushly remastered tracks, we hear Cave mature as writer, composer and singer, from the early post-Birthday Party morbid obsessions, through tender ballads, the grand theatrical 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig' era work, to the intense and widescreen masterpiece of 2014's 'Push The Sky Away'. In its assembly, 'Lovely Creatures' is far more than a mere compilation, it's a broad and exhaustive journey through Cave's mythological folklore universe of murder, sex, drugs, love, light and dark.

Review: It's taken a while for Nick Cave to get round to releasing a follow-up to 2005's self-explanatory B-Sides and Rarities compilation. We'd argue that it's been worth the wait though. The 16-year gap between the releases has allowed for a wider sweep of the iconic artist's archives, so much so that it features no less than 27 tracks stretched across two coloured slabs of wax. Record one focuses on B-sides, bonus tracks and rarities, including a duet with Debbie Harry and a superb live version of 'Push The Sky Away' with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. It's the second record that will most excite fans though, featuring as it does unreleased material. There are plenty of unheard songs of course, but also early recordings of such fan favourites as 'Skeleton Tree' and 'Bright Horses'.

Review: Now you've stopped shouting "there's a new Nick Cave album" at everyone who walks past, comes near or might possibly be in earshot it's about time we dived into the contents of the legendary troubadour's 17th studio album. Be warned, though, what lies beneath is deep and immersive enough to drown in, and even the most effective divers wouldn't find a body. A suitably morose introduction, we think. Digressions aside, "Ghosteen" is a majestic, powerful, operatic experience that will change nobody's opinion of Cave and his band, The Bad Seeds. The works are just as innovative, poignant, graceful, melancholic, euphoric and inescapable as ever. Too many adjectives? We're making no apologies. Consider the title number, if that's not too obvious a focal point. Sparse yet grandiose, narrative driven but metaphorical, organic and earthy yet making incredible use of a theremin. Almost impossibly good, sit back and let it wash over your mind.

Review: When he'd completed writing and recording Wild God, his 18th album alongside backing band the Bad Seeds, Nick Cave stated he hoped that it would have the same effect on listeners as it did on him during the writing process. Of course, we've become accustomed to Cave providing lusciously orchestrated music that tugs at the heartstrings, though the majority of the time it's of the heart-breaking or melancholic variety. This time round, the famously grumpy Australian is in a good mood, delivering songs that tend towards the joyous. For proof, check the soaring gospel choir on 'As The Waters Cover The Sea', the sun-splashed shuffle of 'O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)', the grandiose 'Conversion' and the ambient wonder of 'Joy'.

Review: It's been a full five years since Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds released an original full-length LP. Their last was Ghosteen, the final of three albums to complete the triptych that also included Push The Sky Away (2013) and Skeleton Tree (2016). This makes Wild God something of a special one, marking the first time Cave and company have struck out on an isolable creative limb in over a decade. Unlike the heartfelt grief-stricken groundswells of the previous three albums, Wild God is an avowed 'deeply and joyously infectious' album that marks a return to Cave's reputable, searching, soul-stirring songwriting form; full of the same idiosyncrasies that formed the greatness of latter-day albums like Dig, Lazarus, Dig, albeit with a crazed edge that has perhaps never been heard before.