Nick Cave shares playlist of his “15 best songs”

1 September, 2023

Nick Cave has shared a playlist that was created of his “15 best songs” after being asked to make a compilation for new fans.

After being asked for a playlist of his songs for new listeners who were looking for a way to navigate Cave’s “immense and bewildering” back catalogue on his site, Red Hand Files, the singer compiled a list of tracks that were sent in by his readers.

The Bad Seeds frontman shared: “Feeling not best placed to judge, I instead turned to the readers of The Red Hand Files for help, asking you to send in playlists of your 15 favourite songs.”

He continued: “The response was overwhelming and well over two thousand playlists have come in so far (please stop sending them now!). Fearing drowning in my own songs, I handed the lists over to my team, who fed them into ChatGPT – that handy little data-cruncher! — which sorted through the responses and ranked the top 15.”

Nick Cave’s 15 best song playlist is:

‘Jubilee Street’
‘Into My Arms’
‘From Her to Eternity’
‘The Ship Song’
‘Tupelo’
‘The Mercy Seat’
‘Stagger Lee’
‘Push The Sky Away’
‘The Weeping Song’
‘Higgs Boson Blues’
‘Red Right Hand’
‘Ghosteen’
‘Bright Horses’
‘Straight To You’
‘O Children’

The ‘Red Right Hand’ singer recently revealed that he’s currently “finishing” work on his new album with the Bad Seeds.

At the start of 2023, he confirmed that work was underway and shared some early lyric ideas for the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Ghosteen’.

Speaking to NME earlier this summer, Cave described the new material as “just so instantly interesting” as well as “different all the time”.

In an entry on his Red Hand Files website, he told fans that he was to take a short break from replying to questions from fans to finish work on the album.

“Thank you for your kind words,” he told a fan who asked a question about soulmates, “but before I answer I’d like to let everyone know that I am now back in the studio finishing the new Bad Seeds record.

“I will continue to read all the letters that come in, and will be with you in spirit, but my replies may not be that regular or very expansive over the next few weeks.”

Also recently addressed the chances of more from his Australian-American rock band Grinderman.

Speaking to NME as part of a recent “good faith conversation” about his new book, cancel culture, the coronation and more, Cave addressed his response to a fan about “angry” music and if this meant he might not ever return to a space where he could make another [garage rock side project] Grinderman record.

“We could do a Grinderman record, because Grinderman is essentially improv. It’s musically challenging and you don’t really know what you’re going to get, but I don’t think we could make a four-on-the-floor rock’n’roll record any more,” he said.

Cave went on that he didn’t think they could make “an old-school Bad Seeds record anymore where it’s basically a rock band playing”.

He added: “I don’t see that happening. Not that this next [Bad Seeds] record is ambient – it’s not at all – but I just don’t see us going back to that basic rock’n’roll style. I just don’t know how to do it anymore.”

In other news, Cave and his bandmate and collaborator Warren Ellis recently released a new live album, created from their three performances at the Sydney Opera House last year.

Titled ‘Australian Carnage’, the collection features audio taken from the pair’s performances in the Australian city, held as part of their 16-stop tour in the country at the end of 2022. The tour celebrated the release of the 2021 lockdown album, ‘Carnage’, which saw Cave and longtime Bad Seeds member Ellis come together for a new introspective side project.

Cave will also be embarking on a US tour around his recent book, Hope, Faith & Carnage.

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