Nick Cave isn\u2019t the first artist you track down in your collection when you\u2019re in the best of moods. His low, growly croon, combined with the intense atmosphere the Bad Seeds lay forth, has resulted in some of the darkest music in rock, particularly the brutal Murder Ballads<\/i>. There is a reason he and PJ Harvey hit it off, at least for a brief period. <\/p>\n
Fans who never wanted Nick Cave to sell out but were curious as to what an album would sound like if A. his band rocked out and B. Cave used his wicked sense of humor in his lyrical writing no doubt rejoiced last year with the release of Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! <\/i>Along with his sense of humor, Cave tapped into another near-limitless resource for storytelling: The Bible, specifically, the story of Lazarus. Regardless of your religious affiliation, you have to admit the book has plenty of stories to draw in obsessive authors, storytellers and musicians. <\/p>\n
Almost all of the songs on Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!<\/i> are memorable on the first listen. There\u2019s no complex formula for the album\u2019s pull on a listener, however. First off, the band creates some of the tightest, catchiest riffs this side of The New Pornographers. Thank Warren Ellis, who incorporates mandolin, piano and violin, creating a lush soundscape. The catchy, appealing beats pave the way for Cave\u2019s rapid-fire lyrics, which are in top form. Take the lead-off title track: \u201cHe feasted on their lovely bodies like a lunatic \/ And wrapped himself up in their soft yellow hair\u2026But Larry grew increasingly neurotic and obscene \/ I mean, he never asked to be raised up from the tomb.\u201d <\/p>\n
Like Bob Dylan or more recently, Jarvis Cocker, Cave has the ability to turn a song into a novella with a beginning, middle and end. With Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!<\/i>, two prime examples are \u201cWe Call Upon The Author\u201d and the closer \u201cMore News From Nowhere.\u201d The former is a hilarious, swirling story of death and damnation. U2 at this point in their careers probably couldn\u2019t make a lyrical refrain like \u201cRampant discrimination, mass poverty, third world debt, infections disease, global inequality \/ And deepening socio-economic divisions\u201d go down easy on the ears, but that is a testament to how on top of their game The Bad Seeds are on this album. Then later, \u201cMore News From Nowhere,\u201d like Dylan\u2019s \u201cHighlands,\u201d is a rambling, drug-fueled odyssey of failed relationships and a person\u2019s growing irrelevance in the world. <\/p>\n
Fans of the more intense, downbeat side of The Bad Seeds will gravitate toward the brooding \u201cNight Of The Lotus Eater\u201d and \u201cMidnight Man,\u201d the latter being perhaps the only song on the album that takes a few listens to appreciate. Otherwise, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!<\/i>, while not the sunniest album of 2008, is a sprawling rock album that begs to be cranked on your stereo. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5785],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-41485","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41485"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41485"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}