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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" |
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Written by Garod Fahrenheit
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Wednesday, 16 April 2008 |
Nick Cave has got his groove back. One might have wondered if the lad had this in him after several albums of his mellow ruminations on love and excursions into scoring film (The Proposition and The Assassination of Jesse James). With his side project Grinderman rocking out with fierce garage intensity last year, Cave seems to have been reinvigorated. His band, led by guitarist extraordinaire Warren Ellis, has never sounded better.
Of course, lyrically you still need a Wikipedia to dissect Cave's words. The first three tracks are killer. The title track makes reference to Lazarus, but it seems a check of the lyric book lets you in on the dedication of the song to writer Larry Sloman. Sloman penned the cult film Reefer Madness and seems to be an inspiration to this tale of excess. Today's Lesson is Cave at his dirtiest best. How can you not love the line, "He likes to congregate around the intersection of Janie's jeans." Cave follows it up with a dose of funk flowing out of the slinky Moonland - which feels like 70's Van Morrison sexed up with a little Sly Stone. By the time Cave whispers the words "I'm not your favorite lover." - he doesn't seem to care coz he knows he already has her in his grasp.
Overall the record starts and finishes quite well. There is a little bit of filler in the middle before finishing strong with the strange epic More News from Nowhere. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! Is the strongest album from the boys since 2001's No More Shall We Part. With the word of Grinderman 2 coming our way later this year, this is a very good time to be a Nick Cave fan.
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