Finally - Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!
Being a faithful member of the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds lifelong fan club, I was notified via email last week of the new 'album' available in the UK. The single and video had been out for a few weeks. Dig Lazarus Dig - the single - is terrific: fast, organ-grinding, chant-like. The video is a chuckle as most of Nick's vids can be (check out Bring It On froma few years ago for some high-powered booty camp - awesome)
But now the album is here. Usually it takes me a few listens to really get a new Nick album. Inevitably I feel a bit guilty at first as if I am starting to fall out of love or something. then a few listens later it clicks in and I slide comfortably back into pure fandom.
Here we have 10 new songs. I am listening to it for the first time and, excuse me but i must raise my voice a bit, THE MUSIC POURS INTO ME LIKE SOME MAGICAL SUSTENANCE AND I FEEL IT FOR THE FIRST TIME - GREATNESS!. From "Midnight Man" to "More News From Nowhere" to the title track we are talking deep and dense, bass driven, organ-energized, Nick-rap. I am very surprised that I like it all so much the first time. Perhaps, I have been waiting for so long that any morsel is a relief. But i don't think so. Nick Cave is about my age. And he is one of the best writers, storytellers, performers of all time. Am I gushing? A little. But I believe he is one of those great talents - hugely productive from the movie soundtracks, scripts and side projects like Grinderman.
Here's a little sampling of Nick's writing.
From "Midnight Man:"
"Wolves have carried your babies away,
oh, your kids drip from their teeth.
The nights are long and the day
is bitter cold beyond belief.
You spread yourself like a penitent
upon the mad vibrating sand,
and through your teeth
arrange to meet your midnight man."
From "I Call Upon The Author To Explain:"
"Well, I go guruing down the street
And young people gather round my feet
And they ask me things – but I don’t know where to start
They ignite the powder-trail straight to my father’s heart
And, yeah, once again
I call upon the author to explain
Who is this great burdensome slavering dog-thing
That mediocres my every thought?
I feel like a vacuum cleaner – a complete sucker!
It’s fucked up and he is a fucker
But what an enormous and encyclopaedic brain!
I call upon the author to explain "
If you have never listened or owned a Nick Cave album, start here. You won't be disappointed.
