Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

Average Rating:	(See all reviews)
Quantity Available:	23
Label:	Anti (USA)

• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Martyn Casey, Conway Savage, James Johnston, Jim Sclavunos, Mick Harvey, Nick Cave, Thomas Wydler, Warren Ellis.
  
• Nick Cave's 2008 album DIG, LAZARUS, DIG is a study in growing old gracefully, while still punching and kicking into that good night. Some might claim that Cave has irrevocably mellowed since his earlier days, yet one need only look to the arch, caustic musical leg-hump that was 2007's Grinderman album for evidence to the contrary. In fact, Cave's intensity hasn't lapsed in the least, it's merely evolved. DIG, LAZARUS, DIG, however, speaks to the artistry behind this evolution in attitude.
  
• From the opening title track, the listener gets a complete picture of everything Nick Cave has been working toward as an artist. The song's biblical overtures are posited against allusions to modern hedonism and the price of vanity in a rapidly deteriorating culture. Cave is the embodiment of the sacred-profane binary, and "Lazarus" is his swaggering, four-minute skronk-funk opus. And while Cave is certainly running the show here, the Bad Seeds are also given their due. Seasoned pros that they are, the band lays down confident, moody rock that swings ("We Call Upon the Author") and haunts ("Night of the Lotus Eaters") equally, depending on which muse is calling to their leader at any given moment. Cave is now a rock institution and one of the style's most innovative, mercurial, and artistically satisfying artists. DIG, LAZARUS, DIG is yet another excellent entry in his stunning body of work.
  

Spin (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Thick with decadence, his oeuvre oozes caustic realism....A rock'n'roll fable about redemption and the pleasures of debauchery."

Entertainment Weekly - "Cave spits out his woebegone lyrics as if he were a Holy Ghost-filled preaching machine leading the world's funkiest revival meeting."

Uncut (p.84) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]heir musical inventiveness is highly disciplined. The band has never sounded better, and Cave seems to have relaxed into the hysteria of his vocal style..."

Magnet (p.98) - "[T]he playful DIG!!! LAZARUS DIG!!! stands among his most mature albums....Quoting Iggy Pop on 'Today's Lesson' and unleashing catchy hooks on the chrous to 'Lie Down Her (& Be My Girl)."

The Wire (p.53) - "[T]he album focuses on lithe grooves passed from member to member....The title track and its close musical relative 'More News From Nowhere' coasts along on Velveteen riffs..."

Kerrang (Magazine) (p.49) - "The spirited 'Albert Goes West' is typical of his sparse and elusive charm, while the title-track is as pointedly tuneful as it gets."

Q (Magazine) (p.105) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] triumphant album....Like Bob Dylan on TIME OUT OF MIND, Cave takes time to roam the lyrical landscape he has spent his whole career mapping out..."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.104) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Visceral, masterful, exciting and profound, this one -- again! feels like it may be his best."

Harp (magazine) - "[T]hese sneering, bleary-eyed tracks have a bold potency to go with their fuzz-tone organ's pop-psychedelic fizzle and frying guitars."

Pitchfork (Website) - "With the emphasis on acoustic guitars and occasional blasts of electric static...[and] plenty of odd noises and lewd organs that suggest some sort of twisted take on 1960s psych and garage rock."

Producer:	Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds; Nick Launay
Format:	CD (1 Disc); Stereo
Country:	USA
Quantity Available:	23
UPC:	045778694327
Studio/Live:	Studio
Release Date:	8 April 2008