Dig Lazarus Dig - am I missing something here?

It's turning up in all the EoY polls. Why?

To me it sounds exactly like the same boring album Cave's been making for the last 20 years.

It's rockier and funkier than recent efforts, I thought, bit more energetic and fun.

Still didn't exactly fill me with pleasure, though. He's just at that stage of his career where he gets a free pass now, though.

The title track sounded like "Louie Louie", which I suppose is a good thing. Hardly earth-shatteringly ground-breaking though.

way preferred dude's film to any music of his i've heard

Yeah, I've been confused by the adoration. Its solid, but I liked Grinderman and Lyre of Orpheus a ton more. I'd place those near the top of his catalog. DLD is one of those Cave albums, like Henry's Dream, that never gets a consistent mood going, even if its got good parts to it. It did seem to get more of a push, which may have made some folks who hadn't been paying attention that he's back on track. But it lacks over-the-top qualities that the previous two had.

There are worse albums appearing more regularly in end-of-year polls than this.

Yes, but with this one it's like everyone was made to put it in or something.

Cave threatened to do a Zane Lowe on any journos who left the record out of their lists.

Radio1 DJ Edith Bowman, a champion of cutting edge bands, says why . . .
IF you want any proof about how it has become acceptable to like Take That now, then I can provide it.

I was at the MTV awards in Liverpool a few weeks ago and I was on the red carpet interviewing guests for Scott Mills’ show.

We were over- running a bit and it passed 7pm and we started eating into Zane Lowe’s show.

I asked Zane, who bear in mind is about as cutting edge as you can get, if he wanted me to grab anyone like Lemar or The Killers. ‘Or how about Take That?’ I joked. I thought he’d tell me where to go.

But straight away he said, ‘Hell yeah, can you get me Gary Barlow?’

Then on air he proceeded to profess his love for the man band and hail the songwriting genius of Gary.

I challenge anyone who still thinks Take That are a boy band to compare Barlow’s songwriting with the likes of Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol or Tom Chaplin from Keane.

There’s not a great difference between the three.

Tom Chaplin doesn't even write the songs in Keane, he's the fat-faced singing gimp;the keyboardist writes all the songs.

is about as cutting edge as you can get

http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/emily.jpg

I'm so sad for little Eoghan that she got kicked out last week.

is about as cutting edge as you can get

.. on Radio One at the moment...

From what I've been hearing from people they can't stop comparing this to or referring to this album as a continuation of that Grinderman record, so part of me feels like this is another case of overcompensating for a previous album by slathering the not-quite-as-good follow-up with praise.

it's good but not as good as the last one, but better than the two before that.

this album is great

if you want to be cynical about it, you can say it's a critic's choice because it's a noisier rock album by a safe, canonical artist. but on the other hand, the songs are great and fun and loose and the lyrics are amazing and hilarious, so whatever the reasons, i'm glad this album is getting the recognition.

what about The Fall? they seem to have done better in 00s polls than 90s ones. what is up?

I've not heard the current Fall album yet which is a grievous oversight but I'm considerably more interested in hearing that than the Cave record, copies of which have been sitting in MVE for a fiver for months with no takers.

and we all know popularity always works in direct correlation to quality

nevermind, sorry about being snarky, i just wanted to express some enthusiasm for this album. it's really good.

Imperial Wax Solvent is three times as interesting as Dig Lazarus Dig. But then, "50 Year Old Man" is about as over-the-top as MES gets, so its' my kinda thang.

I haven't checked this album out yet, but I like the title track quite a bit.

i thought the new fall was pretty shitty but i should probably listen to it again

Frankly I love Mr. Cave and all he's done over the years but this is the first album where he's sounded utterly useless and redundant and just beyond the point of no return. Can I get a HELL YEAH?!???!??!!!

YES YOU CAN

In fact, your revive reminded me that I hadn't preordered the reissues of his four best albums yet.

yes, i agree with you ilxor
everytime i've heard this it has sounded completely redundant and Cave by numbers even more so than anything he has done before
BUT
i saw him live on the tour and it was very great, even all the songs from this

I liked Grinderman quite a bit, but haven't bought a Bad Seeds album since the mawkish No More Shall We Par. Bring back Blixa!!!!

this album is great

― n/a is just more of a character....in a genre polluted by clones (n/a), Wednesday, December 10, 2008 8:18 AM (3 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

It's a rockin' album for sure. That was the initial appeal at least. But I'm finding i don't go back to it a whole lot. Not like Lyre. I don't hate it...I just don't "love" it, I guess.

I second Alex: Blixa is sorely missed. Weeping Song is just plain WEIRD live now without Blixa. Come on guys, patch it up and get back together...

i agree with n/a

Frankly I love Mr. Cave and all he's done over the years but this is the first album where he's sounded utterly useless and redundant and just beyond the point of no return. Can I get a HELL YEAH?!???!??!!!

Wow, I totally do NOT remember posting this... oops.

nothing a pair of scissors can't fix

lulz.

i wonder if the absence of mick harvey will be noticeable on the new album or, more importantly, how will ed kuepper's involvement change things?

Mick Harvey's gone too? Has he left Cave's side since the Boys Next Door? Damn. Is Warren Ellis still around?

Harvey left precisely because Warren Ellis is still around, by all accounts.

Oh my.

In retrospect, pretty glad I saw the 1998 (?) tour they did for the greatest hits album -- Blixa was still in the band, the dynamic worked just right. (Friend of mine was lucky enough to see a 1992 club show that he still talks about.)

I've never seen him; Blixa then Harvey, kind of a one-two of regret for me. I wasn't introduced to Cave until around 2000, 2001 or so (just outta high school), so it makes sense I wasn't rushin to catch his new material in the flesh, I suppose. Bummer whichever way.

But staying positive, it could be the cutting of the old growth that Cave needs.

I much preferred Dig to the 3/4 albums before it, and the live shows on the Dig tour were the best shows he'd been doing since the early 90s.

A lot of Cave's recent resurgence has to do, methinks, with his rediscovery of humor, or at least its increased emphasis. Cave has always bordered on camp, or at least has for a while, but he's really cozy with the balance these days, especially after Grinderman. Personally, while I miss Blixa, I don't miss Blixa. I have no idea how Harvey's absence will play out, but I'm sure Ellis will increasingly step up/step in as more than just hirsute wild man and fill Harvey's versatile role in the band.

I took this album out with me on a long walk one day, and I'm afraid it didn't do much for me, either. Sometimes I can't tell whether it's him that's changed or if it's me. It wouldn't surprise me if he was still good live, though, til the day he dies, no matter how crappy his latest release might be.