NICK CAVE
& THE BAD SEEDS – Dig, Lazarus, Dig
(CD/LP+7”,
Mute)
Anybody has spilled his two cents about the new album by Nick Cave
so why not me as well. That includes Nick Cave too, who is currently featured on so
many magazine covers I get the feeling he spent the last month giving
interviews from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon, with a lunch
beak at half past noon, Monday to Friday. Then any interview I read he seems
to be making fun of the journalist, telling them anything that comes to his
mind, from his son becoming a gore rapper to listening to mid-seventies
Miles Davis for hours in his car. He is constantly contradicting himself in
so many ways (“No, I don’t read the bible anymore, I read the
autobiography of Beau Brummel, you know, the fashion idol who polished his
shoes with champagne”) that I drew two conclusions: First: I won’t buy
any magazines anymore because of the interview with Nick Cave in
there, though I still read them when I come across them here and there.
Second, everything he says is complete bull, not to be taken seriously, he
is just pulling some journalist’s leg. I mean: “Sometimes I wear a gold
laminated trainer around the house that belongs to my wife. My kids laugh
but I think I look really cool in that one.” Yeah, right. But anyway, to
the bullshitting part I say: right on. Journalists are stupid geezers,
especially those writing about music. They constantly praise an artist
because the record before the current one was really good, but they missed
out on featuring that one, so they got to get up again with this one, hoping
that it will be any good. Which most of the time it isn’t, except when it
is Nick Cave, of course. But anyway, music journalists wouldn’t know,
because they usually have no idea at all, so they measure the quality of a
CD by the amount of how many articles are written about it. Do you see the
inherent mistake in that? Think about it, it is the same thing all over that
newspaper you are reading, from the economic news to the weather. Another
thing I have to bitch about is the limited edition shit that has been
announced for “Dig Lazarus Dig”, where the limited bonus consists of an
extra large booklet that has the lyrics in bigger print. No extra music, no
extra material, no extra song, not even extra fotos, only the lyrics not on
eight pages but on sixty. They shouldn’t call this limited edition but
edition for myopic fans. Do I look like a complete moron and I would pay
seven quid more for bigger print? I hated that trick already when I was a
child and Heyne publishing did the same with mediocre Stephen King novels. I
am all over that anyway. Hm, is there anything good I have to say about this
new album, or will I remain bitching till the end of this
dare-not-call-it-review? Nick Cave still is one of the best songwriters and
bandleaders around. In May I will see him play live again for the probably
sixth or seventh time in my live and I hope that he will rebuild my belief
in him. You see, his shows are not so much concerts but celebrations or
masses, where his believers come to like pilgrim to have their sins washed
away by the preacher man and to have their faith revoked and strengthened.
Live is the place where you realize why the Bad Seeds are such a great band,
which is nothing a special double DVD with double live CD is able to
deliver. And being a devoted follower and obsessive fan I am completely
subjective as to judging anything Nick Cave does anyway, and that includes
his moustache. I can’t tell you what my favourite Cave-album is, I can
only tell you what my favourite fourteen albums by Nick Cave are, and then
some live recordings on top. Moreover, my favourites seem to change with
time. For years it used to be “The Good Son” and “Tender Prey”, then
slowly “Henry’s Dream”, currently I’d probably top with “Let Love
In” in and “Lyre of Orpheus / Abbatoir’s Blues”. The latter one is
an exception to the rule that my favourite album by Nick Cave is usually the
third or fourth one before the current one. So let’s wait some more years
and I’ll probably be around to praise the genius of “Nocturama”,
which nobody seemed too excited about. And then some years later I’ll
praise “Dig Lazarus Dig”. No, I’ll do it right now, because it is
chock full of genius and great songs and illustrious arrangements and
fascinating lyrics. I especially like “We call upon the author” as a
song, but I also liked “Tell the women we are leaving” the best on the
Grinderman album, so don’t be surprised for my strange choices. I like the
noise parts and the rock parts as well. No, it is a great album, but after
all, they all are. After all, we are still talking about Nick Cave and only
a truly devoted fan is allowed to bitch about the man, okay!?
PS: Okay, so I left all the witty music theory about
the development of Nick Cave and the burst of energy that Grinderman
infused aside, but hey, you read about all that anywhere else anyway. You
read this only because you read anything that has the name Nick Cave printed
on it. You’d read the label of a glass of peanut butter if it was written
by Nick Cave, right? And that is probably my worst fear in this regard.
