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Dig, Lazarus, Dig!; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' new album
Topic Started: Nov 4 2007, 06:36 AM (357 Views)
ThinMan
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Nowhere Man
Dig, Lazarus, Dig! is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' fourteenth studio album, and is scheduled for a March 2008 release.

What are your expectations?

Not much is known of the album: Nick Cave has stated that the album "will sound like Grinderman", hinting at a garage rock sound. This indicates a contrast to the evolution of The Bad Seeds' later albums, which feature increasing amounts of classical instruments, choir backups and overall elegance.

The title implies Biblical themes - nothing new in Cave's repertoire. Also, the album will feature artwork by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, who apparently use garbage to form shadows of something completely different, like human silhouettes.

Scientific approach: a mix between directionless analysis and plea

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I have created this graph to illustrate a possible relation between the quality of The Bad Seeds' albums, and the heroin use of the members (Cave, as principal songwriter, in particular). Of course, album quality is subjective and heroin use is SLANDER, and thus speculation. I should note The Birthday Party period is uncharted territory, as I am biased towards the few songs of them I've heard (the fanboy curse: I like these songs better than I would if they weren't Cave's), and moreover, their heroin use was more than likely through the roof.

As shown, a first instance of kicking the habit affects the songwriting process slightly. The Good Son is one of Cave's finer albums. We see piano-based ballads, gospels and hymns prevail. The same happens around The Boatman's Call and particularly No More Shall We Part, recorded when Cave quit heroin altogether.

From there, it all goes cloudy. Nocturama is considered The Bad Seeds' weakest album. Maybe the last bit of inspiration dried up. Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus has some strong songs, and is definitely better than Nocturama, but is still nowhere near Cave's earlier masterpieces.

(as shown, the greatest decline in songwriting ability comes in a time when heroin use is not represented. What happened? I would like to urge Mr. Cave to pick up the habit again, so a possible connection can be further investigated)

There is hope: don't-you-dare-call-it-a-side-project Grinderman's eponymous album was pretty good. Interesting to note is that during the song 'Honeybee (Let's Fly to Mars)', Cave instructs his band members: "Ack ack positions, everyone!". About.com, in a chapter about parenting teens and drug slang, informs us that "firing the ack ack gun" is a "technique for smoking heroin by dipping tip of a tobacco cigarette in heroin".

Lastly, I've copy-pasted a quote from this article because quoting makes an argument look substantial.
Quote:
 
Today, Nick Cave is sipping bottled water. Officially, he shuns all drugs and alcohol these days. His heroin period is far behind him. But the fact is he made similar, not entirely truthful, claims throughout the 1990s, to me among many others. "I don't actually know that I put it like that," Cave frowns, one eyebrow aloft. "There were just assumptions made that I didn't feel the need to correct."


Of course, as we all know, Dylan Thomas did not write 'Under Milk Wood' under the influence of alcohol, but still. A return to the glory days, in combination with the professionalism and elegance of the latter-day Bad Seeds, could make for one of their best albums in years.
Posted ImageI don't have no sports carAnd I don't even care to haveI can walk anytime around the block
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Cruddybluds
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Didja Get Any Onya?
Ok, that told me more about Cave's past drug problems than it did about the album. Why diss Nocturama? It's by no means Cave's weakest album. Personally I'd like to see them do more Murder Ballads style material.
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Woof Oink Baaa
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Now 100% more avant-garde than Ivan!
I'm excited about this album sounding more like Grinderman. The world needs a pissed off Nick Cave.
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