Meaning this new Nick, with his outlaw mustache and Doc Holiday-cum-Johnny Cash attire (not to mention an apparent replacement of rotgut whiskey over heroin as his poison of choice), brims with enough confidence to fill a 40 gallon hat. Those scores he’s created with Ellis - for such contemporary Americana cinema as 2006’s The Proposition and last year’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - do, in fact, harbor some influence on Lazarus as well, but on an attitudinal level that’s reflected in Cave’s newfound penchant for the American West. The 11 tracks comprising the Bad Seeds’ 14th album roar with a swagger that old Cave fans might balk at, but will most indubitably find embrace from his newer contingency of admirers who prefer that Nick leave the weepy string sections and baby grand chord progressions to his film scores. However, in the wake of fellow noisemonger-turned-troubadour Blixa Bargeld of Einstürzende Neubauten’s departure from the Bad Seeds fold as lead guitarist/architect, and with the arrival of fellow Aussie, Dirty Three violinist, and occasional Cave collaborator Warren Ellis as a full-time member of the band, Nick Cave’s sonic focus has taken a less self-serious, more freewheeling turn towards the rock end of his creative spectrum, emergent upon the 2004 release of the group’s celebrated double-album opus Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus.īut where Abattoir/Orpheus served as a bridge of sorts between the dichotomy of the old and new Bad Seeds sound, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! is a bold, uninhibited coming-out party that signifies the 50-year-old Cave’s full intention of becoming the 21st century king of rock. Whether he was rolling around stage growling against a din of feedback with the Birthday Party in the dawn of no wave, or seated before a grand piano in a three-piece suit performing one of his timeless ballads like “The Ship Song” or “Into My Arms”, Nick Cave has proven himself over the course of his 30-year career to be one of the most prolific showmen in modern rock.Īnd while much of the music he’s created with his longtime post-Party combo the Bad Seeds has, in many senses, rocked - as any fan of earlier works like From Her to Eternity and Tender Prey can attest - the last 15 years for the most part saw Cave chasing after “the classic love song” through drama and melody, be it grandiose (1994’s Let Love In, 1996’s Murder Ballads) or stark and minimal (1997’s The Boatman’s Call, 2003’s Nocturama).
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