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Rating: And so Nicolino, having turned fifty, goes back to playing rock'n'roll even with the Cattivi Semi. The first signs came last year, with the Grinderman album, which, by the way, was one of the best of the season. After all, few know how to misuse it like he does. In recent years, we felt a bit like orphans. Sad. Those ballads all very similar, the taste of decline, inevitable. I always thought of that joke by the healthy people of the Foro Italico, when Becker would arrive and was regularly defeated in the early rounds. The audience would say: "Arridateje l'erba". And I thought of Nick, "Arridateje l'ero". It's just a mot d'esprit, of course. However. But how much better was it when he was sick in Berlin, I believe no one can deny that.
This is what we want to hear him play. Four chords and go. Some talk of garage-rock. Let's not exaggerate. It's true that at certain moments, there are very sixties atmospheres. The organ has become the leading instrument. Cave has abandoned, for this collection of songs, the piano and, we know, there is no more Blixa, and thus also the guitars are in the background.
Dirty sound (Warren Ellis now takes care of the "noise"), vital, full of sap.
It takes just a "Midnight Man", for example, with those liquid keyboards, that latent guitar, the offbeat drums, the break like "Spencer Davis Group" and the orgiastic finale... I already know it will be among the songs of the year. Like the single "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!", to say the least, sumptuous. Here the chords are really four, two for the riff, stubborn and fierce, two for a fast bridge, fast, to abandon quickly. There are also some slow ones, of course, like "Moonland", where the refrain "I'm not your favourite lover" returns, or the western tribute of "Hold On To Yourself".
But the tracks that convince the most are precisely the faster and nastier ones, like "Lie Down Here (And Be My Girl)".
So much so that after listening to the album for the first time, I felt the urge, after many years, to go see the Bad Seeds live. It's a shame that, at the moment, there are no concerts scheduled in Italy. We trust in some summer festival.
For now, we are content with the fact that Nick Cave, like Lazarus, has somehow resurrected.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (04:11)
[Dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
[Back in that hole.]
Larry made his nest up in the autumn branches
Built from nothing but high hopes and thin air
He collected up some baby-blasted mothers, they took their chances
And for a while they lived quite happily up there
He came from New York City, man, but he couldn’t take the pace
He thought it was like dog eat dog world
Then he went to San Francisco, spent a year in outer space
With a sweet little San Fransiscan girl
I can hear my mother wailing and a whole lot of scraping of chairs
I don’t know what it is, but there’s definitely something going on upstairs
[Dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
(I want you to dig)
[Back in that hole]
(I want you to dig)
(I want you to dig)
Yeah, New York City, he had to get out there
And San Fransisco, well, I don't know
And then to L.A., where he spent about a day
He thought even the pale sky-stars were smart enough to keep well away from L.A.
Meanwhile Larry made up names for the ladies
Like miss Boo and miss Quick
He stockpiled weapons and took potshots in the air
He feasted on their lovely bodies like a lunatic
And wrapped himself up in their soft yellow hair
I can hear chants and incantations and some guy is mentioning me in his prayers
Well, I don’t know what it is, but there’s definitely something going on upstairs
[Dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
(I want you to dig)
[Back in that hole]
(I want you to dig)
(I want you to dig)
Well, New York City, man, San Francisco, LA, I don’t know
But Larry grew increasingly neurotic and obscene
I mean he, he never asked to be raised up from the tomb
I mean no one ever actually asked him to forsake his dreams
Anyway, to cut a long story short
Fame finally found him, mirrors became his torturers
Cameras snapped him at every chance
The women all went back to their homes and their husbands
With secret smiles in the corners of their mouths
He ended up like so many of them do, back on the streets of New York City
In a soup queue, a dopefiend, a slave, then prison, then the madhouse, then the grave
Ah, poor Larry
But what do we really know of the dead
And who actually cares?
Well, I don’t know what it is, but there’s definitely something going on upstairs
[Dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
(I want you to dig)
[Back in that hole]
[Dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
[Laz’rus dig yourself]
(I want you to dig)
[Back in that hole]
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Other reviews
By Blackdog
A great production work, indeed... The Bad Seeds sound polished and sparkling, an enviable rock maturity certified by the years.
"Life beyond life, the unease of a gesture always the same and tomorrow already obsolete... sleep Lazarus, return deep and rest."
By simakiku86
"Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! is a succession of almost playful tracks, practically all of which are successful in their intent of providing basic yet precise and curated musical entertainment."
"It's an album that has no exaggerated pretensions, except to be appreciated and to evoke more than one emotion. Mission accomplished."
