(photo: Myspace)

The tell-tale story of Euchrid Eucrow has been burned into my mind from the very first time I read And The Ass Saw The Angel, the first novel by Nick Cave.  I had to get the local bookstore to order me in a copy when it was first published, and I devoured it as ferociously as I did Cave’s other artistic work as band leader of The Bad Seeds.  I was deep in the throes of a passionate love affair with anything the man lay his hands and mind to, and I soundtracked that brilliant and beautiful novel by listening to The Good Son.  A few years later I immersed myself in the dark gothic world of Henry’s Dream with just as much zeal; Let Love In, The Murder Ballads, and The Boatman’s Call were among some of my most listened to albums of the 90s (The Boatman’s Call topped my ‘97 favourites list).  Somewhere along the way, though, my interest waned, and by the time of No More Shall We Part in 2001, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds pretty much fell off my musical radar.

I was pretty surprised–as I think many were–of just how much I loved this year’s Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! If you had told me at the start of 2008 that I would be genuinely excited about a new Nick Cave album, I would have called you crazy.  Last year’s Grinderman project failed to really do anything for me, but it was obviously the creative spark Cave needed; Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! is his 14th studio album, and has reignited the fire of passion in his soul.  It’s a loud, brashy, garage rock album that swaggers with confidence.

I had full intentions of blogging about it, but just never got around to writing  the post.  I tried on a couple of occasions to put something together, but I never felt like I was doing the album justice.  When it came down to making my list of favourite albums of the year, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! was pretty close to making the final cut.  I didn’t want to let the year close out without having mentioned it here at least once, and in putting together my thoughts about this post, I realized that there’s more albums, artists and songs from this past year that I’ve always wanted to share with QBiM readers but just never got around to.  Some got lost on the iPod and never really got a chance to impress me, some just lost out to bigger and seemingly more important releases to blog about.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll do my best to cover those missed gems from 2008 for you.

MP3: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Dig Lazarus, Dig!!!”
Video: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Dig Lazarus, Dig!!!”
MySpace: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds