Album: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! (Mute)

Nick Cave's recent albums with the Bad Seeds appeared to find him in the grip of a mid-life crisis, during which he made the kind of music that was fitting for a man of 50 (namely, contemplative piano meditations).

Since the Grinderman project, he's got his mojo back. The opening title track of 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!' is perhaps the most jubilant pop song Cave has written since "Deanna", and it doesn't let up, whether it's midnight soul, pile-driving power pop, or the more familiar tumbleweed country. Factor in lyrics which are as vivid and witty as anything he's ever come up with, and the 14th Bad Seeds album ranks alongside their finest.