Tribute albums have been a dime a dozen in the last decade, often cynically put together by record labels cashing in on the success of an established artist many years past their prime. Some of the early tribute albums dedicated to writers of the caliber of Bacharach and Cohen were magnificent, but before you knew it every man and his dog had a tribute album, when Duran Duran and Elton John have one, the genre is on very shaky ground indeed. The ones that work tend to feature artists who are great songwriters. Attracting big name artists to cover the songs is not always a guarantee for success, in this case the list of contributors read like a who’s who of the Melbourne music scene which lends this collection a genuine coherency (albeit with at least one former Idol contestant along for the ride).
‘Dig Cave Dig’ has been lovingly and painstakingly put together. This release could never live up to the high expectations of Cave’s die hard fans but it will trigger fascinating debates about its artistic merits in the pub. In one instance, Vasco Era’s ‘Dig Lazarus Dig’ comes close to topping the original. Your Animal are probably the one group taking a major risk with a stripped back minimalist version of ‘Weeping Song’ with a female vocalist putting a very fresh spin on one of Cave’s greatest songs. My only criticism of this compilation is that I would have thought the Birthday Party warranted a tribute in their own right.
