Description
Dig is the fourth studio album by the American alternative rock band Adam Again, released on Brainstorm Artists International in 1992, manufactured and distributed by Word. The album was produced and recorded by band member Gene Eugene at the Mixing Lab in Huntington Beach and at Steve McCrum’s house in Whittier, California; with additional production by the band. Mixed at Pakaderm Studios in Los Alamitos, California. All lyrics written by lead vocalist Gene Eugene. Music written by Eugene except tracks 2 and 5 co-written with Greg Lawless and tracks 1 and 10 co-written by Eugene, Lawless, and John Knox.
Adam Again is Gene Eugene on vocals, guitar, and Fender Rhodes, Riki Michele on vocals, Greg Lawless on guitar, Paul Valadez on bass, and Jon Knox on drums. (Cello on track 9 provided by Sarah Fiene, arranged by Rob Watson of Daniel Amos fame. Drums on track 4 by David Raven of The Swirling Eddies fame.)
The melancholy tone of its songs reflected band members Gene Eugene and Riki Michele’s disintegrating marriage. Riki Michele’s presence, both on stage and in the songs, used to serve as a kind of counterpoint to frontman Gene Eugene. Where Eugene’s voice often seemed to be shot through with an inescapable sadness Michele’s gently-drifting alto felt calmer, more clear-eyed and hopeful. All of that changed on their 1992-album Dig, a chronicle of Michele and Eugene’s divorce – told, at times, in unflinching detail – the album required Michele to sing lyrics penned by her husband about their breakup often, as on “River on Fire,” to devastating effect.
Despite its bleak surface, the album has moments of grandeur and inspiration, especially in its stripped-down title track. “Hopeless, Etc.” and “World Wide” are among its other high points, railing against inner demons and social injustice. Though its Christian references are understated, Dig is a profound a statement of spiritual longing as any rock album of its era.
The title track was later covered by Jars of Clay on their 2003-album, Furthermore: From the Studio / From the Stage.
This is the group’s magnum opus. The energy and drive here are unparalleled on any of the band’s other releases. With lyrics that are introspective and well crafted, Adam Again has never sounded so good on record – and this release comes closest to duplicating the band’s live performances. The opening track, «Deep», explodes with energy, featuring a tight, catchy chorus reminiscent of the wordplay that makes Elvis Costello famous, and the bandmembers carry this energy through the whole record. [Mark Allender, AMG]
The first things that always comes to mind with Adam Again is the fundamentally essential groove that rips through even its rockin’est songs. I find I can’t think of Adam Again without thinking about dancing. The other, equally potent aspect of this alternative, funk/rock/pop band from Pomona, CA, led by Gene Eugene is the journalistic honesty that fuels his lyrical explorations of what Christianity can mean in this broken universe of ours. It was what drove «Eyes Wide Open», and here on Dig it is the core of «It Is What It Is (What It Is)». This hunger to tell the truth, even the painful and uncomfortable truths, and the music which seems to crank the truth up to an unavoidable volume, makes Adam Again one of the best selling alternative artists on a Christian label. I haven’t seen Adam Again play once when I did not feel the urge to cry.
Dig is Adam Again at its most raw, intense and relentless. «This Band is Our Home», he affirmed last time out (on Homeboys), to suggest that no place else on the planet offered the kind of acceptance and care that he felt in the intimacy of his homeboys playing his music. Watching Homeboys fail as a commercial entity appears to have made Eugene feel more vulnerable, as he sings in «Hopeless, Etc». Apart from Christ, his audience, his band and his family, he feels without value and worth.
Dig moves completely into aggressive rock territory, yet manages to maintain that ineffable quality that makes it Adam Again music. The deep, funk groove remains, and Eugene’s deadpan commentary on life in this society, which finds harmonic expression in the tortured, soulful guitar heroics of Greg Lawless continue to provide the sweetening that helps the strong medicine go down.
It’s honest because Eugene tells us «It Is What It Is», and ultimately hopeful because we can indeed find meaning in faith and our worth in relationship to Christ, even though that may mean we lack much of what society suggests are the markings of success. Here Adam Again continues to dig «Deep», to find love and grace for forgiveness that’s «Worldwide» and for everybody who needs a little help when they try to «Walk Between the Raindrops».
Again, Gene Eugene, Riki Michele, Greg Lawless, Paul Valadez and John Knox, have gone to the «River of Fire», and come back with a work that reaches the high marks in musical creativity and lyrical grace. I’ll be dancing ’til the crying stops. [Brian Q. Newcomb, CCM, July 1992]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/dig-remastered/396580192)
CD tracklist:
01. Deep – 4:15
02. It Is What It Is (What It Is) – 3:43
03. Dig – 3:25
04. Hopeless, Etc. – 4:53
05. Songwork – 5:28
06. Worldwide – 2:07
07. Walk Between The Raindrops – 3:30
08. Hidden, Hidden – 3:25
09. River On Fire – 5:46
10. So Long – 4:19
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Brainstorm. Re-issued on CD as a Limited Edition pressing by Lo-Fidelity Records in 2015 (through a Kickstarted-funded campaign), fully remastered, and packaged in a 6 panel jacket, with an 11 page booklet containing never-before published photos from the Dig era. Also released for the first time on 12-inch vinyl LP by Lo-Fidelity, fully remastered for vinyl. Pressed on Black, Transparent Blue, Purple/Black, Purple/White, as well as Heavy Splatter 180 gram vinyl, limited to 100 copies of each version. (Later also pressed on Milky White & Blue and Transparent Blue & White, limited to 125 copies of each version.) Available at Bandcamp: https://adamagain.bandcamp.com/album/dig-2015-remaster
CREDITS. Produced and recorded by Gene Eugene. Additional Production by Greg Lawless, Riki Michele, Paul Valadez and Jon Knox. Recorded at Mixing Lab “A” & “B”, Huntington Beach, CA, and at Steve McCrum’s house, Whittier, CA. Mixed at Pakaderm Studios, Los Alamitos, CA. Mastered by Brian Gardner at Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, CA. Art Direction, Design and Photography by Anna Cardenas. Art Production done at Frontline Graphics, Irvine, CA, and at Patton Bros., El Cajon, CA. Executive Producers: Ojo Taylor and Gene Eugene. Music by Gene Eugene except track 2 and 5 co-written with Greg Lawless and track 1 and 10 co-written with Lawless and Jon Knox. All lyrics by Gene Eugene.
Musicians: Gene Eugene (Vocals, Guitar, Rhodes), Riki Michele (Vocals), Greg Lawless (Guitar), Paul Valadez (Bass), Jon Knox (Drums). Additional Musicians: David Raven (Drums on track 4), Sarah Fiene (Cello on track 9), Rob Watson (Keyboards and cello arrangement of track 9).
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