Dead Can Dance DEAD CAN DANCE II (new, box set 4-LP)

$

109

Dead Can Dance
DEAD CAN DANCE II
Vinyl 180
2011
Vinyl - Audiophile

4 LP Box set
Album 1. Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun
Album 2. The Serpent's Egg
Album 3. Aion
Album 4, John Peel Session 2. 6. 1984

Based in London, England, but tracing their origins to Australia, Dead Can Dance`s long campaign in the music industry has rarely attracted attention outside of a devoted following. Whether this is a result of wilful obscurism or a disciplined artistic vision is a moot point, but the band left behind more than a decade`s worth of, by turns, infuriating and blissful, avant garde pop.

The band`s name had the unfortunate effect of nailing their colours to the gothic masthead, though in truth they were light years away from this genre. Their 1984 debut collection was not as focused as later efforts, mingling their trademark male/female vocals with an uncoordinated mesh of chants and drawling guitar. However, from packaging to production it fitted the 4AD Records aesthetic perfectly, and there were enough hints of the less prosaic gems to come to distinguish the band. Reduced to the core duo of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, Spleen And Ideal was an altogether more thrilling and cohesive record, with the discordant guitar barrage abandoned in favour of a considered array of instruments, including cello, trombones and timpani. The clean production also lent the improved material greater clarity, though what the songs actually concerned was, typically, something for listeners to decide for themselves. Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun gave further indication of their talent, though some critics balked at the idea of giving the two singers one side each of the record, making its tone uneven. It also revealed a debt to music from the Middle East, a process that was further explored by the less satisfying The Serpent`s Egg. Aion took as its premise medieval or `early music`, using Gregorian chants, similar in many ways to the work of Bel Canto, and baroque stylistics, played with genuine folk instruments (including hurdy gurdy and bagpipes). Into The Labyrinth confirmed Perry`s greater awareness of electronics and samplers, and while Toward The Within is a basic live album, it primarily contains a phenomenal live repertoire never before committed to vinyl.

By 1995, Perry had begun work on his own album, while Gerrard`s stunning vocal presence was heard to great effect on her solo debut, The Mirror Pool. The mother band`s seventh studio album, Spiritchaser, arrived at a time when Dead Can Dance was being acknowledged as influences on the UK dance music community (Black Grape and Future Sound Of London have both sampled their work). This time the band moved away from the Celtic influences that exerted themselves on Into The Labyrinth, towards sounds reminiscent of African and South American music. However, as Gerrard succinctly informed the press: `It`s gone past the point of being `this` and `that`. Music has come to a new age, where we`re exposed to music from all over the world, from a much larger palate of colours.` For similar reasons, 1995`s Spiritchaser served to validate the reason for Dead Can Dance`s continuation into the 90s, the band having proved themselves among the most accurate cultural conductors in popular music, shifting emphasis effortlessly in keeping with the zeitgeist.

Dead Can Dance was put on hold following the release of Spiritchaser. Gerrard moved into soundtrack work but also collaborated with Australian keyboard player Pieter Bourke on 1998`s haunting Duality. Perry released his solo debut (Eye Of The Hunter) a year later. Gerrard and Perry re-formed Dead Can Dance in 2005 and embarked on an extensive tour of Europe.

ARTISTS
Dead Can Dance