Label: Black Lotus Records, Season Of Mist
Catalog#: BLR CD 062, SOM 149
Format: 2 x CD, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 2004
Genre: Folk Rock, Goth Rock, Neoclassical, Ambient, Experimental
Info:
Dead Can Dance is a band comprising contralto Lisa Gerrard and baritone Brendan Perry. Formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1981 and initially based there, it disbanded in 1998 but reunited temporarily for a world tour in 2005. Though the band was formed in Australia, Gerrard and Perry moved soon after to London, where after one year they signed up to alternative rock label 4AD Records, a legendary label on the alternative-music scene. They continued to work closely together until the late 1990s when they started to grow apart. Gerrard returned to Australia, while Perry moved to Ireland, where he bought the old Quivvy Church in which he lives and works. It is speculated that the distance between the members was an influence in the duo's eventual break-up, although Perry himself said that distance helped in maintaining a certain individual freedom in creativity. Assigning a musical genre to Dead Can Dance is difficult, as its style is particularly eclectic. However, its early work could be considered a mix between post-punk and goth rock. In their later work, including and subsequent to the release titled The Serpent's Egg, Dead Can Dance would take ancient or various musics from around the world as primary sources, with Gerrard singing glossolalia, giving it a very distinctive style. As a result, their later albums sound quite different from the first three. Various sources have labeled those latter releases as neo-classical, ethereal, or dark world music.
The album artwork [of their self titled first album], a ritual mask from New Guinea, provides a visual interpretation of the meaning of the name Dead Can Dance. The mask, though once a living part of a tree is dead; nevertheless it has, through the artistry of its maker, been imbued with a life force of its own. To understand why we chose the name, think of the transformation of inanimacy to animacy. Think of the processes concerning life from death and death into life. So many people missed the inherent symbolism, and assumed that we must be morbid gothic types, a mistake we deplored and deplore. In the United States, the group’s albums were not released until the mid-1990s, when 4AD had a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records. After this deal ended, 4AD allied itself with the Beggar’s Banquet Group, which included that eponymous label and XL Recordings in the USA, but the band’s recordings remained distributed through Warner Bros. Subsequent releases, however, have been licensed to Rhino/Atlantic Records, a sister label within Warner Music. A Passage in Time remains with 4AD independently of the Rhino and Warner Bros. deals.
A 1998 follow-up album to their last album Spiritchaser was planned, but the band separated before it was largely realized. One song that was to have appeared on it was fully recorded in the studio and is titled The Lotus Eaters. Though the album was never completed, it was eventually released on the box set Dead Can Dance (1981-1998) as well as the 2-disc Wake. Many unofficial live bootlegs exist of concerts spanning their career, which contain several rare songs that were only performed live. Though Toward the Within is the duo's only official live album, Dead Can Dance released limited-edition recordings of 13 shows from its 2005 European tour, as well as a compilation titled Selections from Europe 2005. These concerts were recorded and released by The Show.
Review:
It's not the first tribute collection to Dead Can Dance but it's possibly the most ambitious, a double-disc effort. The scope of the contributors can be generally described as from the goth/darkwave/black metal universe which, while not surprising, is a touch limiting. Hearing what other performers who work in indigenous musics first and foremost could do with the band's original work would be striking, not to mention creating a more all-encompassing portrait of Dead Can Dance's combination of many different styles and sounds. There are a few examples such as the Greek band Grido's quite lovely guitar/mandolin/accordion arrangement of "Oman," but more would have been quite something. With that noted, the bands and musicians on Dead Can Dance Tribute: The Lotus Eaters aim to capture the moody elegance of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard's work and for the most part succeed. If nobody can truly sound as astonishing as Gerrard in particular, it's often lovely hearing other voices assay familiar songs, though in turn the musical arrangements too often replicate rather than reinterpret the originals. On that front the more metal-inclined acts, especially female-fronted acts as Trail of Tears and Darkwell, fare more successfully — Hortus Animae even busts out some speed metal chops on "Windfall Introducing Summoning of the Muse." Meanwhile, the Gathering's contribution of a cover of "In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated," recorded some years previously, affirms their own role as pioneers of a particular dark/light sound. The singing standouts include Arcana's Peter Pettersson and Sarah Jezebel Deva, while Jarboe earns a definite nod for her fantastic version of "American Dreaming," originally a Perry song. There's definitely some eyebrow-raising participants here and there — Anthrax/Nuclear Assault veteran Dan Lilker backs up Lisa Schreib on a straightforward take of "Cantara."
by Ned Raggett
CD1:
01. Arcana - In The Wake Of Adversity
02. Persephone - Spirit
03. Danny Lilker (Nuclear Assault) with Lisa Schreib - Cantara
04. Ataraxia - Bylar
05. Faith And The Muse - Mesmerism
06. Trail Of Tears - The Arcane
07. Hortus Animae with Liv Kristine Espenaes - Windfall Introducing Summoning Of The Muse
08. Amber Asylum - Cardinal Sin
09. Grido - Rakim
10. Daniel Cavanagh (Anathema) - How Fortunate Is The Man With None
11. Imperia (Helena Iren Michaelsen-ex Trail Of Tears) - The Lotus Eaters
12. Ephemeral Sun - Avatar
13. Sarah Jezebel Deva - The Wind That Shakes The Barley
CD2:
01. Black Tape For A Blue Girl - Fortune Presents Gifts Not According To The Book
02. Jarboe (ex Swans) - American Dreaming
03. Antimatter - Black Sun
04. The Gathering - In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated
05. Nightfall - The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove
06. Darkwell - Anywhere Out Of The World
07. Ulver - In The Kingdom Of The Blind The One-Eyed Are Kings
08. Akrabu - Desert Song
09. Noekk - How Fortunate Is The Man With None
10. Imperial Black (New Band Of Cradle Of Filth Bassist) - Enigma Of The Absolute
11. Secrets Of The Moon & Nostalgia - The Protagonist
12. Monumentum - Windfall
13. Subterranean Masquerade - Summoning Of The Muse (Deconstructed)
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