Formed in the early '80s, Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry's recording careers began together in 1981, a short while after meeting in Melbourne. After spending formative years playing rough pubs and washing dishes in a Lebanese restaurant in Melbourne's East Prahran, the pair relocated to London in 1982 for a minimal existence in an East London tower-block, the most unlikely catalyst for the music that was to follow.
However, they had brought with them the influences of their multi-cultural neighbourhood back home and were determined to translate this to record. Cue 4AD and owner Ivo Watts-Russell who rescued them from the dole queue oblivion and gave them a platform from where they became the label's most successful international act. They split in 1998 - she co-wrote and performed on the Gladiator film soundtrack with Hans Zimmer, he holed himself up in Ireland, converted a church into a studio and issued two albums - before reuniting for one more album and live dates. Never has a band travelled the world of music so successfully without feeling the need to catch a flight - their ability to convert their love of cultures into song is unsurpassed (so far).
Dead Can Dance - CAD 404 (1984) - 6/10
The duo's debut is a tricky beast, simply because every album since this muddled, fuzzy effort is so far removed and more developed, you're apt to think this was assembled by a different band. Actually, it was - a guitarist, bassist and a drummer gave Dead Can Dance a rather standard moribund feel on tracks such as Threshold, The Trial and Fortune, although the pair's vocals and choice of instruments admittedly distanced them from 'goth'. In 1984, there certainly weren't many rock bands with a yang ch'in (Chinese hammered dulcimer) in their tour van. Gerrard's unworldly vocals, part-soprano, part-choral, made for unsettling but intriguing listening on Ocean, Musica Eternal, Frontier and Carnival of Light, the latter from the accompanying EP, Garden of the Arcane Delights. Perry's tones were a resonating baritone with perfect pitch, making Dead Can Dance a band to watch at the time.
Spleen and Ideal - CAD 512 (1985) - 8/10
Within just 18 months, DCD's sound had shifted from dark psychedelic horror to ambient cathedral epics, titled with a sacrosanct bent and scored with spiritual and divine overtones that suggested the duo had grown tired of guitars. Instead, brass and strings filled the spaces left by the slimming down of the line-up and the overall effect was that of redemption and triumph over adversity. Neo-classicism flows from De Profundis (Out of the Depths of Sorrow), Circum Radiant Dawn and Ascension, while Perry's contributions are still in keeping with Western styles. There are some real gems throughout Spleen and Ideal, including the relentless anguish displayed on Enigma of the Absolute, a song that wouldn't sound out of place being banged out to the rowing slave oarsmen on a Norse sailing ship.
Within The Realms of a Dying Sun - CAD 705 (1987) - 8/10
If Spleen and Ideal didn't lure the goth fraternity in, the sight of a shrouded stone figure on the front of the duo's third album was surely enough to send those of a dark persuasion into spasms of exaltation. The sleeve accurately depicted what was contained within its grooves, and then some. Most of it works - Perry's contributions (all of side one) are some of the best he's written, especially the opening cinematic grandeur of Anywhere Out Of The World and the haunting instrumental Windfall, while Gerrard's range from absolute must-have (Cantara) to the painfully-soaked-in-melancholy (Summoning of the Muse - too much sorrow in one song, methinks). Overall, a worthy addition to your DCD collection.
The Serpent's Egg - CAD 808 (1988) - 7/10
Coming just 18 months after the previous album, DCD showed no signs of lowering the quality of their music, although clocking in at just over 36 minutes, purchasers of the CD were perhaps getting short shrift for their £13.99 (yes, that was the standard price of late '80s compact-discs), especially when Chant of the Paladin is nothing more than 4 minutes of grinding hurdy-gurdy and chanting. Much of the album has been sampled and adapted, notably The Host of Seraphim and Severance, but for me the best two tracks sit at the end of the album. Mother Tongue is a precursor to the more percussive elements that crept into Spiritchaser, while Ullyses is another sparkling Perry treasure.
Aion - CAD 0007 (1990) - 9/10
DCD decided to get medieval on us for album number five, the first album to be recorded at the new Quivvy Church studios. Starting with three short understated snippets might not be the way to showcase a new direction but repeated plays of Aion unveils some of their best work. The Song of the Sibyl has to be one of their most mournful duets, counterbalanced with eerie keyboards and Gregorian influence, while Black Sun is a sweeping hypnotic and ominous epic that ranks as one of Brendan's key baritone-drenched paradigms - oh and that brass!. As The Bell Rings The Maypole Spins, Radharc and Salterello draw from Renaissance and Baroque sources, while more vocal cantatas trickle forth in the form of The Arrival and the Reunion and The Promised Womb. Demands repeated listening and rewards every time.
Into the Labyrinth - DAD3013 (1993) - 9/10
For their sixth set, Gerrard and Perry opened their minds wider to influences from Persia, Moroccan, African and Ireland and created perhaps their most diverse, electronic, cohesive album to date. If you bought the double vinyl edition, you got 'extras' in the form of "Bird" (a tribal Gerrard composition) and the gorgeous Spirit (as near to a Perry pop-song as you'll get), two previously-issued exclusives from the compilation A Passage In Time (worth having - see below). The rest of the album is exemplary with only the closing How Fortunate The Man With None outstaying its welcome by a few minutes. However, even this nine-minute epic has some beauty in its soul, although to pick a favourite from the remainder is nigh-on impossible. The Carnival Is Over - put that on very loud and I defy you not to feel moved just a little bit. Yulunga - if you don't shake your hips to the Afric rhythm, you need therapy. The Wind Shakes The Barley - lachrymose isn't the word for it. Look, just buy it.
Spiritchaser - CAD 6008 (1996) - 7/10
Dead Can Dance's continued journey around the world temporarily terminated in 1996 with their final album for 4AD and a strong embodiment of Native American flavours. I've always found Spiritchaser a little bit samey and drawn out with only the closing Devorzhum resembling the delicate aesthetics of earlier works. However, there are flashes of brilliance of course - Indus is a heady Eastern slumber, while the lengthy Song of the Stars has all the trappings of a Bedouin knees-up under the stars. Snake and the Moon and Song of the Nile are mere shadows of other tracks on here, making this meandering double album a must-hear, rather than a must-buy. Better was to come.
Anasthesia - PIAS - (2012) - 9/10
All this marking-out-of-10 seems churlish with Dead Can Dance but, in the case of this reunion album, justified if it persuades a new audience to take up investigating at least one of their albums. Anasthesia is almost a journey through their entire catalogue on one double album, but in a good way, a forward-thinking one. Instrumentally, there is a comparable with ....Labyrinth and perhaps both Lisa and Brendan's solo works, with vocal duties once again being shared equally between the two of them. But if certain aspects of this release suggest a hark back to the past, the music itself still sounds as contemporary and unworldly as ever. Children of the Sun is almost uplifting and, dare one say it, 'hippy', while Agape is a woozy cavort around the Middle East. For my money, Anasthesia is up there, consistency-wise, with ...Labyrinth and Aion. With the final song on here, All In Good Time, they have a stone-cold jewel in their crown. Moving, symphonic and utterly beautiful, Perry has once again struck gold with simplicity.
Other recordings
A Passage In Time - 4AD - 8/10
A compilation initially intended for the US market, it gathers up keep extracts from their middle-era albums (Realms, Serpents Egg, Aion) and adds two exclusive songs to appease collectors and fans. The main grumble is that no Spleen and Ideal tracks appear, many of which are an important part of the band's career, but it served a purpose as a good introduction for fans across the water.
Toward The Within - 4AD - 8/10
Live concert performed at the Mayfair Theater in California just months before the building was rendered unsafe after an earthquake. This is a must for DCD fans because there is almost an album's worth of unreleased songs on here, including the more familiar global sounds of Rakim and Oman and the straightforward balladry of American Dreaming and I Can See Now, as well as a rare cover of I Am Stretched On Your Grave.
1981-1998 - 4AD - 9/10
Essential (and now rather pricey) triple CD box set that is thoroughly worth seeking out - it also contains the DVD of the live-concert release, Toward The Within. There are several rare tracks included - radio session tracks, live pieces and their first demo of Frontier - as well as album tracks in chronological order and an expansive essay containing an interview with Perry and Gerrard and lots of arty photos of their studios and old neighbourhood in London.
Wake - 4AD - 7/10
A strange release this one and basically a 2-CD summary of tracks previously assembled on the excellent 1981-1998. Out of the larger cousin's rarities, only the early demo of Frontier survives the cull, while the remainder of the 'Best Of' does at least feature songs from across their entire 4AD career. At the time of release, there was barely any promotion which, given their status as the label's most popular act, seemed an oversight. Still, can't knock the contents.
Garden Of Arcane Delights - 4AD - 8/10
The duo's only single, issued in 1984, and what a belter! Four tracks, two each with the best of the quartet on side one. Carnival of Light and In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated already sound less like the first album (which was released a matter of months before) and more like second album Spleen and Ideal (still a year away). The other two songs are not quite as essential but are nonetheless worth adding to the list of 'wants' - Flowers of the Sea is the equal of Ocean or Frontier, for example.
For the full review of Dead Can Dance's Anasthesia album go here
For information about Dead Can Dance live shows and tickets, head to Allgigs here
However, they had brought with them the influences of their multi-cultural neighbourhood back home and were determined to translate this to record. Cue 4AD and owner Ivo Watts-Russell who rescued them from the dole queue oblivion and gave them a platform from where they became the label's most successful international act. They split in 1998 - she co-wrote and performed on the Gladiator film soundtrack with Hans Zimmer, he holed himself up in Ireland, converted a church into a studio and issued two albums - before reuniting for one more album and live dates. Never has a band travelled the world of music so successfully without feeling the need to catch a flight - their ability to convert their love of cultures into song is unsurpassed (so far).
Dead Can Dance - CAD 404 (1984) - 6/10
Spleen and Ideal - CAD 512 (1985) - 8/10
Within The Realms of a Dying Sun - CAD 705 (1987) - 8/10
The Serpent's Egg - CAD 808 (1988) - 7/10
Aion - CAD 0007 (1990) - 9/10
Into the Labyrinth - DAD3013 (1993) - 9/10
Spiritchaser - CAD 6008 (1996) - 7/10
Anasthesia - PIAS - (2012) - 9/10
Other recordings
A Passage In Time - 4AD - 8/10
Toward The Within - 4AD - 8/10
1981-1998 - 4AD - 9/10
Wake - 4AD - 7/10
Garden Of Arcane Delights - 4AD - 8/10
For the full review of Dead Can Dance's Anasthesia album go here
For information about Dead Can Dance live shows and tickets, head to Allgigs here