Best of Lisa Gerrard

M. Ward, Lisa Gerrard | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 7, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: 4ad Records
• ASIN: B000LE163A
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,132 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Wheat

2. Elysium

3. Sacrifice

4. Ariadne

5. Sanvean (Live At The Mayfair Theater)

6. The Host Of Seraphim

7. Cantara

8. Swans

9. The Promised Womb

10. Yulunga (Spirit Dance)

11. Indus

12. Persephone (The Gathering Of Flowers)

13. Go Forward

14. See The Sun

15. Now We Are Free

Editorial Reviews

Paste Magazine

"Try as you might, you just can't fault it"

Product Description

Gerrard's career takes in almost two decades with Dead Can Dance, award-winning motion picture soundtracks, and a series of acclaimed solo and collaborative albums. This 13-track survey offers a concise and convincing insight into the various strands of her musical output. This album was selected and sequenced by Lisa herself; it blends soundtrack work, Dead Can Dance highlights, and the pick of her solo recordings into a seamless and spellbinding whole. Deluxe 24-page booklet with translucent vellum pages. "Listening to Lisa Gerrard sing is a lot like watching actress Cate Blanchett sweep through the film 'Elizabeth' - it's a stunning, flawless performance, alive with the trappings of royalty and tinged with the aura of bygone times. Try as you might, you just can't fault it" - Paste Magazine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very pleasant, March 5, 2007

By 

Phlegmak (Edison, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best of Lisa Gerrard (Audio CD)

I only gave it four stars, because if you're already a diehard Dead Can Dance fan, then you already have most of these songs. So, for Dead Can Dance fans like me, there is only a little here I haven't heard before.

If this is meant to be a "best of", then I think these are poor choices. I'm not entirely sure what's the premise of this album, since Gerrard has made many better songs than these. It's just a collection of a few of her songs. Nothing from Duality, either. What a shame!

Overall, the album is pleasant to listen to. It's very calm. The songs are all nice to listen to. The last three songs and the first two songs are new to me.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been better, April 14, 2007

By 

coca-ebola (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best of Lisa Gerrard (Audio CD)

There are major problems with this compilation. One thing it has in common with 4AD's Cocteau Twins "Best Of" is that it over-emphasizes one aspect of the artist, i.e the ethereal side. In this instance, the world music/neo-folk aspect of the Gerrard oevre is under-represented, which is all the more frustrating because of the limitations she imposes on herself whilst in ambient/ethereal mode.

Lisa tends to work best when collaborating - or rather, when collaborating with someone with a very different temperament. E.g: brendan Perry and Pieter Bourke. Left to her own devices she tends to write one kind of "song" over and over again - and it quickly becomes boring (especially in the case of the Immortal Memory album, in which Patrick Casady's contribution is not totally clear).

Had this album contained more diverse material - for example, replace four of the later tracks with "As The Bell Rings The Maypole Spins", "Circum Radiant Dawn", "The Human Game" and "Hymn For The Fallen" - it really would have served its purpose as a best-of.

As it is - I can't recommend this, except to lapsed collectors wanting to sample her soundtrack work. And they're advised to proceed with caution.

Curious newcomers are advised to check out Duality (especially if you can find the two-disc edition) or any DCD album.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting. Atmospheric and ethereal, February 25, 2007

By 

Steven Guy (Croydon, South Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best of Lisa Gerrard (Audio CD)

I listened to this twice this afternoon. I knew that Ms Gerrard was the singer from the Australian group, Dead Can Dance, but I hadn't heard any of her solo material.

The music presented here is in a style similar to that of John Foxx in his three Cathedral Oceans CDs, i.e. soundscapes, layered, ethereal and ambient sounds. Of course, a major difference is that Ms Gerrard sings much more in her pieces. Her voice ranges from a light soprano to a much darker and almost "contralto-ish" chest register. She sings with considerable projection in her lowest octave (she seems to sing in a range of just over two octaves, in my estimation) and her timbre is almost masculine - even a little "countertenorish". Her vibrato is a little more marked in this region of her voice and I slightly preferred her sound in here upper, "head-voice" register. However, this is just nit-picking and I was generally impressed with Lisa Gerrard's singing and compositional skills (some rather affecting and occasionally surprising chord changes occur in several of her songs on this disc).

Okay, this is a compilation album and many folk will already have these tracks on other recordings. Lisa Gerrard was involved in the music for the Gladiator soundtrack and she's contributed music for other soundtracks, too, apparently. So I have heard her music before, even though I confess that I was barely aware of doing so. However, it is nice to experience a "concentrated dose" Lisa Gerrard's Art.

I liked this disc and I played it twice this afternoon at work. I am not sure if others will like this recording, some folks have criticised my tastes recently, so I have to say that I cannot confidently recommend this recording to all. I liked it, that's all.