Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 18, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: 4ad Records
• ASIN: B001FZ0A6I
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,416 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #22 in Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Dream Pop

Track Listings

1. The Fatal Impact

2. The Trial

3. Frontier

4. Fortune

5. Ocean

6. East Of Eden

7. Threshold

8. A Passage In Time

9. Wild In The Woods

10. Musica Eternal

11. Carnival Of Light

12. In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated

13. The Arcane

14. Flowers Of The Sea

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This 1984 release set the pace for the band's career, helped define the tone of the 4AD label, and opened the door for a genre that includes Delirium, Deep Forest, and Enigma. While much less dense and textural than more recent DCD, this album begins the group's study of combining global rhythms and instrumentation from various musical eras with contemporary sounds. Here they explore the somewhat Gothic electronic and rock instrumentation of post-punk European pop. Featuring the lush, sonorous vocals of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, this is a dark, mysterious, and compelling release. Fans of later works will not be disappointed; newcomers will find this groundbreaker a good place to meet Dead Can Dance. --Andy Stevens

Product Description

On their eponymous debut, released in 1982, they successfully harnessed a bewitching barrage of sounds, layering grinding guitars and even a dulcimer-like yang chin over a taut wash of percussion. Their range is staggering, as is their disciplined economy, with no song lasting more than four minutes or degenerating into formless cacophony. This version contains the four track EP "Garden Of The Arcane Delights", which was packaged separately in a replica of its original sleeve with the SACD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Primal, April 19, 2006

By 

Mark Champion "autumnfair" (San Antonio, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dead Can Dance (Audio CD)

The DCD debut sounds almost nothing like its successors, but it in many ways betters them all. The production is of the time - - heavily chorused bass, a drum machine, echoey guitars and voice (and everything else) - - but the album even today transcends the time. Along with the early Cocteau Twins and Xymox (er, Clan Of . . .) it defined the 4AD ethos and spawned a lot of mimics. But there is something primal about this album. Tracks like "A Passage In Time'; "Threshold"; "Fortune"; the beautiful, haunting, (and oceanic) "Ocean" - - there still is nothing out there sounding quite like them. Beautiful cover, too. Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard created a masterpiece the first time out, and if you can get past this one there are some great ones to follow. The CD reissue appends the album's successor, THE GARDEN OF ARCANE DELIGHTS EP (but not its distinguished cover) and it's just as good, particularly "Carnival Of Light" with Gerrard's soaring vocals, and "In Power We Trust The Love Advocated" with its shimmering keyboards and Perry's Jim Morrison-like intonation. It all still astounds.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a welcome, appreciated work that may be problematic for some, October 18, 2005

By 

Bachelier ""1004"" (Ile de France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Can Dance (Audio CD)

Dead Can Dance's debut self-titled album has elements of a partnership still finding voice, and the great promise of things to come. The primary refreshing element here was that the group was not afraid to experiment, and unlike many post-punk or natal-gothic bands, was not afraid of polished vocals informed by both polyphony and plainchant. In addition the band's use of unfamiliar instruments, particularly with percussion, is also a welcome departure from the narrow constraints of independent and DIY music of the early 80s.

However, fans of latter DCD, particularly "Aion," may find this original album cacophonous and discordant, for it is clear that both Joy Division and The Swans were on the turntables of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry during these early years. Early Dead Can Dance fans often enjoy the first three albums in rotation with the omnipresent The Cure and the vocally similar Switchblade Sister. Latter DCD fans often enjoy a rotation with Enigma and Cocteau Twins, although I believe the band itself would eschew such bucket selections, as their own musical growth and trajectory are what made them distinct in the first place.

This is a welcome, appreciated work that may be problematic for some.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest album ever made, February 2, 2005

By 

DCD worshipper (Dublin Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dead Can Dance (Audio CD)

First of all, this album contains the song Ocean, and if every other song was terrible, that one asset would be enough to make this the greatest album in history. This is far and away DCDs finest work, that the subsequent albums have never quite lived up to, although Spleen and Ideal comes close.

The level of originality on this record is truly staggering. I remember hearing this for the first time in the 80s, and I was completely shocked that music like this could have been taught up by a mortal.

I will never stop loving this.

I remember thinking that this band was too good to hit the big time, but that it would take the world another twenty years to realise the greatness of Dead Can Dance, and I am beginning to think I was right.