Spiritchaser [Re-Mastered] [HYBRID SACD] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Dead Can Dance

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 22, 2008)
• Original Release Date: June 25, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD, Original recording remastered
• Label: 4ad Records
• ASIN: B0015YFOIS
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,985 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Listening to Dead Can Dance is a transcendental experience. Enriched with dedications to the living Gaia, their creations subsist in natural and other worldly realms. Initially crafting songs which augmented their Australian roots with Gothic and Renaissance traditions, the group have since grown to encompass a hybrid of global sounds. On Spiritchaser the enchanted souls of founding members Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard shine in this, their most ethereal LP to date. Whereas earlier endeavors succumbed to genres grounded in eras of the past and non-Western present, it's immediately apparent that this album has loftier aspirations. Hypnotically threaded with traditional and electronic instruments, the exorcism of each song touches upon the universal essence beyond. While Gerrard's heavenly vocals are used primarily for instrumental effect, Perry's fertile lyricism both compliments her efforts and expresses the spiritual associations related to the album's title and meaning. Intrinsically delivered with shamanistic connectivity, the sensations ritualize the modern mortal. --Lucas Hilbert

Product Description
Their seventh studio album was released in 1996, and focused on the more percussive, tribal side of the group's music. It was their first studio album since 1993's "Into The Labyrinth".

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The kind of CD you "experience.", March 17, 2004

By	Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Spiritchaser (Audio CD)

Blending a seamless mix of Native American and African styles of music into their synthetic brew, the final album from Dead Can Dance is also their must fully actualized. Not for casual background listening or mentally agitated states, "Spiritchaser" has filled my days at times when I've needed to sit back (or lay down) and reconnect with life and a more peaceful point of consciousness.

"Spiritchaser" is also a very earthy, sexual CD for me. As the liner notes state, there is a belief that organic instruments, made from living creatures, then contain part of the soul of the creature and make each instrument the voice of the soul from which it was created. That kind of reverence permeates the eight songs on "Spiritchaser," where the sounds and the voices seem to manage to seep into the listener's essence, touching hearts as gently as they touch minds. (Although you have to smile as the song "Indus" gracefully references George Harrison's "Within You Without You.") To close, "Spiritchaser" is the kind of CD you listen to when you wish to have an environment that surrounds and envelops you.

PS. I will heartily recommend this CD to fans of Delerium, Deep Forest and earlier Enigma, even though they are only marginally related.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the Dead apparently CAN Dance!, September 6, 2004

By	Clarissa "MoonGoddess" (Ontario, California) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Spiritchaser (Audio CD)

This being the last album with all new material by Dead Can Dance you expect nothing but great things from this incredibly gifted duo who has transcended music as we know it, and even though some seem a little disappointed in their final offering, I feel that they have not let us fans down at all. Sure, this specific record may not be a crowning achievement, such as the powerful Renaissance of 'Aion' or the Gothic beauty of 'Within the Realm of a Dying Sun' are but I enjoy 'Spiritchaser' immensely. The melodies are still moody and atmospheric, only a bit more upbeat than usual, exuding soundwaves of hypnotic energy, and I simply can't get enough of these songs laden with percussion and a vast array of other influences too. But perhaps I am biased as I do prefer Brendan Perry over Lisa Gerrard and he's heard quite frequently here. Now don't get me wrong, I love them both and like how they balance each other out so well but whenever Brendan Perry starts singing I go into some kind of a trance. Chills race throughout my entire body - especially when he talks over the music, like on "Song Of The Stars". Lisa, however, is truly unique and haunts me with her deep, resonating vocals that seem to soar up into the heavens above. And given the name Dead Can Dance it's no wonder this album would center on how some cultures used to sacrifice living beings so that their soul would become a part of the instrument; otherwise known as the "singing dead".

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Unfortunate End, February 2, 2000

By	DAC Crowell (Rankin, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spiritchaser (Audio CD)

This is supposed to be Dead Can Dance's final work...which is very unfortunate, as "Spiritchaser" sees DCD breaking some amazing new ground here which cries out for further exploration by Perry and Gerrard. On this release, the Mideastern and European tinges fade away, to be replaced with a vibrant focus on Caribbean, Native American, African, and Indian directions that promised so much...had the duo gone on to work with them further. Everything on here is a standout track; there are no duds, really. And the control they exhibit here over their studiocraft is as impeccable as was found on "Aion". That release, this one, and "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun" are the ones to get for starters, but unlike "Within...", this album is so much a fully-composed listening experience that begs to be play from start to finish. It just irritates me no end that this is where DCD decided to call it quits. There seems so much unfinished from the strength of this album...