Spleen And Ideal

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-05-21 rating:
Information on the SACD release
This is a special, limited de-luxe edition. It is a STEREO, HYBRID SACD - in other words, it is not a multi-channel release but it CAN be played on a regular CD player and does NOT require special SACD hardware. The album has been re-mastered by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in the USA from new digital transfers by the original producer, John A. Rivers, and these pressings are packaged in Japanese, mini-vinyl replicas of the original sleeves, including replicas of any inner sleeves, plus an additional booklet with lyrics.

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review by: date: 2008-02-04 rating:
Uhm... Amazon...
This album is on 4AD-how could you miss a barn door that wide? br /I always thought the hooded figure was Lisa-holding up the star as if a Magic Wand, demanding to no one in particular, STOP THIS MADNESS-to an uncaring destructive civilization

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review by: Mark Jacobs date: 2003-05-06 rating:
Lyrically and musically, a tower of strength
This is the DCD's finest hour. I was initially taken aback by its more earthy and mournful feel, and it took me a few years of maturing to see it in its correct perspective - a deep, sincere and cutting appraisal of how society and modern ways have pulled the wool over our eyes. The lyrics to The Cardinal Sin and Indoctrination are staggering. Musically, again, it takes a while for the rhythms and complex interplay to work on you, but they transcend most of the finest pieces of musica eterna around. I simply love this, and, out of my vast collection, I would have to take this and Fripp and Eno Evening Star to the desert island with me, if forced to choose. Get it if you can.

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review by: date: 2002-05-07 rating:
We must learn from our mistakes...
Don't get me wrong. Please. I think DCD are great and represent one of the principles in a genre that is depressingly sparse (technically called 'Dark Wave', I think?).brThis album starts out okay, first few tracks the usual, what we expect from DCD. But then they appear to have experimented mixing their music with sort a sort of jazzy upbeatness that simply fails to work. It's just... wrong! You can't have jazzy upbeat dark mournful neo-renaissance music! brIf you're trying to get into this genre, I would recommend The Serpent's Egg and Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun. The first two tracks on the former and the last on the latter are, imho, DCD's finest minutes. Fantastic. Just don't buy this album first. (This was my 7th DCD purchase, btw)


review by: date: 2000-11-21 rating:
Does Exactly What it Says on the Tin
Well, it's the Dark Ages. Not much to do, then. Mourn the slow passage of time and the annual failure of the crops (can't blame global warming though). Lament slow existence. From the opening spiritual, soaring surge, this album presents an absolute enigma of mediaval loss. Never before when standing in the ruins of a desolate abbey, could you hear it cry out and speak of its glory and it's pain, in one, dark raven's fell swoop. The cover of this album depicts a cowled and hooded woman holding up a cut-out star against the backdrop of a crumbing edifice of a building. That's what the music sounds like. This album is an orchestral and choral masterpiece of darkness and twilight. The vocals are sublime and primordal. The music is deep, dark and supremely uplifting. A tapestry of mood and elation. Rarely will an album make its mark if you seek your own spirituality. If not, I hear the new Westlife album is....different to this.

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