Re-Issue Box Set (Hybrid CD/SACD)

---

---

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-07-19 rating:
Superb SACD sound quality
I fully agree with the review by Gothic Deluxe, but want to add a comment on the sound quality of the SACD layer.

It would have been good if this project had also extended to include SACD surround sound mixes, but nevertheless all of these stereo SACD albums sound superb. In fact these are among the best high-definition recordings I've heard.

You can buy these hybrid CD/SACDs individually, and at less cost as you won't be paying for the additional packaging. I believe that 4AD also plan to release the remastered albums in standard CD format.




review by: date: 2008-06-11 rating:
Gothic Deluxe
Dead Can Dance broke up in 1998, at a time when Lisa Gerrard was becoming increasingly involved in film scores, and it seemed likely that their unique sound would stay in permanent retirement. Indeed, 4ad produced at that time a comprehensive box set (1981-1998) which - over the course of three CDs and a DVD - provided a satisfying overview of the band's work.

That set had long been unobtainable when the duo of Gerrard and Brendan Perry re-formed to tour in 2005, so 4ad seized the opportunity to begin an ambitious programme of audiophile remasters. The project was put in the hands of MFSL (Music Fidelity Sound Lab), one of the leading audiophile houses, so this project has genuine credibility. While many remasters are actually of lower fidelity than the original CD version (essentially the hiss is removed and the sound compressed) these discs represent the best quality sound that could be coaxed from the original masters. Rather than add rarities (as they did with 1981-1998) 4ad has confined itself to the original albums without bonus tracks. In a blind A/B comparison between the CD layers of the new set and the old, differences between the new masters were immediately obvious, but subtle. The remaster is only slightly louder, but is definitely "sharper", with instruments less likely to bleed together in a morass of reverb. That said, the difference is not earth-shattering; the previous masters were pretty good to start with.

2008 sees the release (on Hybrid SACD and conventional CD) of the complete MSFL remasters of the complete Dead Can Dance catalogue of eight albums and one EP. This box set (a limited edition of 1500) gathers together those individual releases on SACD and pride of ownership is high. To be specific, each disc comes in: a protective, fine plastic sleeve inside a printed paper inner sleeve; inside a stiff card replica of the original LP sleeve; inside a (somewhat) re-sealable transparent plastic wrapping; housed in a black velvet box embossed with the DCD logo; housed in a printed white card outer box. If you're primarily buying this as an "investment" then you're going to have to keep all this stuff; if not, I guess that the white outer box and re-sealable plastic sleeves will be unnecessary, but it's nice to see that they've gone the extra mile when putting this together. There are also one or two thin CD booklets tucked into the replica sleeve for each SACD: they contain lyrics, credits and a reproduction of the label that appeared in the centre of the original vinyl record. Where an album was released on double vinyl, both inner sleeves are reproduced even though only one of them holds a disc.

Of course, this is all completely impractical if all you want to do is get the SACDs out of their case and put them in a player, but it looks and feels great. If all you are going to do is rip the discs to your mp3 collection and put them on a shelf, then you won't worry; but if you're going to do that, why bother with the SACD format at all?

Dead Can Dance (to all intents and purposes the duo of Gerrard with Brendan Perry) always seemed to be pulled in two directions, not least because they shared the role of vocalist. Gerrard, with her interest in world music singing styles, is a darker reinvention of the Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser: otherworldly & arcane. Perry, with a more musicological approach to world instruments, is a more conventional songwriter, and the songs on which he is the vocalist take a more obviously folk direction. When the two combine, as they do on the wonderful "Rakim" from Towards The Within, there is a strong synergy, but more often than not one wonders what held them together as a unit for so long.

Remarkably, though, the twin vision of Perry and Gerrard does evolve throughout their career. Initially dominated by the 4ad house style, they are moody and gothic with a chiming electric guitar sound that makes them sound more like the Cocteaus than they would otherwise. Even by their second album, Spleen and Ideal, however, the music approaches a more Romantic and expressive grandeur, with "De Profundis (Out Of The Depth Of Sorrow)" either sublime or grossly pretentious depending on one's preference. With bells and monastic singing from Perry on the outro, this is the first coalescence of the distinctive Dead Can Dance sound.

By Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun, their third album, Dead Can Dance were capable of music that was the highest expression of their Gothic phase, but on "Cantara" Gerrard introduced the Indian style of singing that introduced the band's second, World, phase. The Serpent's Egg, arguably the first album of the band's maturity, saw Perry's songwriting grow in depth and ambition, but it is the "Bulgarian choir" of Gerrards on "The Host of Seraphim" that produces the album's most staggering wall of sound. The virtuosity of her (unaccompanied) performance on "Song of Sophia" was an indication of the direction that the duo would take.

Aion, the fifth album here, was Dead Can Dance's most medieval in character and saw a broadening of musical approach, but it gives little idea of what would come with Into The Labyrinth. If early albums had relied for their highpoints mainly on Gerrard's voice, now it was placed almost entirely at the service of the music, where the two contrived to create their most highly crafted tracks.

A live album, Towards The Within followed, which stands as a summation of what they had achieved. Don't be put off by the fact that it was recorded live; there is no audience noise, only three of the songs are duplicated elsewhere in the set and the recording is perfect. In fact, this could be their best album. Their last album before hiatus, Spiritchaser, advanced a bold and rhythmic world music vision which perhaps reflects the increasing dominance of Perry in the partnership. Certainly there are fewer fireworks from Gerrard, although her work on the album's "native chants" makes this album as compulsory a purchase as its immediate predecessors.

1981-98 did a great job of collating the band, but while the standout tracks were all there, Dead Can Dance rarely wasted an album track and there is a compelling argument for owning all the 4ad albums in some form. Revisiting tracks that I had only heard on cassette back when the original albums were released, I was struck by the consistency of the material. This is, after all, six and a half hours of music that had no aspiration other than to be haunting and beautiful.

---

Similar products

Fleet Foxes
Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
The Slip + DVD
Genesis - 1970-1975: 1970-1975/+6dvd
Into the Labyrinth

---

Similar categories

Music . Styles . Indie . Bestsellers
Music . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . Box Set
Music . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . CD . CD Album
Music . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . SACD

---