Dead Can Dance - White Box 1981-1998

" The mask, though once a living part of a tree is dead; nevertheless it has, through the artistry of its maker, been imbued with a life force of its own. To understand why we chose the name, think of the transformation of inanimacy to animacy…. Think of the processes concerning life from death and death into life.." ~ Brendan Perry

1981-1998 compiles the output of Dead Can Dance from their seven studio albums, live performances, and sundry collections. Through their many stylistic shifts, it reveals the music of ecstasy, a state of spiritual release that can be as serene as a Gregorian chant and as intense as a Persian dervish. But then, Dead Can Dance always had two sides. There were Perry's Jim Morrison-meets-Sinatra vocal croons, and there was the uncanny and passionate Gerrard, whose Middle Eastern, Bulgarian, and Gregorian singing styles created a transcultural dialect of the imagination.
1981-1998 follows the pair from their beginnings in Australia to their final studio album, the African-Indian derived Spiritchaser. Among the gems are their last song together, "The Lotus Eaters," recorded just before their final split, and a Gerrard composition called "Bylar". ~ amazon.com

Tracklisting:

CD1:

1. Frontier - Demo
2. Labour Of Love - Radio
3. Ocean - Demo
4. Orion - Radio
5. Threshold - Radio
6. Carnival Of Light - Radio
7. In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated
8. De Profundis (Out Of The Depths Of Sorrow)
9. Avatar
10. Enigma Of The Absolute
11. Summoning Of The Muse
12. Anywhere Out Of The World
13. Windfall
14. Cantara
15. In The Kingdom Of The Blind The One-Eyed Are Kings
16. Bird
17. The Protagonist


CD2:

1. Severance
2. The Host Of Seraphim
3. Song Of Sophia
4. The Arrival & The Reunion
5. Black Sun
6. The Promised Womb
7. Saltarello
8. The Song Of The Sibyl
9. Spirit
10. Yulunga
11. The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove
12. Sloth - Radio
13. Bylar
14. The Carnival Is Over
15. The Spider's Stratagem
16. The Wind That Shakes The Barley - Radio
17. How Fortunate The Man With None


CD3:

1. I Can See Now
2. American Dreaming
3. Tristan
4. Sanvean
5. Rakim
6. Gloridean
7. Don't Fade Away
8. Niereka
9. Song Of The Nile
10. Sambataki
11. Indus
12. The Snake & The Moon - Edit
13. The Lotus Eaters


listen to samples