1981 - 1998 [Box set]

Many people's impression of Dead Can Dance was cemented early, and unfairly. When the duo debuted for 4AD, their name led most to believe they were Goths--a notion backed up by the fact that the label's biggest acts were Bauhaus and Cocteau Twins.

Consequently, many ignored Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard's musical journey, considering their work to be either intolerably highbrow or simply pretentious and silly. It's a shame because, as a musical anthropologist, Perry rivals Peter Gabriel. DCD honed and mutated music from so many times and time zones--sounds from the Renaissance and Middle Ages, from North Africa and the Mediterranean--much of it raised to dizzying peaks by Gerrard's extraordinarily dramatic voice.

This box set is, as you'd expect from both DCD and 4AD, thoroughly desirable. It includes a DVD of their 1994 in-concert movie, Toward The Within, with additional interviews, plus all the pair's promo videos. There's a 108-page booklet, with a detailed history, more interviews and all lyrics and credits. It also features 47 tracks on three CDs, including some previously unreleased material.

For those intrigued by Gerrard's soundtrack work on Gladiator, this will be revelatory. For anyone who missed out first time around, it's the most stirring of documents--and Blakean, not gothic. --Dominic Wills

This remastered collection brings together songs from Dead Can Dance's eight albums and boasts 47 tracks across 3 CDs. Featuring rare and previously unreleased material, the box set also contains a DVD (PAL) of their stunning in-concert film, 'Toward The Within', directed by Mark Magidson plus bonus promo videos and discography, all accompanied by a 108 page booklet with interviews and lyrics.

From their uncompromising debut through to their last recording Dead Can Dance operated outside the mainstream. Although they are one of 4ADs most successful and enduring acts, their sound has been misguidedly labelled ‘gothic’, ‘world music’ and everything in between. But the appeal of Dead Can Dance transcends the limitations of genre. As one magazine put it back in 1984, “The emotional strains harnessed by Dead Can Dance are of a beauty above and beyond the realms of the imagination.”

Formed in Australia in the early Eighties by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, Dead Can Dance had veered away from the punk explosion towards a more non-conformist style. But finding the music scene unreceptive they moved to London, landed a record deal with 4AD and embarked on a career with the label that would last seventeen years.

Highly respected artists with a loyal global fanbase, Gerrard and Perry consistently made music full of integrity and passion. Both immensely talented vocalists -Gerrard with her inimitable, mesmeric style and Perry’s haunting baritone- they were also gifted, instinctive musicians and their melding of traditional instruments with samplers created a bridge between ancient and modern musics.

The atmospheric quality of their music has led to it’s use in advertising campaigns, movie soundtracks and has often been sampled by dance DJs. Brendan Perry has scored films and theatre productions. Lisa Gerrard has also contributed to soundtracks including Heat, The Insider and Gladiator, for which she received an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe award. She is currently working on the Michael Mann-directed biopic, 'Ali'.