Serpent's Egg

Artist: Dead Can Dance
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio Cassette
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 093624557647
EAN: 0093624557647
ASIN: B00000EZ5O

Release Date: 1994-02-15

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Tracks:

Host of Seraphim
Orbis de Ignis
Severance
Writing on My Father's Hand
In the Kingdom of the Blind the One-Eyed Are Kings
Chant of the Paladin
Song of Sophia
Echolalia
Mother Tongue
Ullyses

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Customer Reviews:

Some great music here, but a mixed bag.......2007-04-15

On their fourth studio album, the Dead Can Dance duo of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard transitioned away from the classical sound of their previous masterpiece, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun, and towards a more diverse set of influences, including eastern European and medieval music. While this disc contains some of their most brilliant tracks, I don't find that it holds together well as an integrated album when compared to some of their other efforts, and would actually rate it 3.5 stars if I could.

The two standout tracks here are the ones that open and close the album. The Host of the Seraphim is probably the most stunning music Lisa Gerrard has ever recorded, particularly the achingly beautiful rise and fall of the final chorus, which brings me both goose bumps and tears with every listening. Brendan's Ullyses is dazzling in its creativity, and features a rare of example of him singing glossolalia (the kind of wordless non-language that makes up nearly all of Lisa's singing) in the introduction, segueing into a weirdly speeded up waltz evocative of a demented merry-go-round. Both of these tracks fit well in the gothic semi-orchestral style of their earlier work.

The rest of the tracks are more of a mixed bag both with regard to style and quality. Brendan's Severance and Lisa's The Writing On My Father's Hand are lovely, and feature the medieval influences that would come to full flower on their next album, Aion, while Lisa's stark a capella Song of Sophia features more of an Eastern European sound. Mother Tongue begins with a passage of infectious, lively drumming, then downshifts into a more dreamy combination of drumming and chanting by Lisa. Orbis de Ignis is another medieval track, but a bit dull, while the sonorous Chant of the Paladin is eerie at first, but eventually becomes monotonous by the end of its nearly four minutes. Brendan's In the Kingdom of The Blind is typical stylistically of his songs of this period, and is often included on best of compilations, but I actually find it somewhat grating, unmusical and forced in its climax.

So, overall not necessarily their most cohesive album -- and at barely 36 minutes, one of their shortest -- but worth getting for the handful of standout tracks alone.

Some of the most superb music of the last century.......2006-11-22

I first heard the amazing tune "Ullyses" from this disk on the Seattle college music FM station KCMU/KEXP in about 1988, and instantly was fascinated with Dead Can Dance. I rushed out and bought this disk, and entered a whole new world of unparalleled beauty and taste. Middle eastern, british folk, and so many other influences applied with brilliant taste and audacity. As I understand it, Lisa Gerrard's lyrics are in a language of her own creation, designed to be evocative, but owing no particular reference to modern languages, and perhaps evoking a language which predates any modern language. Can you name an artist of such courage who, is also a pop-star? This is a triumph of high art! "The writing on my fathers hand" is exquisite with its delicate string tones and Lisa's evocative singing. Mother Tongue, with its drum tones is delicious. But "Ullyses" is my favorite, with Brendan Perry's rich and full vocal, a classic tale of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of global war. Arise "John Francis Dooley, wipe the sleep from your eyes, and embrace the light"! What else could a sensitive listener ask from a CD, great sound, great art, profound spiritual depth? This is one of the best disks I've encountered in all my 48 years. An associated disk is "This Mortal Coil/It'll end in tears" which features Lisa Gerard on several cuts, also highly recommended.

Spiritual and contemplative world music........2006-10-15

I own 6 CDs by Dead Can Dance. They consistently produce a great product. It is always difficult to select a favorite CD because of the range of influences in the music and the balance between the songs where baritone Brendan Perry dominates and those songs in which Lisa Gerrard and her chanting to the goddess presentations predominate. Of the two, I prefer his voice however to read all the reviewers, it appears she is the favorite of most listeners.

Flutes and trombones mix with cellos, dulcimers, and violins in these works. Perry's drumming is integrated into most of the works.

The influences are from Renaisance Christian chants, Middle Eastern chants from Egypt and Palestine, and Germanic-Celtic-Druid folk music.

The mood is usually moody, brooding, dark, somber, meditative rather than gleeful. In fact Dead Can Dance is never 'gleeful'. It is well integrated world music with a spiritual or contemplative direction.

The CD starts out strong with a call to worship piece called "The Host of Seraphim". I also liked Brendan Perry's percussion work in "Mother Tongue"; strong, decisive, elegant, and complex. The final work, "Ullyses" with its influence of ancient Greece and its long dreamy myth-like narrative by Brendan Perry is a favorite.

Dead Can Dance - Serpent's Egg.......2006-10-01

I will make no bones about it - the Serpent Egg's openener "The Host of Seraphim" is probably one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. The title describes it perfectly - this is the kind of William Blakesque biblical grandeur that can't be done justice in words, and it sets the standard for an album which, for the better part, manages to keep-up. The Serpent's Egg is an album decidedly European in flavour, but drenched with the influences of so many cultures that it becomes something utterly unique - the Platonic ideal of shadowy antiquarianism. Through its reverberating corridors it paints a picture of forgotten times and places outside of time.

The arrangements are deceptively simple. Repeating patterns of synthesisers, flutes, dulcimers and exotic doo-dads slide in and out of one another, and the beautiful voices of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry present complimentary opposites - the tracks on which Perry sings serve to ground Gerrard's swooping operatics with his deep, velvety tones, and the closer "Ulysses" serves as a book-end to almost match "Seraphim" in quality.

If there's one falter here it might be the dense drumming of "Mother Tongue", which is still a very good track, but fills somewhat out of place. But even with this minor quibble, Serpent's Egg is still one of the few albums that I can say without qualms that you must hear.

Eternal Music.......2006-06-09

Into the Labyrinth is really a terrific album, but it's not best. Serpent's Egg is a perfect work. Here, Lisa's voice is just magical. And Perry's music is limitless...

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