A very, very cool band, and its a shame that they’ve split up. Got to see them in Atlanta years ago and was totally blown away when they performed American Dreaming and I Am Stretched On Your Grave. I don’t think that anyone in the audience had heard those songs before they performed them that night because when they stopped playing them there was total silence for several seconds and then everyone just started applauding furiously. Anyone else out there fans?
I love them! I have all of Lisa’s solo stuff (including soundtracks like The Insider and Gladiator, just because she had a part in them), and Brendan’s one solo outing as well. And, of course, all of their DCD albums.
They were playing in Berkeley once and I really wanted to go see them, except I didn’t know exactly when they would be appearing. I didn’t find out until the night of the concert, by which time it was too late 
I adore them! I’ve been listening to them for a few months, so I’m a bit of a “newbie”. I like Lisa slightly better, but Brandon grew on me, so it looks like I’ll be liking them both equally!
I have loved DCD for about 11 years now… they rock!
I’m a big DCD fan. They are popular in BD circles; the last Christmas hafla we had 3 or 4 people to perform to their music.
So far I’ve performed to Rakim and (are you ready for this?)… Stretched On Your Grave
Any suggestions for compatible music?
I’ve heard a couple of their songs, such as “I am Stretched on your Grave.” Any other recommendations of songs or albums I should check out?
Awesome band. Neil, I’d recommend their compilation A Passage in Time. Also, Toward the Within and Into the Labyrinth are both really good albums.
I was at that show. One of the best concerts I’ve ever been to.
I second Gadarene’s recommendations, and also recommend Aion. “The Arrival and the Reunion” is one of my favorite songs and it’s one of my favorite CDs to listen to on long drives.
I like Sinéad O’Connor’s version of I am Stretched on Your Grave better, actually.
Neil, the band has gone through phases involving different flavors of influence, if you will. Their first album (self-titled) had a tribal feel to it; then they went through a medieval period, and they’ve also created Middle-Eastern- and African-tinged albums. So which albums you should listen to depends on where your interests lie.
My favorite album is Spleen & Ideal, which, like Aion, is thick with medieval atmosphere. You might want to search for soundclips or mp3s of “Ascension,” “The Promised Womb,” “Wilderness,” “Song of the Sibyl” (which is a 16th century Spanish ballad, if I’m not mistaken), and “The Enigma of the Absolute.”
I love DCD. I have Into the Labyrinth and Axion on CD but both my player at work and the one in my car are broken at the moment! I wish I could have seen them live.
I’ve been meaning to buy one of their CDs for a while now - time to go spend more money on amazon!
Thanks for the recommendations, gadarene.
Dead Can Dance are (is?) the bomb. I love all of their stuff. My favorite tracks are Rakim and The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove. I’m very saddened that I didn’t clue into them until after they’d disbanded, I also would have loved to see them live.
I have Passage in Time and I’ve been listening to it for about 10 or so years now I think…love love love it. Saltarello always has a wonderful grounding effect on me.
I think I’m going to have to spend my lunchbreak at the super huge Virgin record store that was opened recently near my office.
DCD gets the nod as My Favorite Band.
Check out their concert video Toward The Within if you missed them live, at least you’ll get the sense. I only had the chance to see them perform together once on the Spiritchaser tour… Awesome show. Saw Brendan Perry perform on his tour supporting Eye of the Hunter, also very good.
Oh, if your into them or want to get a broad perspective of their work, the new box set is really great. It includes three CDs covering 1981-1998 and a DVD of the concert movie which also has all of their music videos! Well worth the cost.
Too bad they split up, but when you listen to the later albums, you could totally feel them pulling in different directions.
Oh well.
<heavysigh>
For the record, my favorite album is Within the Realm of a Dying Sun. Love everything about it. My current favorite song is Bylar, which I had never heard until I picked up the boxed set in January.
There’s a band that’s almost a clone of DCD, but I don’t remember their name. Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman put out an album called Songs From The Victorious City, which was influenced by the trip to Egypt they took (Hey! Just the thing for a belly dancer!) There’s some others out there but I can’t think of them at the moment.