To say it's "cold" out is, well ... ridiculous. That's like saying that it's merely 'breezy' along the surface of Neptune*. Instead my ass is staying indoors, especially now that all our errands are done for the afternoon and there's no reason to be out in that ridiculousness and so which Kelly naps, I'm working on a short writing assignment about "regret" for the FEPL.
Yes folks, I'm doing homework for the library.
However, I do get to listen to another one of my rescued cassettes (the ones that remain anyway) while I work and this afternoon, I am reacquainting myself with this A Passage of Time album by Dead Can Dance.
It was only a matter of time before some sort of introduction to American audiences came about, especially following the band's successful tour of the States, so Rykodisc did the honours with this excellent compilation -- if there's one thing anyone needs to get from the duo, it's unquestionably this.
While there's no chronological order to the collection, and the sequencing and arrangement from the original albums are unfortunately if inevitably lost, the choice of songs to feature is completely spot on.
Nearly every undisputed highlight from the band is included, covering both Perry's and Gerrard's contributions in equal measure. The Host of Seraphim here forms the centrepiece of an album rather than the start, and two new tracks help to round things out -- while they aren't among the most deathless numbers the band has created, they're still worth listening to. Bird piles on the ambient jungle noises and animal calls and cries, but is saved from neo-New Age bathos by both its arrangement and the central combination of drumming and Gerrard's singing, here a touch lighter than normal. Spirit, in contrast, predominantly features electric guitar and strong bass pulse, feeling a bit like a number from the very first album heavily stripped down with a new tension and beauty.
What I'm trying to really say here I guess, is that this album is deep ... like, real deep ... and I loves it.
Excellent choice to begin today's warm musical journey.
*The highest winds observed in the solar system have been measured here with speeds near 1,200 mph near the "older" Great Dark Spot which, thankfully, I also understand has absolutely nothing to do with anyone's butthole. See? You learned something too. But I digress ...
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