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Elly Roberts reviews
4AD
- March 2007
- Rating: 8/10
Enchanting 15-track career retrospective from one of the most gifted songwriters on the planet.
Spanning 20 years, her career began in the early ’80s when she and fellowAustralian Brendan Perry formed the extraordinary Gothic duo Dead Can Dance,which over a decade explored a magnificent tapestry of musical soundscapesembracing medieval chants, folk ballads, baroque stylings, Celtic flavoursand electronics.
Here, this collection takes in solo projects, Dead Can Dance and duo offeringswith Hans Zimmer and Peter Bourke.
From the outset, we get the instant ethereal imagery she has superbly createdin the past 20 years. It comes as no surprise that over recent years she hasbecome a much sought after composer for films opening track Wheatis lifted for the soundtrack for Gladiator, which won her a Golden Globe.
What makes this such a wonderful audio experience, is the expansive and no-limitsapproach to her songwriting, which by definition makes the entire collectiontimeless. Her fearless vision has won her many admirers, especially from musiccritics.
Songs such as Swans, is a deliberate attempt to conjure images of theIndian sub-continent is quite breathtaking, whereas the mystical vocal effecton The Promised Womb is the stuff of dreams. Proof of the pudding is theextraordinary live take of Dead Can Dances Sanvean, where Gerrards singingis stunning.
At no stage does her work become pompous or pretentious, and is the perfectintroduction to her prolific repertoire.
Weblinks:lisagerrard.com /4ad.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. The Wheat
2. Elysium (From Gladiator)
3. Sacrifice
4. Ariadne
5. Sanvean (Live)
6. The Host Of Seraphim
7. Cantara
8. Swans
9. The Promised Womb
10. Yulunga (Spirit Dance)
11. Inclus
12. Persephone
13. Go Forward
14. See The Sun
15. Now We Are Free
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.