Spleen and Ideal
| Spleen and Ideal | ||||
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| Studio album by Dead Can Dance | ||||
| Released | 25 November 1985 | |||
| Recorded | September–November 1985 at Woodbine Studios, Warwickshire, England | |||
| Genre | Dark wave, neoclassical dark wave, gothic rock, ethereal wave | |||
| Length | 38:11 | |||
| Label | 4AD | |||
| Producer | Dead Can Dance, John A. Rivers | |||
| Dead Can Dance chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
Spleen and Ideal is the second studio album by Irish / Australian musical act Dead Can Dance. It was released on 25 November 1985 by record label 4AD. The album features a transition between the band's post-punk and gothic rock-influenced debut album towards a darkwave style.
The band's official website stated that the album title was taken "from 19th Century symbolist ideals". The title is directly taken from "Spleen et Idéal", a collection of poems by French poet Charles Baudelaire which form a section of his magnum opus Les Fleurs du mal.
Discussing the album's musical style, AllMusic commented that with Spleen and Ideal, Dead Can Dance "fully took the plunge into the heady mix of musical traditions that would come to define its sound and style for the remainder of its career. The straightforward goth affectations are exchanged for a sonic palette and range of imagination".
All tracks written by Dead Can Dance.
In a retrospective review, AllMusic praised the album, calling it "amazing [...] 'haunting' and 'atmospheric' barely [scratch] even the initial surface of the album's power".
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