Eye of the Hunter

Infobox Album
Name = Eye of the Hunter
Type = studio
Artist = Brendan Perry


Released = 4 October 1999 (UK) October 5, 1999 (U.S.)
Recorded = at Quivvy Church, Ireland
Genre = Folk rock, Dream pop, Blues
Length = 42:10
Label = 4AD
Producer = Brendan Perry
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fzfyxqqkldse link]
* EW.com (positive) [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,271147,00.html Oct 15, 1999]
* Scaruffi (7.5/10) [http://www.scaruffi.com/vol4/dcd.html link]
Last album = -
This album = "Eye of the Hunter" (1999)
Next album = -

"Eye of the Hunter" (1999) is the first solo album by Brendan Perry, previously the male half of the band Dead Can Dance.

Overview

Music historian Piero Scaruffi summarized "Eye of the Hunter" as "an intensely personal statement arranged for (synthesized) orchestra and a plethora of acoustic instruments, but more reminiscent of Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen than his old band." [Scaruffi (Piero), "A History of Rock Music: 1951-2000" (2003), iUniverse (ISBN 0-595-29565-7), p. 516 (of 566) ; now also on [http://www.scaruffi.com/history/cpt522.html Scaruffi.com] .] He ranked it among the "Best Rock Albums of 1999" [Scaruffi (Piero), [http://www.scaruffi.com/ratings/1999.html "Best Rock Albums of 1999"] .] and the "Best Rock Albums of the 1990's" [Scaruffi (Piero), [http://www.scaruffi.com/ratings/90.html "Best Rock Albums of the 1990's"] .] .

The album's title is found in the lyrics of "Voyage of Bran" (track 2), where a character named Brendan says: "I live by the river where the old gods still dream of inner communion with the open sea. Through the eye of a hunter in search of a prey, neither beast nor human in my philosophy." [Lyrics from the CD booklet (also sung identically).]

The song "Sloth" had already been sung during concerts with Dead Can Dance and appears on the band's 2001 box set "Dead Can Dance (1981-1998)". "I Must Have Been Blind" is a cover of a Tim Buckley song from his 1970 album "Blue Afternoon". Perry later covered another song by Buckley, "Dream Letter", which was released the following year on the tribute album "".

Track listing

# "Saturday's Child" - 4:30
# "Voyage of Bran" - 5:33
# "Medusa" - 6:10
# "Sloth" - 3:32
# "I Must Have Been Blind" - 5:07
# "The Captive Heart" - 4:00
# "Death Will Be My Bride" - 5:46
# "Archangel" - 7:35

All songs written by Brendan Perry, except: 5 ("I Must Have Been Blind" by Tim Buckley).

Personnel

;Musical
* Brendan Perry - vocals, 12-string guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, keyboards
* Glen Garrett - electric bass guitar, upright bass guitar
* Liam Bradley - drums
* Martin Quinn - pedal steel guitar
* Michael Brunnock - backing vocals (on 1)

;Technical
* Mastering: Walter Coelho at Masterpiece

;Graphical
* Art direction: Brendan Perry
* Design: Chris Bigg
* Back cover photograph: Dennis Di Cicco
* Textures: V23

References

External links

* [http://www.4ad.com/brendanperry/releases/eyeofthehunter-0/ "Eye of the Hunter"] at 4AD: with audio samples
*: with links to artists works
* [http://www.dcdwithin.com/dcd.pl?caduceus=information "Eye of the Hunter" lyrics] (official) at DCD Within: with some typos