Customer Reviews

Dion Mcgregor Dreams Again

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recordings of the average person narrating their own dreams aloud asthey occured would be cause for most ears to preck up -- but in thecase of a hurly loon like Dion McGregor, they are a cause celebre, especially in this new expanded edition which includes material not on the original 50s release. In a similar dilemma of censorship and editing, I won't say anything else here, especially not about "Thought for the Day" or what McGregor implores us to do with that banana, that grapefruit, those strawberries, and that huckleberry pie. . . If you like the strange, the spoken (mumbled) word, and the more absurd reaches of human intelligence and language, then you probably need this. If not, send a copy to your mother-in-law.

This is perhaps the most incredible found-sound/source recording I've ever heard -- an eloquent, funny man who narrates his dreams -- at full volume -- while asleep. His way with words is as exciting as his bizarre imagination (although, to be fair, these ARE dreams we're talking about, and as such of course they come off as bizarre to us) and the resulting recordings are mind-bendingly funny from start to finish.

Some of the situations, in brief: Dion pilots a multinational crowd to the moon in a hot-air balloon. Dion goes door-to-door chastising women for not wearing their favorite outfits all the time. Dion plays both a carnival barker and a "mark" involved in a sideshow act in which the exotic "Vulvina" lives up to her name. Dion takes a friend through his collection of mythological animals, but wakes up screaming after losing "Dick," his Gryphon. Every dream is unique, every one is fully narrated (usually as if he's talking to someone else in the dream), and every one will make you laugh out loud.

Think of this as a more varied, more imaginative equivalent to the SHUT UP, LITTLE MAN tapes. While there is certainly a voyeuristic thrill to listening to Ray and Peter yell at each other for a half hour at a time, the Dion McGregor tapes are much more astonishing, in that you are not likely to hear somebody talk this lucidly in their sleep in your lifetime...and yet here is over an hour of tapes made by perhaps the world's most tolerant roommate.

Check out some of the Audio Samples, and give this record a listen. It's the real thing, and it's one of a kind.

Dion McGregor talked in his sleep like no one else - full-fledged stories, some more coherent than others, but all oddly captivating. Funnier and more disturbing than anything a conscious mind could come up with.

This CD is incredible - a journey into the human mind - Dion McGregor is a pioneer and a Virgil through the delights and hells of the dream world. Thought-provoking and hilarious at the same time.

I have to admit there are times while listening to this that I doubt the authenticity of the dream-speak. If it is a hoax, then Dion McGregor was the greatest poet of the 20th century. Through these dreams, he weaves the most startling and surreal imagery with great leaps of logic and wit. If it's genuine, then it's simply the most amazing and hilarious voyage into the human mind. This is possibly the greatest spoken word album ever. -- Classic.

What can be said about Dion McGregor's dreamspeak? It isn't timeless literature or even high drama. But for those who are drawn to this sort of thing (that is, personal, psychological works that bridge the gap between the speaker and the audience and drill down into the psyche), this will be absolutely compelling. I picked up this CD on a curious impulse, and I wasn't disappointed. It's weird and surreal, and I accept it as genuine. (One of the reasons I don't think this is a goof or a fraud is that some of the recordings were too raw for publication in their day, and wouldn't get released until many years had passed and social mores had altered. The existence of such apparently-unusable (at the time of its creation) material defends the claim that it was not made for commercial purposes. Whatever this is, it's a sincere product.)

Some history: Dion McGregor was often a houseguest, and his hosts started recording his nighttime articulations for the amusement of him and his circle. (You also hear New York's traffic noise in the background, which creates a nice effect.) The results were so much fun that they decided to share with the world. The first compilation, "The Dream World of Dion McGregor", was released in 1964 on Decca Records (vinyl, of course). The dreams selected for the 1964 record were suitable for a PG rating, as opposed to this "Dreams Again" collection, some of which drifts into "R" territory. In 2004 another group of dreams was collected into a CD, "The Further Somniloquies of Dion McGregor", and this can be purchased from torporvigil dot com. All these recordings probably come from the 1960's, and there may be additional material available for future releases, if there is sufficient interest. Additionally in 1964 there was a book containing other dream transcripts, also titled "The Dream World of Dion McGregor", although its contents differ from the 1964 record. If you're curious, you can find out more about McGregor and his work on the web.

Clearly 5 stars, but just a note:

-ve: The CD may not be the highest fidelity, as my computer gets hung up on the final two tracks.

+ve: Somniloquies are worth listening to, certainly, but the endings Dion crafts are nothing short of genius.