Dreaming As One: The A&M Years

Richie Havens | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 13, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hip-O Select
• ASIN: B000BJ1MRA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,098 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Richie Havens grew up in the rough-and-tumble Bedford-Stuyvesant community, and as the eldest of nine children, he was used to working a crowd from his earliest days. His father played piano with a number of bands throughout the city, which may account for Richie's innate talent. New York City was the nexus of the doo-wop movement, and Richie organized a number of street-corner singing groups in the Fifties. As the Fifties closed, though, the performer set his sights on the bohemian lure of Greenwich Village. Starting in the local clubs as a poetry performer, he also absorbed music from some of the greats who passed through that scene, including Nina Simone and Fred Neil. Emboldened by the opportunities for a distinctive voice in that environment, he began to accompany himself on guitar. It wasn't long before he was given a record contract, but even though he made a couple of albums with the Douglas label, neither was released until later in his career, when his celebrity was already firmly established. At this juncture, Albert Grossman, the legendary manager and founder of Bearsville Records came into Richie's life and a second record deal ensued, this time with Verve's Forecast imprint. Forecast was primarily a folk label, as opposed to the jazz and comedy releases for which its parent was more widely known. Havens' first three albums for the Verve-Forecast label established him as a major artist, and his history-making appearance opening the 1969 Woodstock Festival helped to make him a household name. By 1970, Havens had achieved sufficient success to launch his own Stormy Forest label, distributed by Verve's parent company, MGM. Havens released seven albums on Stormy Forest, until MGM's sale to PolyGram led to a buyout of Havens' label deal. Havens then signed to A&M, whose co-founder Jerry Moss had long expressed interest in working with him.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just as good as Richie's stellar work with Steve Hackett, June 16, 2007

By 

Mike (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dreaming As One: The A&M Years (Audio CD)

If you're a Richie Havens fan...or a Steve Hackett fan...or simply a fan of excellent music, you need to add Hackett's second solo album "Please Don't Touch" to your collection, if only for the heart-rending vocals served up by Richie on the song "Icarus Ascending." People who have heard this track know what I'm talking about.

The reason I started my review with that album is that during the A&M years, Richie defied expectations once again with tracks like 10CC's "I'm Not In Love." The original version was a breathy, melancholy, floating piece of McCartney-esque joy. But in the hands of Richie Havens it becomes a soaring, tortured, emotional tour de force (notice I did not say "melodramatic," because it most certainly is not).

When he gets to the part of the song in which he sings "Don't tell your friends about...THE TWO OF US...I'm not in love, no no no no no no...," every hair on your arms and the back of your neck will stand on end. My promise to you, the consumer.

There are plenty of tracks on this excellent Hip-O anothology (once again, a CD that was previously available only through the Hip-O online store, so kudos to Amazon for stocking it). While his version of "I'm Not In Love" is the undisputed masterpiece, you will be rewarded again and again and again with artistry that ventures fearlessly beyond what is expected and delivers shimmering, powerful moments of beauty and raw emotion.

And once again, the people who already own this album know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. If your knowledge of Richie Havens is limited to "Freedom" from the Woodstock movie, you don't know Richie Havens. You know one of his songs, but you don't know the breadth and depth of what he's recorded.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece from Richie, November 22, 2008

By 

L. D. Matthews "music packrat" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dreaming As One: The A&M Years (Audio CD)

Highly recommended! I've been a Richie Havens fan for over 30 years and possibly own approx 80% of his extensive catalog in CDs & LPs. I usually prefer his stripped down acoustic work, but this album stands out as a true gem/masterpiece from a period when there was a little more slick production applied to his music when he moved to A&M records around the mid-70s.

This album from Hip-O is a two-fer, but my review is limited to the first album represented here, The End of the Beginning. Richie worked on this album with three quarters of Booker T and the MGs, and they provide stellar backup to Richie's voice and guitar.

I agree with reviewer Mike from San Jose that "I'm Not in Love" is a standout track. One of the reasons I love this album, though, is that I found it to be very consistent from start to finish, and was equally enthralled with every song from this album (cuts 1 thru 10 of the two-fer). Generally, side one (1-5) was the softer side, and side 2 (6-10) was the faster side. Both sides are excellent. In my experience, I've found very, very, very few albums (by any artist, including Richie) that achieve this level of consistency.

Of special mention is one of Richie's own compositions, "I Was Educated By Myself", which is one of my top 5 all-time Richie songs, and a favorite among any of the singer-songwriters that I've followed.

Kudos to Hip-O for an extremely well packaged CD digipak, with great photos, liner notes and credits ... an A+ product to fit the A+ musical content. Maybe Hip-O can tackle Richie's live double album "On Stage" from the early 70s which has yet to see the light of day in CD format (hint, hint !).

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless Masterpiece!, February 20, 2007

By 

Daniel St Andrews "Actor & Voice-overs" (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dreaming As One: The A&M Years (Audio CD)

I had this on LP and always liked it but forgot about it after going to cassettes and later to CDs. Going through my old lps, I discovered this one by Richie and it brought back excellent memories. Great to hear this classic again, and again, and again!