Customer Reviews

Dreamland

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dreamland is Dale's best album in many years, and my personal favorite since Cheatin' Heart Attack. If you've given up on country music because of the loathsome dreck that's coming out of Nashvegas these days, this album will bring you back into the fold. Dale Watson plays country music the way it should be played--honest, real, and loaded with tradition. This *is* your father's country music, and that's a good thing if you like Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Webb Pierce, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, George Jones, and all the other honky-tonk heroes of the early 60s. Dale Watson is one of a handful of artists (Wayne Hancock also comes to mind) who are truly dedicated to preserving the roots of country music.

You should absolutely buy this album and, if at all possible, see Dale Watson play live. But I would also urge you to then take that extra step and convert those around you who have strayed. You know who I'm talking about: your friend who went to see Kenny "no-sleeves" Chesney play at the County Fair, the guy you work with who shelled out $85 to take his girlfriend to see Tim McGraw at the megadome, the lady stopped at the traffic light with Shania Twain cranked up on the radio of her Suburban, the moron who *still* sings several verses of "Friends in Low Places" when he's had a few too many. These people are sick and they need help. This album is the perfect tonic for what ails them.

With Asleep at the Wheel's Ray Benson helping crystallize his honky-tonk roots, Watson's turned out his strongest album to date. There are moments, like the cyclic front-line beat of "Never Ever," that show Benson's swing influence, but mostly the producer just sharpens Watson's twangy guitar and two-steppin' rhythms, and deftly places the singer's baritone amid classic lines of fiddle and steel.

Watson's new songs (he wrote or co-wrote all twelve tracks) take in the shuffles and ballads of Ray Price, south-of-the-border tinged Bakersfield twang, blues and even bluegrass. He no longer bashes Nashville in words, finding more pointed criticism in the traditional country music idiom: lyrics of love lost and taken away and the occasional bar-side celebration, intertwined with the cries of guitar, steel and fiddle.

It's nothing new for Watson, who's long championed these sounds, but the alchemy brought to bear by his producer moves these recordings to the next level. The phased guitars and swelling steel lines of "Dreamland" add a dreamy quality to Watson's nocturnal memory of his late fiancée, and the bluegrass harmonies of "Fox on the Run" and "Pretty Girls" showcase Watson in a new, lighter setting. Together with more traditional honky-tonk tunes, this is sure to greatly please Watson's fans and attract some new converts.

Having just discovered Dale Watson and his unique brand of Texas twang with his last release, 2001's heart-rendering EVERY SONG I WRITE IS FOR YOU, I was anxious to hear what he would do next. Well, DREAMLAND certainly doesn't disappoint! Many of the same elements that made EVERY SONG... so strong can still be found on the new disc - the uncluttered arrangements, the super-studly voice - but the vibe is totally different. This time around, the somber has been exchanged for the swingin'. Opening up the disc is the gently swaying groove of "Honky Tonkers Don't Cry." With equal parts tasty guitar, fiddle and piano, the track puts you in an instant good-time mind set, one that grabs you tightly throughout the rest of the album, refusing to let go! Awesome! Things are kicked up another notch with the swaggering "Ain't A Cow In Texas." Once again, the instrumentation is spot-on perfect, and a couple of Watson's ad-libs ("Yeah...RIGHT!", "Yeah, you KNOW ya love me, darlin'!") make it clear what a good time he's having! Next up is the sweetly romantic "Love At First Sight." Few men could sing such a basic, almost borderline sappy, song, but Watson delivers it in such an honest, unaffected manner that you can't help but love it! "I Wish You'd Come Around" is a tad bit melodramatic, but Watson lays down the track in a genuinely honest manner, resulting in a true classic country cut. Things take a 180 degree turn with the swinging "California Wine." With wailing pedal steel, jaunty fiddle work and tinkling ivorys, the cut just dances out of the speakers. Add a totally authoritative lead vocal and you have one of DREAMLAND's best tracks! Another gem is the high-energy "Never Ever." With an instrumental track that just makes you want to dance and universally relatable lyrics ("We're in this thing together/So together we'll get burned/I guess we'll never ever/Never ever learn"), the song allows the many sides of Dale Watson - tough, tender, forlorn, hopeful - to shine thru and, in so doing, come up with some great music. The disc's title track is a sweeping ballad that features a soaring lead vocal from Watson. As the music lifts you out of your chair, transporting you to a place where dancing among the clouds doesn't seem all that far-fetched, you can't help but be moved when Watson lets us know that "Here in the real world/I do alright/Eventhough you're not around." "Fox On The Run" (no, not the Sweet classic!) is a back porch, toe-tapping rave-up. Watson's strong lead vocal is beautifully augmented by pitch perfect harmony vocals, courtesy of Ricky Davis and Billy Donahue. There's a swagger to "Way Down Texas Way" that some might find over the top, but if you just kick back and really let it's sexy sensuality sink in, you'll realize the song's (to quote the Beach Boys!)"Fun! Fun! Fun!" There's an aching quality to the lovely "She Don't Care" that is simply heart-breaking. One of those songs where everything comes together - a beautiful vocal, great arrangement, smart lyrics ("Well, a phone that doesn't ring/Makes a deafening noise") - "She Don't Care" is, without a doubt, one of DREAMLAND's key tracks. "I Don't Rock No Cradle" has a great country swing vibe going on, while the disc's closer, "Pretty Girls", ends things on an energetic high note. Once again, the track's focal point is Watson's absolutely amazing lead vocal...why someone with such an incredible voice isn't bigger than he is is beyond me! Finally, as per all my 2004 release reviews, I do have to dock the disc half a star for not including the lyrics. But that's a minor point...do yourself a favor and visit DREAMLAND tonight!

Speaking for myself, an absolute ton, and I get it all on this CD. The musicianship is utterly fantastic throughout and background vocals are just that, background. There's none of the pop-sounding, over-harmonized vocals on this or any other Dale Watson album. I find it difficult to provide even a short list of favorite tracks let alone a single favorite. Like other reviewers, I think "I Wish You'd Come Around" is great. The meandering steel guitar throughout "She Don't Care"-- which it seems should really be called, "You Don't Care"-blends beautifully with Dale's vocals. "Ain't a Cow in Texas" and "Love At First Site" are just plain fun to listen to and sing along with. Thanks for another great country album, Dale.

Dale Watson has giftwrapped the feel of the past with the genius of who he is today in Dreamland. You can start by comparing him to Merle Haggard, but you would be ill served to stop there. He takes all the best of Merle, Charley Pride, George Jones, and all the rest, but mixes it up with who he is as a songwriter, and most importantly -- a singer -- with few peers today. This is country crooning that hasn't been touched in over a quarter century.

So that all explains why Dale kicks it, but the album itself is so crammed full of country goodness it makes my head spin every time I put it on. You can smell the beer-soaked bar coasters in every tune and wish on Lefty's grave you were looking up from your suds to lock eyes with a halter-topped honkey-tonk honey during every steel guitar break.

My prescription for heartache, love-sickness, or just an ordinary Friday night is a half-dozen listens of Dreamland, a 12-pack of Rolling Rock, and a lady who loves to two-step. Enjoy, and I challenge you not to smile from eartip to eartip.

This man's music was so good in the mid nineties that I told him that he was my favorite singer since Merle Haggard (and I meant it). His first three CD's (on Hightone), along with the "Truckin' sessions", were classic, hard-core country music (in contrast to the watered-down excuse for country which became so popular in the "Garth era"). After Dale left Hightone, his major label debut was pulled, and several other projects failed to reach the level of those first four CD's. On this CD, Dale returns to staight-up honky tonk, but adds a new twist with a couple of bluegrass flavored tunes. Overall, this is a quality CD from start to finish, with the highlights being "I wish you'd come around", "You don't care", and "California Wine" / "Never ever again"(both featuring Ralph Mooney). The production is outstanding (by Ray Benson). My only critique would be that there is a little less edge in the writing compared to his earlier Cd's. After the "punch-you-in-the-gut", real life tragedy of "Every song I write is for you" (which was a tough listen), this one comes across as almost the opposite, a little light (in attitude)for Dale. No hard-core drinking, cheating, or truckin' songs. Nonetheless, a minor flaw in what is the best country CD so far this year. Long live Dale Watson, one of the only ones left who does country music in the style I that I love (and grew up listening to).

This 12-number Dale Watson CD is the "tightest" sounding release of his career.....and I certainly believe that it's due to the Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel) production. Of all his albums, this one is heaviest on Western Swing, and Benson's influence has created a more refined (I dare say Polished?) Dale Watson album. Still, the signature, Lefty-influenced voice of Dale is in complete control of every song here, including an outstanding cover of the classic "Fox on the Run". And, while the Western-swing sound is prominent, Dale's "Never Ever" is perfect Bakersfield Country. Unlike many albums, this one remains strong throughout. It is just criminal that Dale's music has not received the recognition that it deserves. But, as long as he continues to put out albums, I will continue to buy them.

Dreamland is a masterpiece of country music. One of the best albums to appear this year and any year. Dale Watson has a huge underground following and is proving himself to be one of the most important singer songwriters in country music with each successive album. This is country as it always was before Nashville sold its soul.. Country like Cash, Haggard, Ray Price and Webb Pierce.

Music to dance to, to fall in love to, and to weep in your beer to. Music does not get much more alive and poignant than this.

I had received a gift certificate for my birthday and used it to purchase this CD to take with me on a grueling 28-hour trip aboard a Greyhound bus. After I had popped the cd into the player, it was IN THERE (although I had brought along a number of other favorite country cds as well): I couldn't help pressing the "start" button again and again (and again...) as soon as the music stopped...I just had to hear..The Haggard-esque vocal; the front-and-center wailing steel guitar; the swaggering, honky-tonk attitude; the sound of 1960s country that is all but gone from today's media outlets...I drank it all in over-and-over for most of the duration of the long bus ride. What else can I say...I'm SO glad that this music is still being made! THIS is IT! Real COUNTRY music that I basically have been missing for so long!(P.S.My favorite cut is "I Wish You'd Come Around"...DYNAMITE crying in your beer stuff!!! Those lyrics, Dale's vocal and that EXQUISITE steel guitar solo make for a right-powerful listen!

Dale Watson should be the reigning King of Country Music. The fact that he's not says volumes about the crap that Nashville is routinely cranking out and calling "country music." Dale's the real deal. There's no one out there doing it better or with as much raw power. That voice of his is pure country gold. Nashville may have appropriated the word "country" to describe the heartless, emotionless pop music it's putting out, but Dale Watson puts it out the way it's meant to sound.