Customer Reviews

Dreamtime

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

 

 

My first experience of The Stranglers was the "Black & White" album. I've been a fan of just about ALL their albums since!

The Stranglers started out as a harsh, edgy sounding band whose style was each member playing a different riff(s) held together by Jet Black's rock-steady drumming.

In time, they began smoothing-out & becoming more lush. The vocals going from a snarl to a murmuring croon. They're still The Stranglers, mind you!

This album marks their most musically mature work(s) without becoming saccahrine or schmaltzy. It's very "Euro", but it's not pop. It's more concrete than Kraftwerk, having roots in the late punk era. A very interesting album that's easy to listen to.

I'm a big fan of the Stranglers ever since a friend turned me on to their early stuff like "Golden Brown" and "Midnight Summer's Dream". This album holds true to that style with songs like "Always the Sun", "Mayan Skies" and the title track. But my favorite and possibly all-time fave Stranglers cut is "Too Precious", an absolute masterpiece and culmination of the Stranglers unique talent for fine lyrics and musical arrangement. My grandfather, a classical music aficianado, would have loved this piece. The way the bass carries a hypnotic beat throughout, while the guitar and and synthesizers build to a crescendo at the end. I love it.

well nearly always. This Album is for everyone who loves good pop music that gets not boring. Listening Tips: Always The Sun, Mayan Skies, Shankin' Like A Leaf, Too Precious. If you like the old stuff '77-'79 this one is probably too soft, oh well The stranglers were luckily never Motorhead or AC/DC and published 100 times the same album just with different titles. GET This one!

I was about 15 when I bought, propelled by the singles on airplay (Always The Sun, Nice In Nice, Big In America), each one a potential nș 1 in the airplay charts. After listening to it, I found it simply amazing! And, 12 years on, it is still nș1 in my heart!

This is the best Stranglers release. The songs are infectious and direct. This is what a pop album should be. Standout cuts like always the sun, was it you? , ghost train and nice in nice are all great tunes.

The most interesting thing about this release to me is the song "Dreamtime" because it sounds like a song John Lennon might have made had he been around in 1985. It takes trivial pop riffs and "warps" them so that reality, which is otherwise quite dull and oppressive, becomes enhanced. Also, a certain anxiety creeps into the music as it approaches the end of the song. In fact, like many of Lennon's songs, it goes out of its way to crystallize the energy it has created and pop models based on blues cadences offer the best format for doing this. It captures the lightheaded state of "sitting here doing time."

Otherwise, The Stranglers soften their grip on this one with an Iggy Pop ripoff, "Was It You?" (Yes, it is me and I'm going to sue you guys.) Also, we have the likable "Ghost Train," with its Bono/Jim Morrison laments and assorted whistles. All of the songs are quite good.

The cassette ends with two very excellent songs: "Mayan Skies" and "Too Precious." "Too Precious" is arguably the best song I have ever heard. It takes Latin music and runs it throught the heads of mad Englishmen, who are musically madly talented.

The cd has additional tracks that I can't comment on.

I've purchased it only due to that song. And yes I love it. I didn't listen the rest of the LP with attention yet, but doesn't sound bad.

3.5 Stars

I purchased some of the mid-period Stranglers albums at the time they were first released, and last year started buying up some of their earlier work on CD. Finally I recently bought their last two CDs with Hugh Cornwall: "Dreamtime" and "10". I never bought "Dreamtime" at the time of release because what I heard from it sounded a little stiff, and parts of the previous album ("Aural Sculpture") had sounded a little stiff to me. I didn't think the couple songs that I'd heard from "Dreamtime" ("Nice in Nice" and "Big in America") were anything special...

But I'm glad I finally got around to picking it up!

The good news: The songs "Nice in Nice" and "Big in America" are actually a couple of the less interesting things on "Dreamtime". The CD is very good, possibly as good as "Aural Sculpture", which was nearly great. There are a number of highlights on the CD: The single "Always the Sun", "Ghost Train" which builds and builds in intensity, "You'll Always Reap What You Sow" which reminded me of a slow song near the end of "Aural Sculpture", but there are really no bad tracks. It's a nice CD if you enjoyed "Aural Sculpture".

(Also, see my "So you'd like to know..." list on Amazon devoted to The Stranglers.)

WHY THIS CD DID NOT RANK AS THE NUMBER 1 SELLING MUSIC CD IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1986 IS BEYOND ME. I BELIEVE DREAMTIME WAS TRULY THE BEST MUSIC CD BY ANY BAND THAT YEAR. LIKE OTHER GREAT BANDS,THE STRANGLERS, AT LEAST ON THIS CD, BLENDED ROCK MUSIC WITH SOME R & B AND A LITTLE JAZZ FUSION SOUND & A LITTLE POP TO CREATE A UNIQUE, ENDEARING MUSIC CD.

DREAMTIME WAS MOST CERTAINLY NOT A PUNK ROCK TYPE OF MUSIC CD IN ANY SENSE OF THE WORD, WHICH WAS THE KIND OF SOUND THE STRANGLERS HAD BEEN MOST ASSOCIATED WITH IN THEIR EARLY DAYS. DREAMTIME PROVED THAT THE STRANGLERS COULD BE A VERY TALENTED BAND WITH A VERSATILE SOUND. THIS WAS MY FIRST STRANGLER CD, SO I DON'T KNOW ALOT ABOUT THEIR EARLIER EFFORTS, THOUGH I HAD LISTENED TO A LITTLE OF THEIR MUSIC IN THE EARLY '80'S & THOUGHT IT WAS TOO PUNK FOR MY TASTE.

BUT IF A BAND CAN MATURE & GROW & IMPROVE, THE STRANGLERS DID JUST THAT WITH DREAMTIME & IN A VERY IMPRESSIVE, CREATIVE & HARMONIC WAY. DREAMTIME HAD ALOT OF SOUL TO IT, OR SPIRIT. NOT NECESSARILY THE KIND OF
SOUL AS IN SOUL MUSIC BUT I BELIEVE DREAMTIME HAD MUCH DEPTH TO IT.

I SAW THE STRANGLERS AT THE RITZ IN NYC THAT YEAR FOR THE DREAMTIME TOUR & THEY WERE GREAT. GET THIS GREAT MUSIC CD & BE YOUR OWN JUDGE. YOU WILL LOVE IT. IT HAS GREAT SONGS WITH TERRIFIC RHYTHMS, ENCHANTING, HAUNTING LYRICS & MEMORABLE ARRANGEMENTS. THE VOCALS ARE GREAT ON DREAMTIME, THEY DRAW YOU IN & TAKE YOU ON A JOURNEY NOT SOON TO BE FORGOTTEN. THIS MUSIC IS ALMOST HYPNOTIC & PUSHES THE LIMITS OF CREATIVITY. DREAMTIME CONTAINS SOME OF THE MOST INTELLIGENT SONG WRITING EVER COMPOSED. I LOVED IT. YOU WILL TOO.

Hate to disagree with the other reviewers but as an avid Stranglers fan, this is just so so as far as they go. Granted "Always The Sun, Big In America, and Nice N Nice" are good solid songs but the rest of this is rather tepid and uninteresting. FOr an introduction to the Stranglers I would recommend "La Folie" or "Aural Sculpture".