Customer Reviews

Dreamtime

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
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~i've heard some people say that this album pulls some punches compared to mr. verlaine's first album, and--of course--pales in comparison to his work with television prior to going solo, but i enjoy it immensely and think anyone who is starved for his unique slant on melody and reliable chord progressions would do well to pick it up. there is only one close-to-weak track, the near-instrumental "blue robe" (this is the song i leave off to make the album fit onto one side of a 90 min dub~~ tape); the rest are fantastic, and the breadth is equivalent to that from all of his work up to this point--there are five or six strong rockers and a couple tense, slower songs. his and his band's playing is fantastic, and there are three or four innovative solos/hooks that are inspiring enough to me as a musician to justify its purchase. by all means, buy it.~

I love this record. It is funny, sexy, poignant, lonely, melodramatic and just simply a perfect representative of its own time. It's filled with great guitar, great amp sounds (despite some verbed-out 1980s production) and touching, intricate, puzzling and --- what's that word everyone uses about Verlaine? oh yeah, cagey, pop songs. It's like a dark new wave blues surf portrait of having spent time on Mars in some heavy, unresolved relationship. One song pays passionate homage to conversation during an unfulfilling reunion in a restaurant, another seems to be about a tragically bleak dream, and otherwise it has much to offer in the way of hilarious sexual innuendo. What more could anyone want?

Tom Verlaine was ONCE viewed as the NEXT JIMI HENDRIX, a hard cap to fit. Verlaine is a brilliant guitarist who arose from the NYC Punk scene with his band Television. DREAMTIME was an early '80s LP on Warner Bros. and went nowhere due to no promo support when issued. Sadly, the limited edition CD went nowhere also. He incorporates ex TV bassist Fred Smith on this album and does his homework good. The album is packed with ESSENTIAL TINY JEWELS of his Songwriting-Vocal and Git skills. This release as with other Verlaine albums maybe a bit difficult to define in terms of musical freedom. Only for DIE HARD TV fans or other folks looking for MUSICAL ADVENTURES. This Japan CD is long out of print and a highly sought collector's item.

Verlaine's best records are the first three Television albums (the second and third are underrated by many people), and this one. It's got the same ragged glory to it, swinging hard, just awesome. This is probably his loudest record, for whatever that's worth.

Quite simply, this is one of the greatest rock albums of all time. It has the oh-so-common line-up of voice, two guitars, bass and drums... But when you combine that with Verlaine's inspired overdubbing, his punk-but-literate aesthetic, total originality, and total commitment, you get Dreamtime.

And when you have this, you'll need to get the other Verlaine albums: Flash Light (marginally his greatest, IMHO), Cover, The Wonder, Songs & Other Things, Words From The Front (especially for the title track), and the first one, self-titled. Though I shouldn't leave out the instrumental albums Warm & Cool and Around. And the soon-to-be-released DVD of Music For Films -- soundtracks for classic short silent films, just the two great guitars of Tom Verlaine and Jimmy Rip.

OK my title's harsh and inaccurate - Verlaine doesn not appeal to any "mass market" and Collector's Choice, whose reissues are all over the map in terms of sonics, frequently neglecting to credit the remastering engineer, deserve an encouraging 'atta boy' slap on the back for bringing various long unavailable and neglected artrists and genres to compact, engaging audiences that have long ago stopped visiting record stores in search of The Rascals, Dick and Dee Dee, The Letterman, or Beau Brummels' leader Ron Elliot's deeply obscure 1970 solo disc. CC fills a real need, and after 20 years of drab sounding imports, out of print titles, how critical a stance should one take when the label has recently restored the superb 1980 solo debut of Richard Lloyd (never before on CD) and four terrific Tom Verlaine albums on compact disc?

Well, I don't know. The label's mastering is uneven - "Flash Light" (1987) should get the loving care it deserves, so as to fully reveal a wild, haunting, album characterised by dense, gorgeous, and lyrical guitar work, passion, warmth and play that cuts the sometimes isolation and dread of Tom's lyrics. If the transfer was more full, cohesive and organic, minus the occasional digital drabness that shortchanges keeps "The Scientist", "Bomb" and "Song" - stunning songs that don't quite soar thanks to an edgy sounding transfer.To these ears the 1995 reissue of "Dreamtime", Tom's dazzling and compact cascade of short, dense, and beautifully crafted songs, each dense with sharp and sympathetic character sketches, erotic play, and reflections on solitude and loveguitars stores range of genres mastering and sonics,