Customer Reviews

Dreamworld: Essential

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

 

 

Though it does indeed seem to veer from the album's general mystic, ambient-electronica feel, the calm and repetitive Sparklehorse song "Sad and Beautiful World" captures the spirit of the album. Most of the songs consist of very depressing ideas, but capture them in some of the loveliest melodies put on an album. "Dreamworld: Essential Late Night Listening" scoops a handful of these types of songs and puts them together in this one compilation. Artists spanning the 90's supply the album's fifteen tracks, creating an album which, despite its diversity, has been widely overlooked in favor of other collections, like the copycat Ultra Chilled collections.

Our introduction to Dreamworld is inimitable, beginning with French DJ Tricky's 1995 trip-hop work. "Hell Is Around the Corner" is a slow constantly flowing rap, backgrounded with the echo of his voice, a female vocalist, and the sound of each scratch in his record, occasionally punctuated by a frighteningly melodious moan, supposedly of love rock legend Isaac Hayes. Belgian ambient pop band Hooverphonic keeps the pace with their signature song, "2 Wicky". Following it come songs from the three big "M"s of electronica: Massive Attack, Morcheeba, and Moby, and although none of these songs are their best, as one would expect from such veterans as these the songs fail to disappoint.

One of the real gems of the album is Pigeonhed's "The Full Sentence". Anyone who has heard their or Lo Fidelity All-Star's "Battleflag" knows that lead vocalist Shawn Smith can sing some dark, pulse-pounding lyrics. Here, he reverts to a lovely soprano voice which serves as the centerpiece to an extremely beautiful, yet creepy song. Olive's "You're Not Alone" is another dark, haunting melody, spiced by beautiful vocals and a tune that you couldn't get out of your head with a screwdriver. Track 11 serves up Dead Can Dance's "Host of Seraphim" which sets the album at its acme by combining the haunting ambience of a pipe organ with beautiful incoherent lyrics.

As the album comes to a close, the audience is treated to a very Indian melody by Sheila Chandra, a beautiful electronic remake of a Guns N Roses classic, and a piece by Spiritualized, before reaching the track which I feel sums up the entire album. It's an utter travesty that this album is so undercovered. Maybe it's a result of word of mouth. Calling this a gothic album is doing both you and the album a great disservice. While it has a very haunting air to it, and seems to focus to a great degree on loneliness and being trapped within one's own mind, this does not make it any more Gothic than a David Lynch film. This is a collection of ambience for the listener who doesn't want to be forcefed, but is unwilling to down mere fluff. A dream can be defined as a state of mind marked by abstraction or release from reality, or something notable for its beauty or excellence. This album is what it says it is: a world of dreams.

I'm a manager in a large music store chain and I hear a lot of music, but this is one of the best cd's I've heard in years. The slow, seductive beats of this album truly make it an 'essential' buy. This cd is constantly in my stereo no matter where I'm at or what I'm doing. I've convinced several of my friends to buy this cd plus some from the artists featured like Tricky, Moby and Morcheeba since I've had it. This is a great cd.

My intentions are meant for taste, but this CD for the past 10 years has been a surefire hit as a "mood" music during adult activities with various audiences. It was never meant for these intentions as I bought it for relaxation, but it can provide for sensual evenings.

I agree with other reviews stating how underated this CD truly is. I purchased it on a whim in my youth and yet I am buying it now for the third time.

Listening to the songs in this soundtrack embarks the listener into an entrancing stage. I've had this CD for ten years now (a decade!) and have listened to it a myriad times--just before going to sleep or unwinding down from a long day of work.

The first two tracks (each sampling from the great Isaac Hayes) are catchy, up-beat and futuristic sounding, as if a group of friends are chilling in a dim, maroon-colored room drinking pomegranate martinis while floating in the air as the sound of the rain and music soothes them.

There is one song on the track that reminds me of fog. It's the haunting song 'Host of Seraphim' which was on the movie 'The Mist.' Such a dramatic song captures the element of surrendering and relinquishment, as if the listener has done all he/she can and has decided (of course after much tears and range) to succomb.

Great music for inspiration and relaxation~!

This is such a mellow album. I never knew what this kind of music was called until I read some reviews for the individual songs. It's trip-hop, baby! Very groovy, very cool and very relaxing.

I bought this cd when it first came out and I'm still in love with it. My only complaint is that the song "Ever so Lonely" which comes after Dead Can Dance's beautiful "Host of the seraphim" doesn't quite seem to fit into the sequence of the cd. Aside from that, I recommend this cd for anyone who wants truly excellent ambient/chillout music since this cd is far superior than other chill out albums on the market.

Psychologically complex Trip Hop magnifies an urban soul and then the mood melts into another tale of intricacy. 2Wicky plays with Geike Arnaert's voice in a sassy ambient pop selection that is mildy menacing in tone. A contemplative song by Massive Attack follows without breaking the melancholy mood. Morcheeba presents a moody oceanscape of sound with tales of beaches and souls getting lost down by the sea.

Moby's temperamental lyrics fuel the atmosphere even more as this album then delves into a moody ecstasy. You are now in deep, where can you go from here? Pigeonhed lightens the album slightly but the lyrics are barely audible. Foxes in Midsummer has heights within the depths of dreams and the album mellows even more into a solitary beauty in This Love.

You have to be in a very mellow mood to enjoy this music, but it seems appropriate in the middle of the night. After Morcheeba's The Sea, the album starts to dissolve in wave after wave of slow-tempo contemplation. With titles like "All of My Tears," you can understand where this album is going. Ending the album here would have seemed appropriate.

~The Rebecca Review

I think this compilation is, on a hole, very strong. Contrary to previous reviews it is certainly NOT 'Goth' and the warm and soft guitar pop tracks at the end are a great wind-down to the body of the work.

Yes, there are some track that you've heard before, and there are a thousand songs that would go well in this setting. I think that, all told, the producers made 15 good decisions with these songs.

Even with the flood of "chill" cds being released, this is still the one I play the most... just wish there was a follow up cd just as excellent as this one.

The cd is filled with dark and gothic sounding tunes, some of which have been around for a few years and some are new. I am not a goth nor do I particularly enjoy that style of music, the night has a calling to me so I had to see what this cd was, as it piqued my interest. There are a few tracks that rub me the wrong way, the majority are very well done and were obviously hand picked beacuse they flow so well together. I am partial to Dead Can Dance "The Host of Seraphim" and Sheila Chandra "ever so lonely/eyes/ocean" It's all good, just some of it I don't really have a taste for.