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The Stranglers: Dreamtime

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Epic Records
Released: 1987
Time:
 43:08
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: *********. (9/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.stranglers.net
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2001.12.16
Price in €: 9,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Always the Sun (Stranglers) - 4:52
[2] Dreamtime (Stranglers) - 3:42
[3] Was It You? (Stranglers) - 3:38
[4] You'll Always Reap What You Sow (Stranglers) - 5:15
[5] Ghost Train (Stranglers) - 5:02
[6] Nice in Nice (Stranglers) - 3:53
[7] Big in America (Stranglers) - 3:18
[8] Shakin' Like a Leaf (Stranglers) - 2:34
[9] Mayan Skies (Stranglers) - 3:57
[10] Too Precious (Stranglers) - 6:46
[11] Since You Went Away (Stranglers) - 2:52
[12] Norman Normal (Stranglers) - 4:32
[13] Dry Day (Stranglers) - 5:01
[14] Hit Man (Stranglers) - 4:20
[15] Was It You [7" Version] (Stranglers) - 2:56
[16] Burnham Beeches (Stranglers) - 3:50

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


JET BLACK - Percussion, Drums, Producer
J.J. BURNEL - Bass, Vocals, Producer
HUGH CORNWELL - Guitar, Vocals, Producer
DAVE GREENFELD - Keyboards, Backing Vocals, Producer

B.J. COLE - Pedal Steel Guitar
ALEX GIFFORD - Saxophone
HILARY KOPS - Trumpet
MARTIN VEYSEY - Trumpet
SIMON MORTON - Percussion
MICHAEL WATSON - Narrator

TED HAYTON - Producer, Engineer, Mixing
MIKE KEMP - Producer, Engineer, Mixing
OWEN MORRIS - Engineer
JACK SKINNER - Mastering
TONY BRIDGE - Remastering
JEAN-LUKE EPSTEIN - Design, Photography, Cover Design, Sleeve Design
STEVE RAPPAPORT - Photography
MIKE PRIOR - Photography
GRAPHYK - Cover Design

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1986 CD Epic EK-40607
1986 LP Epic 26648
1986 CS Epic PET-40607
1990 CD Columbia 40607



After Aural Sculpture, this came as a major disappointment. It's not awful, but neither is it in any way essential. The attempts to go ethnic on the likes of "Mayan Skies" and the title track (taken from the Aboriginal concept of an unconscious journey) are pretty embarrassing. There are a couple of good songs, like "Always the Sun" and "Nice in Nice" (a less than contrite look back at the riot in France which got the band thrown in jail for a few weeks), but that's simply not enough for a once great band. And Hugh Cornwell's rhyming of "And who gets the job? / Of pushing the knob" on the former turns an otherwise beautiful song into silliness.

Alex Ogg - All-Music Guide
© 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



Depending on your viewpoint, 1986's Dreamtime - the ninth and penultimate album from the original Stranglers line-up and the second to feature their not-always-necessary auxiliary brass section - is either an unfocused and overly-variant under-achievement or a case of a few good pop songs and a smorgasbord of half-baked ideas hinting at potential future musical directions. Complacent, or brave but terribly confused? It's difficult to tell. Either way, Dreamtime is ultimately a frustratingly unfulfilling album. Even so, it does contain The Stranglers' best single of the decade (yes, better than "Golden Brown") in the perfectly-produced, graceful "Always The Sun" - a song which proved to be every bit as much a renewable energy source as its title, hitting the UK Top 30 twice in the space of four years - and the beautifully contemplative "You'll Always Reap What You Sow", which featured pedal steel guitar from BJ Cole. JJ Burnel's bouncy "Nice In Nice" aside, too much of the rest - the clunking retro punk vibe of "Was it You?" (which cannibalised their own 1977 number "Dead Ringer") and the Santana-like instrumental jam on "Too Precious" - muddles-through in half-hearted fashion. However, this is an excellent reissue from Sony - great sound, informative sleeve notes from Strangled magazine contributor Neil Martin and bonus tracks featuring all the b-sides of the era.

Kevin Maidment - Amazon.co.uk



Like many of their contemporaries, the Stranglers have gotten smoother around the edges through the years. They're a prime example of a band that has streamlined their sound and still retained much of their bite as well as their signature. Dreamtime is a smooth production that is pretty, with the ability to be pretty nasty at the same time. The album's single, "Always The Sun," is an Ultravox-ian composition with a prolific synth base and vocals that require some real diaphragm work on the part of Hugh Cornwall. The title cut, with a real jazzy feel and a descending bass line, rides the fence between danceability and easy listening. "You'll Always Reap What You Sow" has a curiously placed steel guitar, and "Big In America" is a true Stranglers monster romp, re-affirming that these boys aren't growing old, they're just growing up.

CMJ New Music Report Issue: 108 - Jan 16, 1987
© 1978-1999 College Media Inc. All rights reserved.
 

 L y r i c s


ALWAYS THE SUN

How many times have you woken up and prayed for the rain?
How many times have you seen the papers apportion the blame?
Who gets to say, who gets the work and gets to play?
I was always told at school, everybody should get the same

How many times have you been told, if you don't ask you don't get?
How many liars have taken your money, your mother said you shouldn't bet?
Who has the fun, is it always the man with the gun?
Someone must have told him, if you work too hard you can sweat

There's always the sun
There's always the sun
Always, always, always the sun

How many times have the weathermen told you stories that made you laugh?
Y'know it's not unlike the politician and the leaders when they do things by half
Who gets the job, of pushing the knob
That sort of responsibility you draw straws for, if you're mad enough

There's always the sun
There's always the sun
Always, always, always the sun


DREAMTIME

The only way for us to be alone
Into the earth and in the stone
When you wanna be on your own, is dreamtime

I am there in the rock
>From the start of the total clock
All of my dreams can interlock, in dreamtime

Share my dreamtime
Share my dreamtime

To be there everyday
Letting curiousity point the way
Have felt I had a pleasant stay, in dreamtime

The sites are there before the eyes
History is crystallised
Every place has got a special size, in dreamtime

Share my dreamtime
Share my dreamtime
Share my dream
We won't have to touch
We won't say too much
The only thing for us to do
Is walk about and then appreciate the view

Share my dreamtime
Share my dreamtime
Share my dream
We won't have to touch
We won't say too much
The only thing for us to do
Is walk about and then appreciate the view

Share my dreamtime


WAS IT YOU?

The bullets and the hatred, was it you?
The famine and the genital disease, was it you?
I don't really know what I can see but I can see I'm losing control

The K.G.B. and the C.I.A., was it you?
Democracy and freedom, was it you?
I don't really know what I can see but I can see I'm losing control

Was it you?

Coloured skins and nations, was it you?
Aristrocracy and class division, was it you?
I don't really know what I can see but I can see I'm losing control

Was it you?

Meat and vegetables, was it you?
Drugs and religion, was it you?
I don't really know what I can see but I can see I'm losing control

Was it you?

Was it you?


YOU'LL ALWAYS REAP WHAT YOU SOW

To think I knew you when you had nothing at all
And now you've got your back to the wall
It only goes to show
You'll always reap just what you sow

You had no reason for being so bad
You had the world in the palm of your hand
It only goes to show
You'll always reap just what you sow

I didn't think of vengeance
Don't forget I loved you once
And now it's turned full circle
You just won't find another chance

Look how the mighty have managed to fall
Your fancy words didn't help you at all
It only goes to show
You'll always reap just what you sow

I didn't think of vengeance
Don't forget I loved you once
And now it's turned full circle
You just won't find another chance

It only goes to show
You'll always reap just what you sow
You'll always reap just what you sow

I didn't think of vengeance
Don't forget I loved you once
And now it's turned full circle
You just won't find another chance


GHOST TRAIN

Taking a ride on the ghost train
Looking around at everyone
Taking a ride on the ghost train
Don't you know everyone

Wondering where they'll be taking the fare
Card sharping shooting one another for a comfortable chair

The passengers sit on the ghost train
On the ghost train, wondering when they'll arrive
The faces don't fit on the ghost train
On the ghost train, wondering if they will arrive

The driver is blind when there's snow on the line
He gets hard of hearing in the cabin when the weather is fine

Taking a ride on the ghost train

It's been a long long ride on the ghost train
It's been a long long ride on the ghost train
Long ride on the ghost train

When will it arrive      the ghost train
Is there a man alive     the ghost train
Who's qualified to drive the ghost train
Are you allowed to drive the ghost train

Claiming your seat on the ghost train
On the ghost train it don't come everyday
Claiming your seat on the ghost train
On the ghost train this train's speeding up as it enters the fray
There's only one class, the first and the last
The ghost train's picking up speed now it's travelling fast

Taking a ride on the ghost train

It's been a long long ride on the ghost train
It's been a long long ride on the ghost train
Long ride on the ghost train

When will it arrive      the ghost train
Is there a man alive     the ghost train
Who's qualified to drive the ghost train
Are you allowed to drive the ghost train
(x3)


NICE IN NICE

Just look at that girl
She knows the world owes her something
And she's alright
Just look at that girl
She knows she's got that something
And she's alright
She's got diamond rings from her dad
She's got fancy things from her dad
All the world wants this lady
All the world wants her

So nice in Nice, so nice and neat
So nice in Nice, so nice and neat

Just look at that girl
She owns the ground she walks on
And she'll walk all over you
Just look at that girl
She smiles and breaks your heart
There's nothing you can do
She's got diamond rings from her dad
She's got fancy things from her dad
All the world wants my baby
All the world wants her

So nice in Nice, so nice and neat
So nice in Nice, so nice and neat
Don't tell me lies
You can't support
I wouldn't believe you
I wouldn't believe at all
Even if I saw

Just look at that girl
Where once she wore leather jackets
Now she's wearing furs
Just look at that girl
She walks around owning everything
That's not even hers
She's got diamond rings from her dad
She's got fancy things from her dad
All the world wants my baby
All the world wants her

So nice in Nice, so nice and neat
So nice in Nice, so nice and neat

She walks straight ahead
And walks all over you
She smiles and breaks you heart
But that's OK


BIG IN AMERICA

I met a roach in America
His family had a massive tree
They live just about everywhere
He was big in America
He was big in America

I met a vet in America
He was alive he was in overdrive
He'd just been around everywhere
He was big in America
He was big in America

And when you're big in America
You like to live in America
You won't be on your own
And since you've big in America
You might as well make America your home

Big in America

I met a girl in America
She wore the pants
Cross a big expanse
She was whippin' men everywhere
She was big in America
She was big in America

I met a car in America
The bumper hit lucky I was fit
I was limping 'round everywhere
It was big in America
It was big in America

And when you're big in America
You like to live in America
You won't be on your own
And since you've big in America
You might as well make America your home

Big in America


SHAKIN' LIKE A LEAF

When you're lying in your bed
Wide awake with sleepy head
Thinkin' you should look beneath
And then you're shakin' shakin' shakin'

See a full moon in the sky
Time to be away and fly
Seems to be the sole relief
It's got me shakin' shakin' shakin'

Oh silent night
Give me some respite
Why must it be so brief
It's got me shakin'
It's got me shakin'
Like a leaf

Now that autumn's hit the ground
Every day and every sound
Says the world is changing round
It's got me shakin' shakin' shakin'

See the villains on their screens
Doing battle with their teams
Another week delays their grief
It's got me shakin' shakin' shakin'

Oh silent night
Give me some respite
Why must it be so brief
It's got me shakin'
It's got me shakin'
Like a leaf

Shakin' shakin' shakin' like a leaf
Shakin' shakin' shakin' like a leaf
Shakin' like a leaf


MAYAN SKIES

I can see red is the colour of life in a Mayan sky
I can see green is the colour of jungle in Mayan skies
Mexico speaks at the sunrise

I can see yellow's the colour of gold under Mayan skies
Tempting children who came to get rich under Mayan skies
Mexico speaks at the sunrise

Mayan skies sleep talk with voices of lovers
In torture and suffering they soothe one another
The passion of youth kisses age in a nation x2
The Mayan skies painting a colour creation up above

I can see red green and yellow the colours of Mayan skies


TOO PRECIOUS

I had a dream or a nightmare
Difficult to decide which
There were a few who had plenty
And there were poor who were rich
I saw some rocks that were shining
They drove the few to go spare
Beauty led to the blinding
So blind past all care

Somebody should tell you
Somebody should tell you tell you

We hear that you're in big trouble
You built your world on a rock
But if you look through the rubble
You might uncover a shock
You must have heard all the rumours
They're flying fast around here
Growing just like a tumour
They won't disappear

Somebody should tell you
Somebody should tell you
Somebody should tell you
Somebody should tell you

You're baby too precious
Too precious by far

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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