Posting the 1986 Hamburg gig earlier this morning had me listening to some 'Dreamtime' tracks for the first time in a couple of years. Consequently I pulled up the studio album on Spotify for a full listen and a bit of an appraisal.
Of course, at the time of the album's release it was hugely exiting for me. I was 17, three quarters of the band were in their 30's and just ten years on from (Get A) Grip (On Yourself). Okay, so it was the ninth studio album, but still looking backwards from the looming 50 year mark it seems like a long, long time ago!
Epic clearly had high expectations for 'Dreamtime'. Adverts for the album and associated singles were large and prominent in the press. Similarly, the S.I.S. franking machine went into overdrive as press release after press release landed on the doormats of subscribers (presumably paid for by Epic).
The single 'Nice In Nice' served as a taster for the album. A solid track whose jangly guitar work pre-empted the direction that British guitar bands would go in in the next few years. The cover was great too, a nod to the glory days, or perhaps more accurately the days of infamy, the defiant shot of the band in handcuffs outside Nice police station. The omens were good.
With the passage of time I cannot recollect how many of the songs came across on those critical first listenings. I do remember stand out tracks for me being 'Dreamtime', 'You'll Always Reap What You Sow', and 'Nice In Nice' (because I knew that one!). As for 'Always The Sun', well, as is the case with 'Golden Brown', it is hard to be objective about a song now that for a great many people is the band's second best known song. If I tire of the song live, it is not because I don't like it, far from it, it is a brilliantly crafted piece of music, faultless even.... I would just rather hear other songs. I wouldn't lose sleep if I never heard 'Peaches' live again, so you get my drift. Given the fact that the song is so well known, the royalties from which would have kept JJ and Dave stocked up on the red wine and Stella respectively for a lifetime, it is astounding that when it was released as the second single it stalled at No. 30 in the UK singles chart! With hindsight, this had everything to do with the dire state of the British music scene at the time and very little to do with 'Always The Sun'. In my view by 1987, British music was part way down a long slope of decline that would run into the middle of the next decade when Britpop changed its fortunes.
Still given this disappointment within the wider Stranglers' camp, yet more singles were released in the form of 'Big In America' and 'Shakin' Like A Leaf' both of which faired pretty badly chartwise. Whilst 'Big In America' was intended to pave the way towards a forthcoming US tour, for me it was one of the weaker tracks on the album.
It was the four singles plus 'Was It You?' which ran nicely into 'Sewer' that the band chose to include in the 'Dreamtour' set. I think the title track should have been in there, it's big chorus would have sounded great live.
In other gripes, the album has that big, overproduced sound that afflicted so many records in the mid-80's, so perhaps the band can be let off that one. My other beef, and one that is true of 'Dreamtime''s predecessor too is that some of the best tracks of that time didn't make the cut and were consigned to B-side status on the many singles. 'Since You Went Away' and 'You' (like 'Shakin'' a 'Sculpture' sessions hangover) should have been album tracks. In 1985/1986 why was it that the track selection process (in the past shown to be spot on) went awry? Was it a symptom of the increasingly fractious relationship between JJ and Hugh? I don't know but 'Dreamtime' suffered as a result.
Thankfully, 'Was It You?' a planned fifth single no less was shelved, presumably as a result of the poor chart performances of the earlier singles. For a cash strapped 17 year old lifting five songs of a ten track album for single release was a bit much. This was especially so as in the mid-eighties, record company marketing departments had discovered and very much run with the idea multi-formating singles, so the 7" once joined with the 12" now came with the picture disc option. Three's a crowd as they say.... oh and an 'official bootleg' anyone?
I certainly don't hate it, but it is No. 9 in my Mk.1 top 10. Your thoughts?
