Of all hundreds of bands I’ve heard in my life, The Dream Academy will always remain as a mystery to me. I simply cannot comprehend how this group was not filling stadiums back in those day, how they don’t have their name in the walk of fame, why I’m maybe the only person in my social circle who knows who they are.
They were a little too low key for that despite being awesome. A lot of their music is dreamy and ambient at times so it was perfect to use in movie scenes. But they didn't write anthems or any real bangers. I don't remember seeing many videos from them on MTV or pushing any of their music back in the day. The main reason people know them is because of their music being used in John Hughes films. It's too bad they were great.
I remember hoping ''The Love Parade'' would've been their 2nd Top 10 hit. They should've had so many more hits than ''Life In A Northern Town'' I still have their first 3 albums.
Kate St. John is absolutely BRILLIANT - and beautiful! Her musicality and talent on some of the most difficult instruments is simply unmatched. Outstanding - I miss this group.
Christy Kaples ~ And hundreds of other bands didn't receive the recognition that maybe they deserved... while hundreds of others got the recognition they didn't deserve.
I think this may be my favorite Dream Academy Song , "this is for all the misunderstood and lonely people living in this World" what a great dedication, a very selfless and compassionate thought
The lyrics are spot on when it comes to compassion. In a world that judges people by all the wrong criteria, the song shows there is another way through empathy. It's a cautionary tale about the dangers of heroin addiction for those who end up in its grip.
Their music was greatly infuenced by the late Nick Drake, which they have publicly admitted. Fortunately, they were able to place their unique sound to their music. Three albums were not enough for this talented trio.
This voice is probably one of the most underrated voice of all time ... its just ... so atmospherically and emotionally evocative to hear ... everytime I hear his voice I feel like I'm in this airy place where the light and atmosphere just feels so wonderfully surreal in a very comforting way ... and the band's music production just go so beautifully with his voice... they just bring you to another lovely time and place ...
This is one of my favorite songs but I never knew there was a music video until today! No surprise that the filmmaking is on a much higher level than other bands of the time or really of any time.
One of my absolute favorite bands EVER! Great songwriting that paints pictures of REAL LIFE in your mind. Singing about the powerful struggle to overcome addiction....
Quite honestly, I am ashamed of myself for not having heard anything beyond your great song "Life In a Northern Town" until *just now* ! The Dream Academy's music, in just the space of a few short minutes of hearing your other songs has enriched me. Thank you for all for some truly great and stirring music! I will say here what I said at a UA-cam channel that featured an interview you had with JJ Jackson, back in '85 : "Beautiful music and great ideas and attitudes from these three! I think the world is enriched by these three talented musicians! What a great time to be alive back then!" I'm glad you're still active now, as far as I can tell. Keep up the great work!
What a great song!! I think this song suffered big time living in the shadow of Life In A Northern Town. Maybe the song didn't fit into the vibe of 1984/1985/1986. Real shame!!!
I have the LP, but I do not recall Warners ever sending this out as a single nor advising us they were going to. We flipped to Oldies shortly after that (lots of AM's did that in the 80's), so that was it for the band as far as we were concerned. The music remains good all this time later.
Professor of Rock has done a recent interview with Nick Laird Clowes who comes across very well. This is about the perils of heroin addiction. I recall he said it is about friends he knew and also drawn from his experience of witnessing how heroin ravaged parts of the north of England in the eighties. I grew up in a leafy Merseyside suburb called Southport but across the other wide of the water ( river Mersey) in Birkenhead heroin destroyed much of the community as it ripped through the eighties.
I just felt that the time that this style of music along with bands like crowded House were the music connoisseurs answer to hair bands that most of us who enjoyed these bands thought was bubble gum music
I wasn't listening to much pop -rock in the 1980s, most of the stuff on the charts sounded like 'try hards" - contrived, overly image conscious, not really doing much with the music or lyric in the song form other than "sound' i.e. synths etc. And I was more interested in exploring jazz and 'world' music at the time anyway. I heard your single (Northern Town) by chance. It had a magic, a musicality within the form that came from a sincere place and intelligent compassionate lyrics. I bought the album ( cassette at the time) and loved every song. Intelligent, humane, real. One of the few pop-rock albums of that time I always enjoy, it has a quality as timeless as any great music. I didn't know you had later albums ( as I said, I wasn't paying attention to that area of music) but now am catching up on streaming services. What can i say but thanks.
I agree with the others, most of them certainly. This is an outstanding band that never received its due. Their first hit, juxtaposing Kennedy and the Beatles, brought back memories and tears equally. I'm not sure I ever realized the murder of JFJ and the British invasion vis a vis the Beatles were so close in time. A HS junior at the time, I'll never forget the strange balance between the terrible pain of the assassination and the elation of the Beatle's music. Thank you so much, Dream Academy. Sometimes the saddest of memories are infinitely better than no memories at all.
Along with prefab sprout, talk talk and kate bush one of my favs. I love all the futuristic new wave bands of the 80s but the romantics are something else. The new wave bands talked a lot about the romantics being mainstream and all but along all the repetitive new wave/synthpop bands the new romantics all were pretty innovative. For Dream Academy i have the first album on loop every now on then, one of my favorite albums of all time, the Gilmour touch is magic.
The 1st video I actually saw from them on a local 1 hour video show in 1985. It was on a segment called Like ir or Launch it where viewers send postcards and vote, sadly it was voted down as Launch It. I never predicted this band would break big on the next single release.
It was interesting from the the video Life in a Northern Town. They looked like a group of college students, and the gal looked like she walked into the school auditorium one day and started singing harmonies from the pit and got herself into the group. The fact that David Gilmour produced that album was a huge bump. But in all the years since then it feels like they have tried to make a career out of just getting by. At least they managed to avoid getting desk jobs.
The chord progression is very common with a simplicity which serves a lot of songs where the lyric needs to hold the foreground. Its the feel and the treatment artists give it that make it work so often. This song reminds a little of Lou Reed's Dirty Boulevard. ua-cam.com/video/HA4-4ifhixg/v-deo.html
+LastTrainToClarkson Shot in CBGBs, yes. ..I was just reading how they shot the video just a few days after 1st trip to America/NYC... and the lyrics were about a growing heroin addiction in certain parts of Britain at the time. --I'd forgotten ever seeing the video, then 'it all came back', in time... as the video played on.
I don't understand the term 'so underrated.' If you liked a band you liked them, if you didn't, well.....bands were underrated by people who didn't like them. If you liked a band you rated them highly. Like anything in life. it's a choice. I happened to really like this band, hence they were highly rated.
With all due respect, I don't think that's it. "Underrated" generally means that an artist didn't receive the attention and/or credit they deserved. I agree that this band's 3 albums are each excellent, but I don't think they were heard by enough people to get a serious momentum going. And, in a way, it's somewhat understandable too, because the music is definitely 'soft rock', so not everyone's cup of tea... especially mainstream radio stations...
@@eightiesmusic1984 I have not misunderstood and I have not overestimated my level of comprehension. I am just giving my opinion. You may disagree with me but you clearly are in no position to judge me. Rather than you give a comment without any substance or justification, perhaps you can learn to accept that not everyone thinks like you and you are not so educated that you know more than others just by saying so. Grow up.
@@eightiesmusic1984 You initially attacked my comment, my opinion, which you don't agree to - not the other way round. And I don't need to fix anything because it's my opinion. And then you become childish and tell me to 'go away.' If you hadn't made your first attack on my opinion we wouldn't be here..... so maybe you should go away. But I'm guessing you like to have the last word.... makes you feel superior, no doubt. So, have at it. I will do my very best to ignore what you write and carry on with my opinion. Bye.
Of all hundreds of bands I’ve heard in my life, The Dream Academy will always remain as a mystery to me. I simply cannot comprehend how this group was not filling stadiums back in those day, how they don’t have their name in the walk of fame, why I’m maybe the only person in my social circle who knows who they are.
My thoughts exactly!
Same.
I agree ❤
They were a little too low key for that despite being awesome. A lot of their music is dreamy and ambient at times so it was perfect to use in movie scenes. But they didn't write anthems or any real bangers. I don't remember seeing many videos from them on MTV or pushing any of their music back in the day. The main reason people know them is because of their music being used in John Hughes films.
It's too bad they were great.
Agreed. I think their sound was too sophisticated for most plebs, and their musicality was unrivaled.
One of my favourite songs from the 80s. Ah the memories. Why were they not loved by everyone? The most underrated band. Shame really.
babywewereborntorun I agree...I love them.!!!!!!
I remember hoping ''The Love Parade'' would've been their 2nd Top 10 hit. They should've had so many more hits than ''Life In A Northern Town'' I still have their first 3 albums.
Robert NYCGUY Raised on Records figured Love Parade would be huge.
Ahead of their time in songwriting. Production is totally 80's. Love it.
@@robertnycguyraisedonrecord7587 ~ If you have the first three, you them all. That was the group's total output of original studio albums.
Kate St. John is absolutely BRILLIANT - and beautiful! Her musicality and talent on some of the most difficult instruments is simply unmatched. Outstanding - I miss this group.
Can't Agree MORE!
KATE is Totally AWESOME!!!
❤
She is one of the best jazz vocalists alive.
The entire album that includes this song are gems!
This group just shows the quality of this period that we no longer have they were excellent he had an amazing voice
Yeah they are. The Dream Academy didn't get the recognition they deserved. Which isn't fair to them I must say
Christy Kaples ~ And hundreds of other bands didn't receive the recognition that maybe they deserved... while hundreds of others got the recognition they didn't deserve.
I think this may be my favorite Dream Academy Song , "this is for all the misunderstood and lonely people living in this World"
what a great dedication,
a very selfless and compassionate thought
The lyrics are spot on when it comes to compassion. In a world that judges people by all the wrong criteria, the song shows there is another way through empathy. It's a cautionary tale about the dangers of heroin addiction for those who end up in its grip.
Their music was greatly infuenced by the late Nick Drake, which they have publicly admitted. Fortunately, they were able to place their unique sound to their music. Three albums were not enough for this talented trio.
One of the greatest bands of all time and the very best album cover of all time.
This voice is probably one of the most underrated voice of all time ... its just ... so atmospherically and emotionally evocative to hear ... everytime I hear his voice I feel like I'm in this airy place where the light and atmosphere just feels so wonderfully surreal in a very comforting way ... and the band's music production just go so beautifully with his voice... they just bring you to another lovely time and place ...
Dave Gilmour produced this one.
This is one of my favorite songs but I never knew there was a music video until today! No surprise that the filmmaking is on a much higher level than other bands of the time or really of any time.
I am looking for this song for 30 years, and today finally found it ...
35年ず～っと私の一軍曲！
当時中学生、今は50歳
One of my absolute favorite bands EVER! Great songwriting that paints pictures of REAL LIFE in your mind. Singing about the powerful struggle to overcome addiction....
Me too!!!
The most underrated band ever, their music is still relevant !
I agree! It’s a shame Dream Academy was an underrated band
I loved this track on the album. I think it was the end of one "side" of a vinyl I had. Thank you-so many memories!
Yup. Last song on side A. I still have it.
Quite honestly, I am ashamed of myself for not having heard anything beyond your great song "Life In a Northern Town" until *just now* ! The Dream Academy's music, in just the space of a few short minutes of hearing your other songs has enriched me. Thank you for all for some truly great and stirring music! I will say here what I said at a UA-cam channel that featured an interview you had with JJ Jackson, back in '85 : "Beautiful music and great ideas and attitudes from these three! I think the world is enriched by these three talented musicians! What a great time to be alive back then!" I'm glad you're still active now, as far as I can tell. Keep up the great work!
What a great song!!
I think this song suffered big time living in the shadow of Life In A Northern Town.
Maybe the song didn't fit into the vibe of 1984/1985/1986. Real shame!!!
I have the LP, but I do not recall Warners ever sending this out as a single nor advising us they were going to. We flipped to Oldies shortly after that (lots of AM's did that in the 80's), so that was it for the band as far as we were concerned. The music remains good all this time later.
Professor of Rock has done a recent interview with Nick Laird Clowes who comes across very well. This is about the perils of heroin addiction. I recall he said it is about friends he knew and also drawn from his experience of witnessing how heroin ravaged parts of the north of England in the eighties. I grew up in a leafy Merseyside suburb called Southport but across the other wide of the water ( river Mersey) in Birkenhead heroin destroyed much of the community as it ripped through the eighties.
Such a great blend of three distinct musical talents.
Great amazing song, definitely not be heard by enough people in This world
,🌎🚴♀️🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
I just felt that the time that this style of music along with bands like crowded House were the music connoisseurs answer to hair bands that most of us who enjoyed these bands thought was bubble gum music
This world is their world. Interesting and modern and very good!
They are all so well spoken in interviews --the smartest band members in the Pop world.
Great music, yes, but it was the wrong time for this kind of music.
I wasn't listening to much pop -rock in the 1980s, most of the stuff on the charts sounded like 'try hards" - contrived, overly image conscious, not really doing much with the music or lyric in the song form other than "sound' i.e. synths etc.
And I was more interested in exploring jazz and 'world' music at the time anyway. I heard your single (Northern Town) by chance. It had a magic, a musicality within the form that came from a sincere place and intelligent compassionate lyrics. I bought the album ( cassette at the time) and loved every song. Intelligent, humane, real. One of the few pop-rock albums of that time I always enjoy, it has a quality as timeless as any great music.
I didn't know you had later albums ( as I said, I wasn't paying attention to that area of music) but now am catching up on streaming services. What can i say but thanks.
That video style was so awesome. Very 80s/90s. I remember those days.
massive influence on my life in the 80s - love these songs so much
I agree with the others, most of them certainly. This is an outstanding band that never received its due. Their first hit, juxtaposing Kennedy and the Beatles, brought back memories and tears equally. I'm not sure I ever realized the murder of JFJ and the British invasion vis a vis the Beatles were so close in time. A HS junior at the time, I'll never forget the strange balance between the terrible pain of the assassination and the elation of the Beatle's music. Thank you so much, Dream Academy. Sometimes the saddest of memories are infinitely better than no memories at all.
This track always gives me chills and gets me teary-eyed. Beautiful music and beautiful lyrics that have aged VERY well in their universality.
Reminds me of pulp or pulp were influenced by this
He reminds me very much to Nilda Fernandez the wonderful French-Spaniard song writer and performer these guys wrote beautiful lyrics indeed!!
Maybe their problem was that their music was simply too good and high quality for the top of the charts - where it deserved to be.
Along with prefab sprout, talk talk and kate bush one of my favs.
I love all the futuristic new wave bands of the 80s but the romantics are something else.
The new wave bands talked a lot about the romantics being mainstream and all but along all the repetitive new wave/synthpop bands the new romantics all were pretty innovative.
For Dream Academy i have the first album on loop every now on then, one of my favorite albums of all time, the Gilmour touch is magic.
The only example i know of we're the male of a twin pair is as pretty as the female!!.🤣🤣
they were ahead their time in the edge of forever
Indian Summer
For All The Lonely People...….
The Dream Academy English British 🇬🇧 Synth Punk Pop Waves Rocks Souls New Waves Pop Waves European Band Decades 80s 90s Disband Legendary
I Love this Song🎼
Pass it on, Please 🙋
Did Dolby produce this? ... Nope. But David Gilmour did, so there's that.
....just float into my Head.
"....you put your World back on..."
The 1st video I actually saw from them on a local 1 hour video show in 1985. It was on a segment called Like ir or Launch it where viewers send postcards and vote, sadly it was voted down as Launch It. I never predicted this band would break big on the next single release.
have or will this band ever get back together and go on tour????? i would go see them if they come to the u.s.......one of my atf
they were just in Tokyo in Jan 2017. Nick has a Face Book page you can get info.
It was interesting from the the video Life in a Northern Town. They looked like a group of college students, and the gal looked like she walked into the school auditorium one day and started singing harmonies from the pit and got herself into the group. The fact that David Gilmour produced that album was a huge bump. But in all the years since then it feels like they have tried to make a career out of just getting by. At least they managed to avoid getting desk jobs.
😩💕
Just amazing.
Kate is a blend of Nicole Kidman and Meredith Baxter Bernie. 😊
Not as good as Life in a Northern Town,but still it isn't bad😏
🌎❤️💌🎧🌌
Is Kate playing here signature oboe?
SU ARTE ES SU EXPRESION NO SE ALEJEN PARA LO QUE ESTAMOS VIVIENDO HACEN FALTA
please post the video again the sound is low
Kate St. John is an angel
this song sounded like familiar. anyone know the song is sounded like this?
+tom delonge parts of it also sounds like "if not for you" by bob dylan...
It also has that 'Sweet Jane' chord structure in the verses.
The chord progression is very common with a simplicity which serves a lot of songs where the lyric needs to hold the foreground.
Its the feel and the treatment artists give it that make it work so often. This song reminds a little of Lou Reed's Dirty Boulevard. ua-cam.com/video/HA4-4ifhixg/v-deo.html
LindafromGa loves this
Love the woman.. And the music
!!! EXCELENT MUSIC !!!!
fantastic
Did I see CBGBs?
+LastTrainToClarkson Shot in CBGBs, yes. ..I was just reading how they shot the video just a few days after 1st trip to America/NYC... and the lyrics were about a growing heroin addiction in certain parts of Britain at the time. --I'd forgotten ever seeing the video, then 'it all came back', in time... as the video played on.
I don't understand the term 'so underrated.' If you liked a band you liked them, if you didn't, well.....bands were underrated by people who didn't like them. If you liked a band you rated them highly. Like anything in life. it's a choice. I happened to really like this band, hence they were highly rated.
With all due respect, I don't think that's it. "Underrated" generally means that an artist didn't receive the attention and/or credit they deserved. I agree that this band's 3 albums are each excellent, but I don't think they were heard by enough people to get a serious momentum going. And, in a way, it's somewhat understandable too, because the music is definitely 'soft rock', so not everyone's cup of tea... especially mainstream radio stations...
You have misunderstood. You overestimated your level of comprehension.
@@eightiesmusic1984 I have not misunderstood and I have not overestimated my level of comprehension. I am just giving my opinion. You may disagree with me but you clearly are in no position to judge me. Rather than you give a comment without any substance or justification, perhaps you can learn to accept that not everyone thinks like you and you are not so educated that you know more than others just by saying so. Grow up.
@@22Phantasm You have misunderstood and you need to grow up. Good luck with fixing both. Now go away.
@@eightiesmusic1984 You initially attacked my comment, my opinion, which you don't agree to - not the other way round. And I don't need to fix anything because it's my opinion. And then you become childish and tell me to 'go away.' If you hadn't made your first attack on my opinion we wouldn't be here..... so maybe you should go away. But I'm guessing you like to have the last word.... makes you feel superior, no doubt. So, have at it. I will do my very best to ignore what you write and carry on with my opinion. Bye.
Nick Drake and Dream Academy.
Both are criminally underated.
"Great music video from our..." Sorry Nick, the video isn't great, but the song...BRILLIANT.
still a very weak contribution from a band which never fully accomplished more than 25% of its potential
Eh?