Somewhere in the Sun: Best of the Dream Academy [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Japanese-only retrospective with all of the greatest by the arty English pop trio. 18 tracks, including remixes of their smash 'Life In A Northern Town' & 'Love', plus the chart hit 'The Love Parade', an acoustic version of 'The Party' and both songs they contributed to the blockbuster 1986 comedy 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', 'The Edge Of Forever' & The Smiths' 'Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want' (although this is a vocal version). Over 76 minutes of music in all. 1999 release.

Tracks:

Life In A Northern Town (Extended)
Ballad In 4/4
Power To Believe
Lucy September
Twelve-Eight Angel
One Dream
Hampstead Girl
This World
The Love Parade
It'll Never Happen Again
Love (Hare Krishna Mix)
Indian Summer
In Places On The Run
(Johnny) New Light
The Party (Acoustic Version)
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
Waterloo
Lowlands

Album Description

Japanese-only retrospective with all of the greatest by the arty English pop trio. 18 tracks, including remixes of their smash 'Life In A Northern Town' & 'Love', plus the chart hit 'The Love Parade', an acoustic version of 'The Party' and both songs they contributed to the blockbuster 1986 comedy 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', 'The Edge Of Forever' & The Smiths' 'Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want' (although this is a vocal version). Over 76 minutes of music in all. 1999 release.

Album Details

Japanese Exclusive Best of Compilation. Includes Four Previously Unreleased Tracks: Life in a Northern Town (Extended), Love (Hare Kirshna Mix), Party (Acoustic Version), and Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want.

Customer Reviews:

ARE YOU CRAZY?? BUY THE CDS FOR 1/8TH THE PRICE OF THIS CD!!.......2006-04-04

Ok I love Dream Academy and have all their albums (yes albums from the 80s). If you want almost every song on this one overpriced CD then buy the individual CDs. This CD is a rip off price wise. Dream Academy is on e of the most underapreciated bands of the 80s however I'm not paying over $100 for this CD as it is currently listed.

Pricey, but worth it.......2004-06-24

Even used, this album is going for over $20. Granted, it is an import, but it should still tell you something about the recording.

Somewhere in the Sun is a good overview of the combined output of The Dream Academy, and the only place I've seen the extra tracks they did for the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Sure, there are quibbles over the song choices...I'd love to have seen The Edge of Forever on this compilation, but all in all they did a good job. I only wish DA had stuck around a while longer and put out more well written dreamy pop. They were a highlight of the 80's "New Wave" scene and their music still holds up well.

If you're a die-hard Dream Academy fan..........2004-02-20

I'm not here to review this CD. I just wanted to let any serious fans of the Dream Academy know about two other projects that might be of interest, if only for the sake of trivia.

The first is "The Invisible Circus" film soundtrack--still available used here at Amazon. This was released around 2000, and the instrumental score (about 7-10 tracks) was composed by Nick Laird-Clowes. A few other Laird-Clowes originals are included under the guise of his recent band, Trashmonk. While the instrumental score tracks are fondly reminescent of the Dream Academy's folkish melodies, the Trashmonk songs are decidedly less relaxed (and didn't appeal much to me personally).

The other CD I wanted to note here is by a producer/DJ who goes by the name of Dario G. His CD, "Sunmachine," which is also available here at Amazon, is best described as pre-millennium electric anthems. It sounds a little like the music from Chicane's "Behind the Sun," only less trance-inflected. At any rate, the first track on "Sunmachine," is Sunchyme. This is only relevant on account of the song's base melody which derives heavily from Dream Academy's Life in a Northern Town, right down to the genuine inclusion of the chorus "Hey-oh-ma-ma-ma's." The original DA song isn't sampled quite enough for this to be a remix, but at the same time, Sunchyme contains so many elements of Life in a Northern Town, that it can't really be considered an altogether separate song. Anyone who might have heard this featured on a TV commercial for contact lenses a few years ago can now exhale. I, for one, am sleeping better now that I've found its source. The rest of Dario G's CD isn't bad either...given its age.

I hope this encourages someone out there.

Fair to Sunny Skies.......2003-07-23