Dream Come True (A Flock Of Seagulls Album)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Dream Come True'' is the fourth album by
A Flock of Seagulls A Flock of Seagulls are an English new wave band formed in Liverpool in 1979. The group, whose best-known line-up comprised Mike Score, Ali Score, Frank Maudsley and Paul Reynolds, hit the peak of their chart success in the early 1980s. The ...
, released in March 1986 by
Jive Records Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, an ...
.


Background

After the release and tour for the band's previous album, '' The Story of a Young Heart'', guitarist Paul Reynolds had left the band for personal reasons. Brothers
Mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and docume ...
and Ali Score wanted to base the band out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With past success in the USA, both brothers thought leaving the UK and a new life in America was a perfect solution. With the popularity of the first three albums and the name "A Flock of Seagulls" still having some equity, they had 4 straight sell-out shows in Philadelphia. Mike, Ali and Frank Maudsley all applied for and were conditionally awarded green cards based on celebrity status under the O-1 work visa. The conditional approval was granted to all three, who settled in Philadelphia. Maudsley soon became disillusioned with living in a strange city; he loved A Flock of Seagulls but had no family. Missing the UK, he returned to
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Mike and Ali stayed in Philadelphia and satisfied the terms of the visa. With Frank in Britain and the brothers in the USA it would appear the band was split into two camps. In fact, it was Frank Maudsley who kept the band communicating. Ultimately, the brothers had a falling out and the band dissolved; with Ali moving to Boston. Ali played in a hard rock band and then worked for a computer company in Cambridge once the work visa turned into a permanent residency.


Recording history

In an 1986 interview with
Gary Graff Gary Graff (born 1960) is an American music journalist and author. Biography Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Graff attended Taylor Allderdice High School where he wrote for school newspaper ''The Taylor Allderdice Foreword''. He receiv ...
of Free Press Music, Mike noted that, after writing " Heartbeat Like a Drum", he decided the band should become more dance-oriented again. Originally, the album was to be solo material, but the record company believed it would be better suited under the band's name. As they couldn't find a producer they wanted to work with, it was suggested that Mike take on the task of producing instead. ''Dream Come True'' would be the first album he would produce. Maudsley was the go-between for the brothers and, during the recording of ''Dream Come True'', some have indicated that Ali played on only 3 songs, Maudsley on 4 and Mike did all 9. One of the songs that all three did play on was entitled "Cosmos (Effect of the Sun)" and was dropped from the album. This dropping of the song brought the track listing down to 9 songs for the album. A large row ensued where Maudsley and Ali wanted to drop "Love on Your Knees" and include "Cosmos." It was with this argument that two videos, "
Who's That Girl (She's Got It) "Who's That Girl (She's Got It)" is a 1985 song by English new wave/synthpop band A Flock of Seagulls from their 1986 album '' Dream Come True''. The cover of the 7" and 12" singles came in red, blue, yellow, black, and white versions with the fro ...
" and " Heartbeat Like a Drum," were filmed in quick succession. These two videos were the last time the three remaining members were together in a recording or music capacity until 2004. The tour for the album added Chris Chryssaphis on keyboards and Gary Steadman—formerly of the new wave band
Classix Nouveaux Classix Nouveaux are an English new wave band, who are generally considered part of the New Romantic scene. Though experiencing only minor success in their native UK, most notably with their 1982 Top 20 hit "Is It a Dream", the band had number ...
—as a replacement for Paul Reynolds on lead guitar. Both new additions did not stay in the band after the tour ended. In 2004, the album was released on CD for the first time by Almacantar Records. It featured no bonus tracks. In 2011, the album was remastered on CD by Cherry Red. It included the 7" and 12" versions of "Who's That Girl (She's Got It)" and "Heartbeat Like A Drum," and "(Cosmos) The Effect Of The Sun" as bonus tracks.


Reception

The album failed to chart on either side of the Atlantic and thus was a commercial failure. It also received generally negative reviews. Dan LeRoy from
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
retrospectively noted the songs were "lifeless." ''
People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' found the album's songwriting to be "ineffective" and the album itself to be "all formula and flourish with no substance". Regardless, they felt that ''Dream Come True'' had a "much stronger ndpervasive" beat than the previous LPs from the band.


Track listing

;CD Bonus Tracks (2011, Cherry Red) Total length: 1:18:42


Personnel

A Flock of Seagulls *
Mike Score Michael Gordon Score (born 5 November 1957) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who achieved worldwide fame as the founder, lead vocalist, and rhythm guitarist of the new wave band A Flock of Seagulls. He released a solo album on 1 Ma ...
– lead vocals, keyboards, guitar * Frank Maudsley – bass * Ali Score – drums Additional Musicians * Pete "Q" Harris – Fairlight programming * Phil Nicholas – Fairlight programming (7) * Mike Irving – lead guitar (1, 3, 6, 8) * Joel Bogan – lead guitar (2) * Keith Moore – lead guitar (4) * Gus Isadore – lead guitar (5, 9) * Becky Boone – flute sequence (4) * Jay Carley – backing vocals (1, 2, 7) * Beverley Skeete – backing vocals (1, 2, 7) * Carmen Manley – backing vocals (3) * Karen Kay – backing vocals (4, 6) * Dee Lewis – backing vocals (5, 8, 9) * Shirley Lewis – backing vocals (5, 8, 9) Production * Mike Score – producer * Wayne Brathwaite – producer (2, 7, 9) * Steve McGlaughlin – engineer (1, 3-6, 8) * Brian "Chuck" New - engineer (2, 7), mixing (2, 7) * Steve Power – engineer (9) * Simon Hanhart – mixing (1, 4, 6, 8) * Nigel Green – mixing (3) * Jeremy Allon – mixing (5) * Steve Power – mixing (8)


References

{{Authority control 1986 albums A Flock of Seagulls albums Jive Records albums