''The Dream Weaver'' is a solo album by

Gary Wright Gary Malcolm Wright (born April 26, 1943) is an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs " Dream Weaver" and " Love Is Alive", and for his role in helping establish the synthesizer as a leading instrument in rock and po ...

released in July 1975. The album was said by Wright to be the first-ever all-keyboard album (though there were many all-synthesizer LPs before this, including ''

Switched-On Bach ''Switched-On Bach'' is the debut album by American composer Wendy Carlos, originally released under her birth name Walter Carlos in October 1968 by Columbia Records. Produced by Carlos and Rachel Elkind, the album is a collection of pieces by J ...

'' by

Wendy Carlos Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos, November 14, 1939) is an American musician and composer best known for her electronic music and film scores. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Carlos studied physics and music at Brown University before moving ...

, in 1968), but in fact it also features drums, vocals, and guitar, among other instruments. The performers include

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

Bobby Lyle Robert Lyle (born March 11, 1944) is a jazz pianist/organist and educator. Early life Lyle was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 11, 1944 to parents Robert and Elise Lyle. He grew up in a musical household after the family moved from Memphis ...

, and Wright himself on keyboards, and

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...

and

Andy Newmark Andrew Newmark (born July 14, 1950)

on drums. The track "Power of Love" featured Wright's Warner Bros. labelmate

Ronnie Montrose Ronald Douglas Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012) was an American guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison, Herbie H ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

. The album's success was a slow but steady accomplishment as the album eventually peaked at number 7 on ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape chart in the spring of 1976. The album's title cut (unlike the album, the song omits the article "The") and " Love Is Alive" both peaked at number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart.

Track listing

All songs written by Gary Wright except where noted.

Personnel

– lead and backing vocals,

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

electric piano,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

Hohner clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

ARP String Ensemble The Solina String Ensemble, also marketed as the ARP String Ensemble, is a fully polyphonic multi-orchestral synthesizer with a 49-key keyboard, produced by Eminent BV (known for their ''Solina'' brand). It was distributed in the United States by ...

, woodwinds, special effects *

– Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hammond organ, ARP String Ensemble *

– Hohner clavinet, Fender Rhodes electric piano *

– electric guitar (track 5) *

Andy Newmark Andrew Newmark (born July 14, 1950)

– drums *

– drums *Lorna Wright, Betty Sweet, and

David Pomeranz David Pomeranz (born February 9, 1951) is an American singer, composer, lyricist, and writer for musical theatre. He is also an ambassador for Operation Smile. Solo career Born and raised on Long Island, Pomeranz expressed interest in music from ...

– backing vocals

Production

*Arranged and produced by Gary Wright *Recorded and engineered by Jay Lewis *Mastered by Doug Sax *Illustrations by Mick Haggerty and Ed Scarsbrick *Photography by

Norman Seeff Norman Seeff (born March 5, 1939, in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a photographer and filmmaker. Since moving to the United States in 1969, his work has been focused on the exploration of human creativity and the inner dynamics of the creative ...

Charts

Singles -

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

(United States) :

References

External links

Gary Wright - ''The Dream Weaver'' (1975) album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Gary Wright - ''The Dream Weaver'' (1975) album to be listened
on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dream Weaver, The Gary Wright albums 1975 albums Warner Records albums Electronic music