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CdeB Mailing List Review
Copyright (c) 1996, Willem de Waal
All rights reserved
Beautiful Dreams
Chris de Burgh
1995
A&M Records
"This is the album I've always wanted to make; a live studio recording of personal
favourites, old classics and new songs, with full orchestra and choir."
"It was recorded in London over a period of eight days (instead of the usual
three-four months) in July '95, and to sing each track surrounded by an orchestra, without
the benefit of the safety-net of modern technology, was immensely exciting - everything in
one take, the way it used to be!"
--Chris de Burgh, on the CD booklet of Beautiful Dreams
Indeed, a very different yet very typical CdB album.
The first track, "Missing You", comes from the Flying Colours album. Diane
Scholfield wrote in her review: "This love song's strong point is a singable melody
and a chorus that lingers pleasantly in thebrain. Pleasant words, pleasant tune, a
pleasant experience." Too true. But in the FC version, it is an upbeat, happy
"singalong song", with a rhythm part that sounds like it comes straight from a
41-key portable Casio keyboard and backing vocals coo-ing "Missing You ...". On
Beautiful Dreams, it is presented in a far more romantic atmosphere ... the first verse
being accompanied only on piano. As the song progresses, it is expanded to a soft guitar
and gentle strings, with a soft, subtle rhythm being added towards the end. Now I can see
it being a love song - and he really sounds like he is missing her!
The next track is an old Beatles song, "Girl", written by Messrs John Lennon
and Paul McCartney. Having never been a Beatles fan myself, I do not know what the
original version sounds like. I DO know however that the first time I listened to this, I
skipped to the next track after about 20 seconds! But ... I've been back, made an effort
to listen through it, and now find that it has grown on me! Chris's voice is strangely
very appropriate, and he sings it with considerable emotion, so that it really falls very
nicely on the ear, though it will never be deemed a favourite by me.
The third track is a favourite: "Carry Me". From the Flying Colours album, it
is a comforting, positive look at the passing of a loved one. Addressed to a friend, it
emphasises that our stay on earth is a temporary one, and that all of us have to move on
eventually. The mood is set with a haunting, almost eerie clarinet, playing the the tune
to the last lines of the chorus ... then a solo piano with the first verse, and building
gradually with full strings, and the clarinet returning every now and then - a truly
beautiful arrangement to a wonderful song.
"Discovery" is another favourite. From "End of a Perfect Day". it
is a tribute to Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), the Italian mathematician, astronomer and
physicist. Galileo perfected the refracting telescope, and discovered Jupier's satelites,
sunspots and craters on the moon. He was however forced by the Inquisition to withdraw his
support of the Copernican theory of the solar system which was published in 1543, and
which stated that the earth and the planets rotated around the sun. Sorry about the little
history lesson, but it is relevant in order to understand the lyrics! ... "But now I
know for certain, the world is round ... I have seen, My eyes have seen ...".
"Snows of New York" was written by Chris and Albert Hammond, with the lyrics
by Chris. The first time I heard this song, it was as the highlight of the "This Way
Up" album - one which has been described by many as "average" and
"mediocre". A fairly simple tune, with a chillingly powerful chorus, in the same
vein as "Leather on My Shoes" and "A Spaceman Came Travelling". A
friend has to leave, and is flying back to New York ... and is encouraged to, "when
...feeling lost in the snows of New York, lift your heart and think of me."
I find this this version far more powerful than the original on the "This Side
Up" album. Instead of a distorted electric guitar, the intro accompaniment is
acoustic, the base line is far more interesting, and the song just builds and builds to an
enormous climax. The one verse that really grips me, is:
"In my dream we walked, you and I to the shore,
Leaving footprints by the sea,
And when there was just one set of prints in the sand
That was when you carried me"
The emotion is emphasised with little bursts from horns and brass, and it is a riveting
experience. I suspect that Chris used some poetic licence here: I have definitely read
these words before - on a wall poster I think - but it is the most fitting orchestration.
Add to this the GWALIA Welsh Male Voice Choir, and it simply cannot but give you
goosebumps all over!
"In Love Forever" is one of the three new songs on the album. It is a lovely
ballad, quiet yet intense, and probably of some really personal value to Chris. A man is
declaring his love for a woman, in spite of doing and saying things that hurt her and the
relationship. The opening lines set the mood:
"There's an angel crying up in Heaven tonight,
and I've got the Devil in my heart,
Because I keep on saying things that I don't mean,
And it's tearing us apart;"
I do not wish to speculate about possible references here. Suffice to say that it is a
lovely, passionate song.
"Shine On" is another song with a powerful, memorable chorus, which you find
yourself humming at the weirdest times! Off the "Power of Ten" album, it
resembles 2 fundamental ideas: The concept of Carpe Diem - Seize the Moment - and the fact
that we have to "leave here a garden for our children, when we are gone
forever".
Also with a lovely, powerful chorus, which really comes to its own right with the
backing of a full orchestra. I do however feel that the Welsh Chorus bit was a little too
strong - but still a beautiful arrangement.
Inevitably, "Lady in Red" had to be there. A lovely version of the song that
introduced him to a lot of new fans. Performed with piano and strings, one can picture him
just like in one of the videos: Alone, by candle light, at the piano ... very romantic.
And if radio hadn't killed it so mercilessly, I am sure more of us would still be
listening to it regularly!
The next song was written by Roy Orbison - and it shows a mile off! I don't know much
about Roy's music, and haven't listened to it much. But I can hear him in this one.
Typical of the genre, "In Dreams" is performed adequately - but I don't like it
much.
I do not quite understand why "I'm Not Crying Over You" is on this album. The
second new track by Chris on this album, a man tries to convince himself and his
ex-girlfriend/wife that he is over her, when he clearly is not. Not bad, but really not
specatcular - not in the lyrics, or the music.
The next track was a pleasant surprise. Not quite old enough to have been an Elvis fan,
it took me a while to place the tune. But Chris's rendition of "Always On My
Mind" is beautiful. He sings it with feeling, and the orchestration compliments the
voice and the lyrics, with the strings coming through stronger with the chorus, and then
fading for a beautiful instrumental on acoustic guitar, with a sad cello droning along ...
really very effective, and a real tear jerker!
"Say Goodbye to it All" was released on "Into the Light" as the
follow-up on "Borderline" from "The Getaway". Once again he has chosen
to do away with the "rock" version, and turned it into a much more
"personal" version, starting off not with the ending chorus of its predecessor,
but with a lone French horn playing the last lines of the chorus. Then singing with only
piano, he "tells" the story. Very effective, and the lamenting strings added
later adds to the sadness of war, but the positive rebuilding after destruction.
The last song on the album, "One More Mile to Go", is another one of those
simple yet powerful songs where you have to jump in in and sing along at the top of your
voice. Christmas time, a man is on his way home, by train .... his lady is waiting at the
station, and he is really looking forward to seeing her! A very positive message, ending
off with a more generic thought:
"And now the light is shing round the world,
It's a magic night for every boy and girl,
'Cos it's the time that all men dream of peace,
On Christmas eve, we dream of peace."
With the Welsh Male Voice Choir "aaah"-ing in the background, and then
joining full scale into the chorus .... I just wish it were longer!
And those then are the Beautiful Dreams of Chris de Burgh. This is NOT a greatest hits
album. I am sure that the songs were chosen with care, but I am convinced that there could
easily have been two dozen more. In all I think it made me realise that I miss the
"old" Chris de Burgh - Not the rock star, but the story-teller, the romantic,
the musician.
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