Cheap Different Kind of Weather (Music) (Dream Academy) Price

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Customer Reviews of Different Kind of Weather

Losing the mood
After the commercial indifference dealt to the Dream Academy's second album, the decent "Remembrance Days," the trio took a three year break between albums to regroup. When they reformed, it was with David Gilmour again in tow, but with this more pop than paisley effort. "A Different Kind of Weather" found the band scrambling to catch up with sounds that they were never a part of in the first place. Sugary confections like "Lucy September" held more echoes of Duran Duran/Thompson Twins than Pink Floyd and Paul Simon, and much of the baroque magic that made the first two albums so unique had disappeared.

It's obvious that The Dream Academy still had aspirations to the atmospheric pleasantries of their original sound, best captured, oddly enough, on "A Different Kind Of Weather's" two cover songs. The orchestrated version of Tim Buckley's "It'll Never Happen Again" sounds like a natural outgrowth of Laird-Clowes' melancholy, and the Hindu chants that infuse John Lennon's "Love" made that song a "shoulda-been" hit from the period when Enigma was introducing the world to "Sadeness." But despite the ambition, it was also clear that the band had run out of ideas. The sad carnival sounds that close out "Not For Second Prize" provided a symbolic coda to not only "A Different Kind Of Weather," but to The Dream Academy's lifespan as well. Stick with the first two Dream Academy CD's or pony up for the pricey greatest hits (import).

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Simply An Amazing & Beautiful Masterpiece
It's such a shame this CD was mostly overlooked by dreary America. It's an amazing masterpiece from start to finish. Each song flows effortlessly from one to the next leaving you transfixed in their brilliancy. It's very rare that a remake of a song is better than the original (usually your left feeling that they slaughtered the song), but the John Lennon cover of "Love" and the Tim Hardin cover of "It'll Never Happen Again" are two of the best remakes that have ever been created.

Nick Laird Clowes, who sings most of the lead vocals, also wrote all the lyrics, with the exception of the two remakes. He's a brilliant song writer and his lyrics are both haunting and beautiful; moreover, they help you to in vision what he is feeling or trying to say without being overly complicated or dark.

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dream academy in a class of its own
ethereal...atmospheric...dreamy...soothing, just some of the words that can come close to describing this 3rd and sadly last album of the trio dream academy. don't mind the dance version of John Lennon's "Love" as covered here by the group. that track just doesn't reveal the musical sensibilities this band has. tracks like Gaby Says, Lucy September and Mercy Kiling have such infectious beats and rhythm uncommonly found in other pop bands.
Lighter tracks as It'll Never Happen Again and the acoustic Not For 2nd Prize find Nick (lead singer) in a pensive mood and soulful state that it's hard not to sit up and be imbued by these songs' emotions.

A Different Kind of Weather plainly states it as it is: this album is unique (and uniquely beautiful at that!) and chances are, you won't experience this kind of "weather" elsewhere.