Room - No Dream

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 22 / 9 / 2006

---

Review

‘No Dream’ is a best of and rarities set from 80’s Liverpudlian band the Room and fills in a few gaps that were missing on the recently released CD remasters of their two albums, 1982’s ‘Indoor Fireworks’ and 1984’s ‘In Evil Hours’. It starts off with ‘Motion’ the A side of their debut single which they released on their own label, Box Records. It is very new wave in its feel. Becky Stringer’s bass lines are very uniquely her own, while Dave Jackson’s vocals are fast. It sounds gothic and something like the Cure. ‘In Sickness and In Health’ was another single and also sounds Gothic, while ‘Bated Breath’, its B Side, is more slow paced and is more experimental in its roots. ‘Things That Learnt to Walk that Ought to Crawl Again’ was also a single, and is jangly and has a confident vocal. ‘No Dream ‘and ‘Heat Haze’ both come from ‘Indoor Fireworks’. ‘One Hundred Years’ was also a single and, only ever released on vinyl, makes its CD debut here. It sounds very poppy and happy in itself. ‘Never’ from 1983 mini-album ‘Clear’ appears as a demo and shows the band sounding increasingly confident in the studio. ‘Ride’ follows this and is also from ‘Clear’ The next five songs, ‘A Short of Fire’, ‘Whirlpoo’l, ‘Jackpot Jack’, ‘Crying Red’, and ‘Calloused Hands’, all come from ‘In Evil Hour’. They are followed by demos that never reached a finished form. ‘The Storm’ appeared on the Room’s last Peel session and sounds like the Smiths in feel. ‘Here Comes the Floor’ became a song for Dave and Becky’s next band Benny Profane, but here it is quite slow, and more commercial and jangly. ‘Untitled.’is very slick with an Inspiral Carpets keyboard feel , but came out 10 years before the Inspirals, while Jeremiah is a loud rockabilly number A fine collection which points to the direction that the Room might have gone in if they hadn’t split up !

Track Listing:-

1 Motion
2 In Sickness And In Health
3 Bated Breath
4 Things Have Learnt To Walk That Ought To Crawl
5 No Dream
6 Heat Haze
7 One Hundred Years
8 Never
9 The Ride
10 A Shirt Of Fire
11 Whirlpool
12 Jackpot Jack
13 Crying Red
14 Calloused Hands
15 Here Comes The Floor
16 The Storm
17 Untitled
18 Jeremiah