The Legendary Pink Dots - Only Dreaming (Remastered) (1981/2023)

ONLY DREAMING. The first salvo of The Legendary Pink Dots is 42 years old. I guess I’d kept it consigned to history because of it’s primitive nature but a lot of people have been asking so……
Here’s a track by track reflection for the curious.. SOMA BATH dates back to the early 70s when it was part of a unfinished concept album from EK's teenage band Vizzyen Laedyr.
It reflects a bit of an unhealthy Messiah fixation and chronologically was intended to precede ‘Stoned Obituary’ which was also written back then but never recorded until a prototype version by The Pink Dots in 1980.

BEFORE THE END
We grew up under the shadow of a mushroom cloud and if anyone ever tells you how great it was in the 70s , then remind them of this. It was terrifying, That’s why so many of us were petrified when Nostradamus was all the rage for a while.

‘IT ROTS YOUR LIVER
Indeed it does and it's best avoided.

BLACK HIGHWAY
The lyrics of ‘Black Highway’ were written after a hair-raising drive through the former Yugoslavia where two columns of trucks could be observed overtaking two columns of trucks on a two lane highway. The results could often be seen rusting on the rocks below. Phil handled the Yamaha CS30 like a champion (no presets!)

PHALLUS DEI also dated back to that obscure concept album from EK’s teenage band. April’s tune !

WAITING FOR THE CALL/YOU’N’ME
A bit of a lost version as better recordings exist of this composition from Mick and April elsewhere. Lyrics made in Dagenham.

DEFEATED
The first solo song by EK after a dream. It lingered as he woke up and recorded it . Primitive as Hell but it had a future.

GAME. An EK solo improvisation.

GUESS THE POLITICIAN
This is what can be written in a dysfunctional country in the dark 1980s . Little has improved.

ANOTHER KIND OF VIOLENCE
The original title was ‘Dagger Rhyme’.The characters are unnamed in order to dodge the wrath of the guilty.

THURSDAY NIGHT FEVER
A dark song about a dubious character who clearly needed to go out more.

O(RI)FFICE

Bank Manager to EK
How are things going for you?

EK to Bank Manager
I’m not so fond of the filing but a job is a job..

Bank Manager to EK
Now I’ll tell you what I think of you.You remind me of my son - he’s bone idle you know - and what’s that blue thing you’re wearing?

EK to Bank Manager
Umm…a suit.

Bank Manager to EK
Frankly I don’t care what you want to call it. Tomorrow you will dress casually because I want you to clean out the safe.

And indeed a day later EK dressed casually in terminally ripped jeans and a Nektar T-shirt with a fly on the front. These were the days when a job at the bank was a job for life. EK lasted for 4 months.

THE CHEMICAL PLAYSCHOOL
An extract of a session that is now a saga.

VOICES
The lyrics date back to the start of the 70s when Vizzyen Laedyr recorded their own take of ‘Voices. Even so, April’s beautiful composition brought this one to life. Maybe this version is primitive but, for me, it the best one. Crisp packets were rubbed for the fire at the end. Burn the Heretic. Stake.

FROSTY
A famous song for The Dots yet it was never played live. Listen closely , that’s Mick’s laugh at the very start.

BREAK DAY
Thatcher’s Britain was a dark place. Rent-a-thugs stalked the streets of the city, smashed up shows by any band they thought leaned to the left, hunted the deviants just because they enjoyed it. The physical scars are gone, but the mental scars are for life.Boys will be boys eh?

ONLY DREAMING
The creatures from the Chemical Playschool have escaped from their test tubes.

Tracklist
1. Soma Bath (2:32)
2. Before The End (4:08)
3. It Rots Your Liver (3:24)
4. Black Highway (4:45)
5. Phallus Dei (3:25)
6. Waiting For the Call/ You'n'Me (5:47)
7. Defeated (2:07)
8. Game (0:53)
9. Guess the Politician (3:21)
10. Another Kind Of Violence (6:29)
11. Thursday Night Fever (5:30)
12. O(ri)ffice (2:38)
13. The Chemical Playschool (3:00)
14. Voices (3:36)
15. Frosty (4:58)
16. Break Day (3:09)
17. Only Dreaming (1:30)