Bill Holt - Dreamies

Dreamies - 1974

Despite the fact that he had a family to support and minimal experience playing music Bill Holt quit his day job in 1972, locked himself in his basement for year and made a record. The album has two tracks, side A is Program 10 (in 6 parts) and side B is Program 11 (in 7 parts).

This album is pretty much in a class of its own. It's composed mostly of samples, bits from Beatle songs and found sounds via the media. JFL, MLK and Walter Cronkite all make repeated appearances. Beneath the samples are some nice acoustic melodies and pleasant enough lyrics. Program 11 is the darker of the two, although the American Airlines sign off right near the end is hilarious. One of the things that makes this album so great is that it is so unique, especially when view in its historical context. No one in rock and roll was doing what Holt was doing in the early 70s (Dreamies is one of the first and best examples of sampling in modern music). Beyond that, the songs are actually good and like a lot of good music require close listening. A casual listen will not be nearly as rewarding as putting on some headphones, (real headphones not those ridiculous things that came with your iPod), in a dark room and listening without distraction. The "Sunday Morning Song" is really catchy and I found myself humming it after a few listens, (always a good sign for me).

One of the really fascinating characteristics of this record is how it manages to capture the spirit of the time period from which it comes. Essentially it's just one big sound collage, but one that works. Holt uses both sounds and voices to create a sort of progressive confusion of sound that sincerely expresses the zeitgeist of the late 60's early 70's. It's quite an achievement.

Don't go down to your local record store to get a copy of Dreamies, (do people still go to record stores...are there still record stores). You won't find it there. I couldn't even find it while searching several popular torrent sites. The best place to find it is iTunes.