Song:Life in A Northern Town
Album:The Dream Academy
The 1985 top ten hit Life In A Northern Town was the only big hit for the British group The Dream Academy. A couple of their other songs charted but they recorded three albums and only the first one did much business. Lead singer and guitarist Nick Laird-Clowes and keyboard player Gilbert Gabriel met in the late 70s when Laird-Clowes was in the group The Act. They wanted do do pop music using strings and woodwinds and other things that aren't normally used in pop music. They were called The Politics Of Pop. Laird-Clowes met oboist Kate St. John at a party and she joined the band. She had been a member of The Ravishing Beauties. They changed the band name to The Dream Academy. They were rejected by every record company in London before they signed with Warner Bros. in 1985. Laird-Clowes was friends with Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and he agreed to produce their album. Life In A Northern Town was a bigger hit in the US than in England. It reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album The Dream Academy reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 200. So it did pretty well and it's available on CD. Laird-Clowes says he wrote Life In A Northern Town as a tribute to legendary ill fated British singer songwriter Nick Drake. The other Dream Academy song that charted was The Love Parade. The Dream Academy's 1987 album Remembrance Days did not do as well despite high profile producers Lindsey Buckingham, Patrick Leonard and Hugh Padgham. They took a break and returned with the 1990 album A Different Kind Of Weather. Gilmour even returned to produce. It didn't help. The album tanked and The Dream Academy split up in 1991. Nick Laird-Clowes released a solo CD in 1999 and continued to work with Gilmour. He has turned to film composing and wrote the score for the upcoming film About Time. Kate St. John has released two solo CDs and is a member of Channel Light Vessel who have also released 2CDs. Gilbert Gabriel is a member of the band The Believers. I'm sure Life In A Northern Town will bring back 80s memories for many music fans. Here's the video for Life In A Northern Town by The Dream Academy. There were two videos for this song. But I think this one was played on MTV in the 80s.
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