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Bio:
A showband built in June 1968 around singer John Farrell who'd already made a splash with
his previous band The Movement with two great singles ("Head for the
Sun" and a fabulous freakbeat reading of "Tell Her"). Musicians from various beat
groups (Shay O'Donoghue & Joey Geoghegan from The Debonaires;
Jim Hudson & Dougie McIlwaine from The Kingbees) were brought
together to back Farrell. It was not unusual at the time to pinch the most talented
musicians from the beat scene for the more lucrative showbands, and this band was
obviously intended to turn Farrell into a star. Indeed they were billed
on occasion as John Farrell & The Dreams. But nowadays the band is best
remembered for including ex Them guitarist Eric Bell (Thin Lizzy, Noel Redding Band,
Brush Shiels Band, Mainsqueeze),
who is pictured far left in the picture sleeve photo below. Eric appears on the
first four singles and the best of LP, all of which have become collectors items.
The debut A-side is a decent slice of 60s pop written by Alan Blakey & Len
Hawkes of the Tremeloes who also produced the single. The B-side by
keyboard player Shay O'Donoghue is reputedly the first Irish recording to
feature feedback. The psychedelic edge on the lead guitar makes it a must for
pop-sike collectors. The single was a hit in Ireland, reaching #14 in the charts
in September 1968. It was licensed for release in the UK and Germany by United
Artists, the latter release gaining a picture sleeve, the most sought after Dreams single.
The second single was another O'Donoghue (& Maginnis) composition which had
already been a big hit for Dickie Rockie & The Miami Showband two years earlier
in 1967, and as such is one of the few showband singles to stand up to
scrutiny today. The B-side is an Equals cover written by Eddie Grant.
It peaked at #15 in the Irish charts. There was also a UK release on CBS.
This single features some great fuzz guitar and is much sought-after.
The third single came out 2 months later in April 1969. The B-side was another
Tremeloes composition and unusually feaures Eric Bell on banjo. The fourth
single was their biggest hit, the soft-beat "The Casatschok", released in June
1969, which reached #5 in the Irish charts.
Despite this success, Eric Bell left
the band for more progressive work with Thin Lizzy and Damien McKerr (probably)
took his place in late 1969. A fifth single was released followed
by the debut LP. This "Best Of Dreams" album collects all five singles and adds
two covers: "All I Have To Do Is Dream" and "Respect", the latter featuring Eric Bell on lead
vocals. Eric is not pictured on the cover. This album has become very hard to find (if you have one for sale,
please get in touch!).
By the time their debut LP came out the band had in fact decided to call it a day
and had renamed themselves Freedom, who released a single in 1970.
This isn't the end of the Dreams story however as a sixth Dreams single emerged in 1971.
Apparently this was the work of Jim Hand, who assembled a completely new lineup
which included Barry Scully. A manager treating a band name as a brand and assembling
musicians at will is not unique to the showband scene, of course, but it does
little to help their reputation nowadays (unless comparisons on a Bay City
Rollers level are what you crave). This lineup released just one single.
I'd previously listed Aiden Magennis (or Maginnis) as a member but this was an error.
He had been in The Debonaires with Shay O'Donoghue and Joey Geoghegan
and he wrote several songs with Shay O'Donoghue including "Baby I'm Your Man",
but he was never a member of The Dreams.
I also listed Eric Murray (of Hot Air Machine) as Eric Bell's replacement. It was
in fact Damien McKerr. This does not rule out the possibility that Eric Murray
was a member at some point!
There is some confusion over the lineup history. In contemporary photos of the
band there are sometimes 7 and sometimes 8 people pictured.
Bio:
The Dreams decided to change name in 1970, just after
Eric Bell had been replaced by Damien McKerr in late 1969. Freedom released just one single.
By 1971 John Farrell was fronting a ten piece outfit called
The Groundhogs (no relation to the UK bluesrock band
fronted by Tony McPhee),
who released a single on Polydor the same year. We have no further details about
this group but it may have been the same personnel as Freedom.
In 1974 John Farrell financed the re-release of the debut single by his
old band The Movement.
Shay O'Donoghue was later in Tony Kenny's Band.
Help!: We need your help to complete this entry. If you can tell us more about this band then please do! We welcome any corrections, missing details, connections to other bands, where are they now, etc. We also need photos, scans, copies of releases or live or demo recordings, and any other memorabilia gathering dust in the attic.
thanks to TP McLoughlin