The Dream Academy (album)

The Dream Academy is The Dream Academy's eponymous debut album, released in 1985, it was mainly produced by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Nick Laird-Clowes. The most notable track from the album is "Life in a Northern Town", which was written as a tribute to Nick Drake^[1]. It also proved to be their only major chart success, reaching #7 in the US and #15 in the UK.

The follow-up single, also from the album, "The Love Parade" was not received as well as their debut single, reaching #36 on the US Billboard Charts and only #68 on the UK charts, but still received solid radio airplay.

Also of note is the song, ''The Edge of Forever. which plays in a prominent scene during the John Hughes film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, resulting in many fans of 1980s films becoming more familiar with The Dream Academy's music.

The album went to #20 in the USA.

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Nick Laird-Clowes and Gilbert Gabriel, except where noted:

"Life in a Northern Town" – 4:19
"The Edge of Forever" – 4:23
"(Johnny) New Light" – 4:22
"In Places on the Run" – 4:27
"This World" – 5:07
"Bound to Be" – 3:08
"Moving On" – 5:14
"The Love Parade" – 3:47
"The Party" – 5:07 (Nick Laird-Clowes)
"One Dream" – 2:32 (Nick Laird-Clowes)

[edit] Miscellanea

This World was written about Nick's concerns about his friends becoming junkies.
Life in a Northern Town and The Love Parade have two different video versions.
Warners released a 4 video compilation from this album, including videos for Life in a Northern Town (2nd version), The Love Parade (U.S. radio version), This World (filmed in NYC), and Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.
VH-1 has immortalised the Life in a Northern Town video by choosing it as a Pop-up! video. The network also featured Nick Laird-Clowes in a "Where Are They Now?" feature in 2000.