"I'm appalled that nobody has cared to review this great album. It certainly lacks the "freshness" of the first self-titled one, and the perfect production of the second album (via Lyndsey Buckingham and Hugh Padham), but it still has some of the best songs by the Academy, great contributions by David Gilmor and is the perfect (sad) coda of an all-time great group. Old Beatles lovers and 60's pop-music fans can't miss all three albums by this marvelous group (no coincidence they covered Lennon's 'Love'). A big fresh-pop breath of air. They are great."
Simply An Amazing & Beautiful Masterpiece
Christopher S. Hart | Bloomington, IL United States | 08/10/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It's such a shame this CD was mostly overlooked by dreary America. It's an amazing masterpiece from start to finish. Each song flows effortlessly from one to the next leaving you transfixed in their brilliancy. It's very rare that a remake of a song is better than the original (usually your left feeling that they slaughtered the song), but the John Lennon cover of "Love" and the Tim Hardin cover of "It'll Never Happen Again" are two of the best remakes that have ever been created. Nick Laird Clowes, who sings most of the lead vocals, also wrote all the lyrics, with the exception of the two remakes. He's a brilliant song writer and his lyrics are both haunting and beautiful; moreover, they help you to in vision what he is feeling or trying to say without being overly complicated or dark."
Worth any price!
apr0 | Grand Rapids, Michigan United States | 02/06/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Buy it new , buy it at auction as I did. I can not believe I went almost 13 years from it's 1990 original release date to purchase this beautiful cd. Songs "Gaby Says, It'll Never Happen Again, Lowlands, and Not For Second Prize" are as wonderful as "Life in a Northern Town and Moving On". Nick Laird-Clowes and D.A. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do another album!"
Losing the mood
Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 04/09/2004
(3 out of 5 stars)
"After the commercial indifference dealt to the Dream Academy's second album, the decent "Remembrance Days," the trio took a three year break between albums to regroup. When they reformed, it was with David Gilmour again in tow, but with this more pop than paisley effort. "A Different Kind of Weather" found the band scrambling to catch up with sounds that they were never a part of in the first place. Sugary confections like "Lucy September" held more echoes of Duran Duran/Thompson Twins than Pink Floyd and Paul Simon, and much of the baroque magic that made the first two albums so unique had disappeared.It's obvious that The Dream Academy still had aspirations to the atmospheric pleasantries of their original sound, best captured, oddly enough, on "A Different Kind Of Weather's" two cover songs. The orchestrated version of Tim Buckley's "It'll Never Happen Again" sounds like a natural outgrowth of Laird-Clowes' melancholy, and the Hindu chants that infuse John Lennon's "Love" made that song a "shoulda-been" hit from the period when Enigma was introducing the world to "Sadeness." But despite the ambition, it was also clear that the band had run out of ideas. The sad carnival sounds that close out "Not For Second Prize" provided a symbolic coda to not only "A Different Kind Of Weather," but to The Dream Academy's lifespan as well. Stick with the first two Dream Academy CD's or pony up for the pricey greatest hits (import)."