Search - :: Street Dreams

Thought, mood and emotion provoking

ValleyViolet | Texas USA | 10/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Years ago, I walked into a music store wanting to stock up on a few items. The man behind the counter placed this blue and red bubbly looking album cover on the playing now stand and what happened stopped me dead in my tracks. Suddenly, the most beautiful music started filling the store and I stood in a stunned silence, seduced by one of the most beautiful songs, ever composed; "Before you Go." I then bought Street Dreams and Lyle Mayes, two albums I never tire of. Over the years they evolved to tapes and then to CDs. But I must say that Street Dreams, particularly the previously mentioned cut and the title suite, "Street Dreams," are stellar. I had a wonderful moment when I played "Street Dreams" at the Stroke of Midnight On New Years about 10 years ago. My friends, even the ones not into jazz, LOVED it. To this day, I love this entire album, because it truly takes me to another place"

Mixed bag

Anon | 12/28/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Speaking as someone who loves the Pat Metheny Group and Lyle Mays' playing in general, I'd have to say that this CD is a mixed bag. Some might find it a bit cheesy or trite. But when Lyle gets into his serious soloing he really shines. Sometimes sounds like he doesn't know exactly what he's trying to do - he tries to mix different jazz idioms - big band, electronic, fusion, etc., with occassional success. I would recommend his first album over this, but this one is a good "minor" addition to any Metheny/Mays collection."

Good but needed more thought.......

David J. Ohanlon | Lilyfield, NSW Australia | 02/16/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This was Lyle's follow-up to his self-titled debut album of 1986 and unfortunately the attempt at imitation fell short.

One of Street Dream's major problems is that the previous album was a certifiable masterpiece (one cd which I would risk my life to salvage if my house caught fire!) & was therefore an incredibly hard act to follow. Another problem is that I'm generally unimpressed with Lyle's keyboard set-up; quite often his tone sounds cheesy &/or like a "popsicle" (eg Chorinho & Hangtime); I really like it when Lyle uses synths as texture for his piano playing - here he seems to have inverted this rule to his detriment. I also think he could have done away with the Chamber Orchestra which only succeeds in inhibiting Lyle's usual free-flowing "tone colour" compositional & performance approach.

Finally, the material itself needed editing & more time to develop fresh ideas. Best examples of this are "Before you go" which starts off just the same as Hangtime finishes & then descends into almost pure schmaltz & the Title track which tries to deliver another masterpiece in the vein of "Alaskan Suite" but fails to breathe or evoke anything other than a seeming haste to get the record out.

Look, overall "Street Dreams" is not a "bad" album but IMHO Lyle really needed to take a step back at some point & have a major re-think of some of the material & the instrumentation/musicians needed to fully realise it."