Search - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band :: Symphonion Dream

"Dream" an NGDB classic

Ken | Olathe, KS, U.S.A. | 07/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Symphonion Dream was the first Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album I purchased. I bought it back in 1976, toward the end of my freshman year in college, and I still have my vinyl copy of the record. Now that Dream has been re-released on CD, I decided to check out the CD version of this classic NGDB record. I'm just as impressed as I was in '76.



The initial hit off Dream was NGDB's bluegrassy remake of the Everly Brothers' classic song "All I Have To Do Is Dream". Besides solid vocals by Jeff Hanna and Jimmy Ibbotson and great work by John McEuen on banjo and mandolin, "All I Have To Do Is Dream" has Jimmie Fadden playing some excellent harmonica parts. Hanna also gets in a guitar solo at the end of the song which is awesome. The best song here, though, is "Ripplin' Waters", Ibbotson's tale of life in the Colorado mountains. Though I like NGDB's live version of "Ripplin' Waters" on their Live Two Five album better than the studio version, I think the original version of the song, with McEuen on mandolin and Hanna on lead guitar, is still great. I think Ibbotson is NGDB's best songwriter, and "Ripplin' Waters", with its vivid imagery("Blue spruce flamin' on the grate in the evening/Takes the chill away fine"), is probably his best work. Another great Ibbotson composition on Dream is the reggae number "Joshua Come Home", with guest artist Leon Russell on piano, synthesizer and percussion. John McEuen plays banjo on "Joshua Come Home", but unless you listen closely to the song, you won't recognize the banjo in it. When John's banjo is amplified on "Joshua Come Home", it sounds just like a Jamaican steel drum. That is part of NGDB's genius; not only do the individual band members play a lot of instruments well, but they find different ways of playing them. Another fun song on Dream is Hanna's Cajun rocker "Bayou Jubilee". Hanna does a spirited singing job and once again has some fine lead guitar, and McEuen's fiddle and Ibbotson's accordion make "Bayou Jubilee" a rousing number. Pop superstar Linda Ronstadt, a friend of the members of the Dirt Band, duets with Ibbotson on NGDB's upbeat version of the Hank Williams classic "Hey Good Lookin'". Fadden, who wrote NGDB's humorous songs "Fish Song" and "GloCoat Blues", contributes "Daddy Was A Sailor" to Dream. This song is still another of Fadden's fun songs. Finally, there are great instrumental songs on Dream. The bluegrass instrumentals "Raleigh-Durham Reel", "Sally Was A Goodun" and "Gotta Travel On", along with McEuen's classical medley "Classical Banjo I/Malaguena/Classical Banjo II", feature some of the Dirt Band's best picking.



I think the Dirt Band hit their high point musically with Dream. Ibbotson left to perform solo in mid-1976, almost a year after this record's original release, and NGDB's music went in more of a pop direction. The Dirt Band's change in style in the late '70s may have helped them sell more records, but in this fan's opinion, they've always been a bluegrass/country/folk-rock band, and when they went "pop", their music lost its country element. Thankfully, Ibbotson came back in '83, and the Dirt Band rediscovered their country roots, which were so prominent on Dream. I recommend that you listen to this classic album. Even if you've heard the Dirt Band before, listening to Dream will be like rediscovering an old friend."

The Real Nitty Gritty

Alan Rockman | Upland, California | 08/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"On the song "Partners, Brothers and Friends" (not on this album) Nitty Gritty Dirt Band leader Jeff Hanna asks "Is it Folk, or Rock or Country???" - the glory and perhaps the achilles heel of the Dirt Band is that for nearly 40 years they have refused to be pinned down or stay focused to any particular genre.Their closest niche would be that wonderful genre known as California Country Rock.



Their landmark "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" recording, the first one, is still considered to this day one of the finest blending of musical styles and a definite bridging the gap between venerated old Country and Bluegrass artists and those "wet-behind-the-ears" kids courtesy of Long Beach, Colorado, and ultimately Nashville. But even that recording came after the Country Rock tide came in courtesy of the Byrds "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", the Flying Burrito Brothers "Gilded Palace of Sin", and Poco's "Pickin' Up the Pieces". During the Country Rock revival of the late 1980s, the Dirt Band were up there, no doubt about it, but Chris Hillman's Desert Rose Band was still leading the way.



Still, with a recycling list of members that have included Chris Darrow, Jackson Browne, and Bernie Leadon, you know that the Nitty Grittys are always doing something right.



Which leads me to this recording of "Symphonion Dream". Unlike the heavily bluegrass tinged "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" this was the Nitty Gritty's first serious foray (I almost said Furay) into Country Rock as it was back then, and the result is a marvellous blend of Cajun, Colorado Mountain Music, Country Rock, Hank Williams (the Ibbotson duet with Linda Ronstadt on "Hey Good Lookin'"),the Everly Brothers (the vocal blend of Hanna and Ibbotson are always a "sheer delight") and even the California beach sounds of the childhoods of Hanna, Jimmy Fadden, and John McEuen (the warm calliope sounds on "Santa Monica Pier" harken back to those sunny days in early 1960s Southern California).



The Dirt Band also take on Cajun with "Bayou Jubilee" - still a great concert favorite to this day. I've heard great Cajun fiddlin' - and John McEuen's ranks with the best of them, and Ibbotson's take on the late Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans".



"Symphonion Dream" is a musical slice of Americana, and perhaps the Dirt Band shines the best on the Colorado-based, but California originated Country Rock that they and musicians like Poco, Manassas, and the Eagles were doing back then. Two of the highlights of this album full of highlights were Hanna's raucous take of J.D. Souther's "The Moon Just Turned Blue" (compare this to the one that Souther himself recorded a few years later, and the Dirt Band's version comes across more like the way the S-H-F band would have probably recorded it had they done so) and Ibbotson's mini-epic "Ripplin' Waters".



Country Rock? Yes, but "...Dream" could also conceivably be one of the first real slices of good old Americana music."

Music of the times..

Alan Rockman | 06/04/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Music of the times...As a young LT, stationed at Ft. Knox, this was music to celebrate life. The war was just over...we would not be deployed...we would live. After a long day of running tanks through mud holes, we'd return to the BOQ, sip some Early Times and enjoy this music. NGDB played in Louisville that summer of '75, and versions of these cuts were included. Linda R. was just becoming popular and her inclusion here brought smiles and desires. McK. on the banjo...what is more life fulfilling than this. NGDB gave us a reminder that life is joy.I smile as I look forward to returning to this music. Thanks, David"