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2 April, 1986 New York Times THE POP LIFE; FROM DREAM ACADEMY, BEATLES-STYLE ART ROCK By Stephen Holden NICK LAIRD-CLOWES, the 28-year-old guitarist, singer and leader of the English pop trio the Dream Academy, wears his hair below his shoulders and dresses in black velvet suits with Nehru collars. While this late-60's John Lennon look may be overly self-conscious, musically the Dream Academy belongs to a new breed of English pop act that is seriously concerned with extending the romantic art-rock exemplified by the Beatles' late 60's studio albums. "Though we are very much an 80's band, the music that was popular when I was an adolescent still has a special meaning," Mr. Laird-Clowes reflected in a recent interview. "Albums like the Beach Boys''Pet Sounds,' Love's 'Forever Changes,' Neil Young's surreal mini-symphonies with the Buffalo Springfield, and everything by the Beatles have been seminal influences. The period from 1965 to'68 was unique because people were taking so many musical risks, experimenting with strings, delving into Eastern instruments and philosophy, and mixing it all up." Although a British psychedelic rock revival has been under way for five years, the kind of psychedelia that has attracted many of the bands who fall into the category has been droning, entranced music of minimal melodic interest and lyrical import. But the Dream Academy, along with Prefab Sprout, Thomas Dolby, the Smiths, Scritti Politti and Aztec Camera, are British pop acts that represent, in very different ways, a more craftsmanly approach to the genre. The Dream Academy, which has yet to tour in the United States, recently enjoyed its first Top 10 single with the richly textured 'nostalgic ballad "Life in a Northern Town," a song that looks back warmly on "winter 1963, when it felt like the world would freeze with John F. Kennedy and the Beatles." And this week, Warner Brothers Records, which has high hopes for the group, is releasing the follow-up single "The Love Parade" from its debut album, "The Dream Academy." The song is a haunting, hushed reflection on adultery and erotic temptation. The trio is especially promising because all three members are serious musical craftsmen. Gilbert Gabriel, who plays keyboards, and Kate St. John, who plays oboe and saxophone, both have 10 years of classical training behind them. The trio came together in 1979 in a band called the Act, which Mr. Laird-Clowes, in retrospect, described as "a deliberate cross between Elvis Costello and the Byrds." Although Mr. Laird-Clowes has not had classical training, he was intensively tutored in harmony and music theory last year by Paul Simon, who had heard an unfinished version of "Life in a Northern Town" and was impressed enough to donate his services as instructor. "When Paul volunteered to teach me, I borrowed the money to come to New York and study with him," Mr. Laird-Clowes said. "We worked four or five hours a day, two or three times a week for two months. One of his major lessons was that if you work just a little harder than everyone else you can pull yourself a little bit ahead of them. He also taught me that you didn't have to make musical discoveries by accident- that with a thorough knowledge of harmony. you could actually design interesting music.
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