Still In the Same Dream

New Zealand singer/songwriter Dennis O'Brien has released a best-of compilation from the three albums he recorded in the late 1970s and early 80s in England and New Zealand. Well-known to local music lovers as the founder of the long-established Slow Boat Records shop in Wellington, Dennis recorded his first album in England with producer Hugh Murphy (best known for his work with Gerry Rafferty on his hit Baker Street), and the subsequent two in Wellington's Marmalade Studios with Jim Hall producing.
Still In The Same Dream - Songs 1972-1982 brings together a selection of 20 songs written by O'Brien, with co-writers David Porter and Nick Theobald. These well-crafted songs were recorded by the cream of London and NZ's session musicians. "I'm entirely proud of the songs we wrote and the records I made with these great musicians," says O'Brien.
The material includes the compilation title track -- a New Zealand Song of the Year Award winner -- and Any Other Face In The Rain, featuring sax player Raphael Ravenscroft (who played the Baker Street riff), which enjoyed strong sales in Europe. The tracks also include other single releases from the late 70s and early 1980s, as well as the pick of the cuts from the three albums. All of the tracks have been remastered by David Bowater of OHO Recording.
O'Brien was brought up in a musical household playing piano, eventually getting together with future songwriting partners Porter and Theobald in Triangle, a successful Wellington covers band. All three writers made their way to England in the 1970s, with O'Brien securing a production deal with Hush Productions, whose owners included Murphy and Kinks producer Shel Talmy, and a record deal with Charisma Records. He later returned to New Zealand to record the two subsequent albums.
The London sessions included well-known session musicians Dave Mattacks and Mickey Waller on drums, bassist Gary Taylor, guitarists Ray Russell, John Turnbull and Jim Gannon, and keyboardists Tommy Eyre and Pete Solley. New Zealand musicians included guitarists Martin Winch and Kevin Bayley, bassists Jim Hall and Clinton Brown, drummers Ross Burge, Frank Gibson Jr and Steve Garden, and keyboardists Bob Smith, Peter Blake and Terry Crayford, with backing vocals from Sharon O'Neill, Jacqui Fitzgerald, Erana Clark, the Yandalls, Steve Robinson and Simon Morris.