''Dreams Less Sweet'' is the second studio album by English

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

band

Psychic TV Psychic TV (aka PTV or Psychick TV or several other aliases) were an English experimental music, experimental video art and music collective, formed by performance artist Genesis P-Orridge and Scottish musician Alex Fergusson (musician), Alex ...

, released in 1983. It was the last

album to feature co-founder Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson.

Recording

The album was recorded using Zuccarelli Holophonics technology, a binaural recording system optimized for

headphone Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an ...

listening also used by

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

on '' The Final Cut''. The band took advantage of the spatial effect (sometimes described as 3D) achieved by Holophonics to record in unusual locations like The Hellfire Club caves, Christ Church in Hampstead, and

Caxton Hall Caxton Hall is a building on the corner of Caxton Street and Palmer Street, in Westminster, London, England. It is a Grade II listed building primarily noted for its historical associations. It hosted many mainstream and fringe political and a ...

. "Always Is Always" is the

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a Manson ...

composition also known as "Always Is Always Forever" and "I'll Never Say No to Always". "White Nights" incorporates lyrics derived from the last sermon of cult leader

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American cult leader, preacher and mass murderer who founded and led the Peoples Temple between 1955 and 1978. Jones and the members of his inner circle planned and orchestrat ...

. The "Eden" suite incorporates a recording of

body art Body art is art in which the artist uses their human body as the primary medium.Oxford Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art, Oxford University, p. 88 Emerging from the context of Conceptual Art during the 1970s, Body art may include performanc ...

pioneer Mr. Sebastian reassuring Psychic TV associate

John Balance Geoffrey Nigel Laurence Rushton (16 February 1962 – 13 November 2004), better known under the pseudonyms John Balance or the later variation Jhonn Balance, was an English musician, occultist, artist and poet. He was best known as a co-founder ...

about a

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing processes ...

he is about to give him. A demo version (with vocals by Fergusson) of "The Orchids", surfaced on 1984's ''

Pagan Day ''Pagan Day'' (originally released as ''A Pagan Day (Pages From a Notebook)'') is a 1984 album by English experimental band Psychic TV. The cover photograph is of Caresse P-Orridge taken by Andrew Rawling. Recording All music was recorded on ...

'' under the title "Cold Steel".

Release

It was released in 1983 by record label Some Bizzare. The album was released in Holophonic sound. Early copies came with a limited 12-inch EP, ''Thee Full Pack'', containing additional unreleased tracks. The cover is a photograph of an orchid with a ring inserted in the manner of a

genital piercing Genital piercing is a form of body piercing that involves piercing a part of the genitalia, thus creating a suitable place for wearing different types of jewellery. Nevertheless, the term may also be used ''pars pro toto'' to indicate all body p ...

. In 2013 Angry Love Productions reissued ''Dreams Less Sweet'' as in a limited edition run of 1,000, 320 of which were pressed on red vinyl and also featured an extra CD with bonus material and a 12-page booklet with liner notes by

's leader

Genesis P-Orridge Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (born Neil Andrew Megson; 22 February 1950 – 14 March 2020) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, and occultist who rose to notoriety as the founder of the COUM Transmi ...

Reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' called it "another remarkable record, no less appealing for its equally abundant bizarrity. ..PTV display an ineffable mastery of

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

ism as well as traditional musicmaking. Like tuning into a radio station overrun by university-educated acid-freaks, Dreams Less Sweet provides a thoroughly unpredictable and unsettling, yet profound, experience." ''Dreams Less Sweet'', according to the ''Industrial People'' blog, "approaches the idea of an album with a unique formula. ' Force the Hand of Chance' was a song album. Most of its ten tracks follow a recognizable song structure, containing lyrics, enjoyable melodies and even the occasional verse/chorus/verse structure. 'Dreams Less Sweet' is more like a series of vignettes, sound sketches designed to set a mood or transport the listener to a place".

Track listing

All tracks composed by Psychic TV; except where indicated

Personnel

; Psychic TV *

Peter Christopherson Peter Martin Christopherson (also known as Sleazy; 27 February 1955 – 25 November 2010) was an English musician, video director, commercial artist, designer and photographer, who was at one time a member of design agency Hipgnosis. He also ...

– emulator (synth), digital loops, bells, church organ, voice,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

* Alex Fergusson – guitar, bells, tambourine, voice, production *

– vocals, bass guitar, violin, emulator (synth), drums,

kangling ''Kangling'' (), literally translated as "leg" (''kang'') "flute" (''ling''), is the Tibetan name for a trumpet or horn made out of a human tibia or femur, used in Tibetan Buddhism for various chöd rituals as well as funerals performed by a ch ...

, Tibetan singing bells, production ; Additional personnel * Andrew Poppy – original choral and orchestral arrangements; emulator on "Hymn 23" * Geff Rushton – bass guitar, vibraphone, kangling, Tibetan thigh bones, Tibetan singing bells * Paula P-Orridge – drums, vibraphone, percussion *

David Tibet David Tibet (born David Michael Bunting; 5 March 1960) is an English poet, artist and musician. He is best known for the musical group Current 93, which he founded and is the only consistent member of, along with his contributions to the b ...

– kangling, bells,

singing bowls Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

Monte Cazazza Monte Cazazza (January 23, 1949 – June 27, 2023) was an American artist and composer best known for his seminal role in helping shape industrial music through recordings with the London-based Industrial Records in the mid-1970s. Career Caza ...

– vocals and lyrics in "Iron Glove" * Steve Broughton – Hammond organ on "White Nights" * Micky Groome – harmony vocals on "White Nights" * Bob Breen – backing vocals on "Ancient Lights" * Mr. Sebastian – voice on "Eden 1" * Dennis Guiver – voice on "Eden 3" * Jeremy Birchill – bass vocals * Anthony Scales – tenor vocals * Rob Scales – tenor vocals * Mark Lintern Harris – counter-tenor vocals and recorder * Simon Limbrick –

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

, snare drums, percussion (temple blocks) * Chris Redgate –

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

, English horn * Jessica Ilbert – oboe, English horn * Andy Calard – trumpet * Bill Stokes – trumpet * David Powell –

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

; Technical * Ken Thomas – production * Mike King – engineer

References

External links

* {{Authority control Psychic TV albums 1983 albums Some Bizzare Records albums