''Speed Is Dreaming'' is the sophomore studio album by American
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band
St. Johnny and their first release for
DGC Records
DGC Records (an initialism for the David Geffen Company) was an American record label that operated as a division of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, which is owned by the Universal Music Group.
History
DGC Records was launched in 1990 as a subsi ...
.
Reception
Editors at
AllMusic Guide
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the datab ...
rated this album four out of five stars, with critic Nitsuh Abebe opining that the band retained their characteristic melodic compositions, but having a major record label "cleans up some of the band's sound and tightens their songwriting".
Andrew Earles highlighted the band's previous debut album ''
High as a Kite
''High as a Kite'' is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band St. Johnny.
Reception
Editors at AllMusic Guide rated this album three out of five stars, with critic Nitsuh Abebe noting the lack of production and polish on the al ...
'' in ''Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996'' and also called this album "near-excellent".
A review in ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', noting that the "
D.I.Y. spirit" is still present in the band's major-label debut.
In an overview of the band's career for ''
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 ...
'', Deborah Sprague notes that ''Speed Is Dreaming'' improves on the band's independent work and praises the interplay of Tom Leonard's layered guitar along with
Bill Whitten
Bill Whitten is an American musician and writer. He was the founding member, principal songwriter and singer/guitarist for St. Johnny He was also the singer/songwriter/guitarist for Grand Mal.
In 2018 he released "Burn My Letters", his first ...
's vocals.
Track listing
#"A Car or a Boy" (Jim Elliott, Wayne Letitia, and
Bill Whitten
Bill Whitten is an American musician and writer. He was the founding member, principal songwriter and singer/guitarist for St. Johnny He was also the singer/songwriter/guitarist for Grand Mal.
In 2018 he released "Burn My Letters", his first ...
) – 4:00
#"I Hate Rock & Roll" (Elliott, Tom Leonard, Letitia, and Whitten) – 3:13
#"Down the Drain" (Elliott, Leonard, Letitia, and Whitten) – 3:11
#"I Give Up" (Elliott, Letitia, and Whitten) – 3:19
#"What Was I Supposed to See" (Elliott, Leonard, and Whitten) – 2:54
#"The Devil's Last Stand" (Elliott, Letitia, and Whitten) – 5:07
#"You're Not My Friend" (Elliott, Letitia, and Whitten) – 0:16
#"You Can't Win" (Elliott, Letitia, and Whitten) – 4:29
#"Gran Mal" (Elliott, Letitia, and Whitten) – 3:00
#"Everything Is Beautiful" (Leonard and Whitten) – 3:23
#"Black Eye" (Elliott, Letitia, and Whitten) – 4:42
#"Turbine" (Elliott, Letitia, and Whitten) – 4:58
#"Stupid" (Elliott, Tom Leonard, Letitia, and Whitten) – 3:17
Personnel
St. Johnny
*Jim Elliott – bass guitar, guitar, piano,
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 stati ...
*Tom Leonard – guitar,
Moog synthesizer
The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014 ...
, vocals, production
*Wayne Letitia – drums,
cymbals,
bass drum
The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. T ...
,
snare drum
The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used i ...
, percussion, production
*
Bill Whitten
Bill Whitten is an American musician and writer. He was the founding member, principal songwriter and singer/guitarist for St. Johnny He was also the singer/songwriter/guitarist for Grand Mal.
In 2018 he released "Burn My Letters", his first ...
– guitar, sound effects, vocals, production
Additional personnel
*John Agnello –
mixing
*Steve Palmieri –
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
See also
*
List of 1994 albums
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1994.
Specific locations
*1994 in British music
*1994 in Norwegian music
Specific genres
*1994 in country music
* 1994 in heavy metal music
*1994 in hip hop music
*1994 ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1994 albums
DGC Records albums
St. Johnny albums