On the US Dream Express cover, 5 men are listed, all black, and no women, neither as part of the band, or even chorus. However, in every track, one single male voice can be distinguished, and several female, all white-sounding. Puzzling!! In any case, the US Dream Express is fishy, because no female singers are listed although female chorus voices are present in each track, and 5 male singers are listed, while only 1 single male voice is audible in tracks.
Could this be another case of the Milli Vanilli syndrome ? Does anybody know anything about this ? Many disco covers present models in place of the probably less glamorous-looking studio singers (Lorraine Johnson, etc..), but would they show 5 models dressed as clowns, and state their names as group members (although none of them play any kind of instrument) and there are certainly some female singers involved ?
Dream Express appears to have been : Wayne Ward, Anthony Fairchild, Maurice Christian, Sammy Fultz, David Crockett. (except for Wayne Ward who may have been in the group Drum, there is no reference of the “group” members found which make it more an enigma on this group).
From 1979
Produced by Wes Farrell and Al DeLory.
Wes Farrell (December 21, 1939 - February 29, 1996) was an American musician, songwriter and record producer, who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s. He was responsible for over 300 million record sales, including 70 million sales with The Partridge Family, during his career.
Among Farrell's songs were "Boys" (co-written with Luther Dixon), originally performed by The Shirelles and subsequently covered by the Beatles, "Hang on Sloopy" (co-written with Bert Russell, aka Bert Berns), which became the Official Rock Song of the U.S. state of Ohio, "Come a Little Bit Closer" (co-written with songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart), which was a #1 Billboard chart hit for Jay and the Americans, and the theme song for The Partridge Family television series, "Come On, Get Happy".
Recording artists Farrell produced included the Partridges (who actually consisted of David Cassidy and Shirley Jones with a team of studio musicians), Elephant's Memory (whose songs "Jungle Gym at the Zoo" and "Old Man Willow" appeared in the movie Midnight Cowboy), and singer Lulu (the title song to the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun, and 1970s album material).
Farrell was also the owner of Bell Records, which was a merger of three earlier labels (Amy, Mala, and Bell Records). The company was later bought out by Screen Gems, and eventually became Arista Records, while Farrell went on to found Chelsea Records.
Al DeLoryIn terms of public recognition, Al DeLory stands somewhat in the shadow of his daughter, singer Donna DeLory. On the other hand, Al DeLory has played on some of the most popular and enduring records of the '60s, including the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and many of the group's hit singles from the middle of the decade, and on the Phil Spector-produced session that yielded "Zip a de Doo Dah." Additionally, as a producer, DeLory worked on a string of hit singles and platinum-selling albums by Glen Campbell -- and although he's usually identified as a country producer and arranger, DeLory has also produced and arranged songs for the Lettermen, the Four Preps, and other pop-vocal ensembles. DeLory first came to prominence in the late '50s for co-authoring the song "Mr. Custer" ("Please Mr. Custer, I don't want to go...."), which became a million-selling novelty hit in the hands of Larry Verne. By the early '60s, DeLory was a very busy session musician, playing piano and organ for records produced by Phil Spector and Brian Wilson, among others, and was signed as a producer at Capitol Records. When session guitarist Glen Campbell was signed to Capitol as a recording artist and expressed a desire to break out of doing bluegrass instrumentals, DeLory was assigned to produce him and steered him to a very appealing country-pop sound. With help from a large handful of Jimmy Webb songs (and one, "Gentle on My Mind," by John Hartford), Campbell and DeLory generated a string of million-selling singles and albums between 1965 and 1970; DeLory was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as a producer three decades later for his work on Campbell's recordings of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman." DeLory also did one film score during the '60s, collaborating with Nick Venet and Fred Darian in writing and assembling the background music to the exploitation film Out of Sight (1966) (which featured the music of the Turtles, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Dobie Gray, the Knickerbockers, and the Astronauts), and also occasionally cut his own instrumental records as a bandleader, enjoying a modest chart hit in 1970 with a single of the "Theme From M*A*S*H* (Suicide Is Painless)." He became less visible during the '70s and '80s after permanently moving to Nashville, following his wife's death from cancer, but continued to produce and arrange for other artists while also leading his own band. He occasionally composed the soundtracks to feature films, including Norwood, Pioneer Woman, Buster & Billie, and The Devil's Rain. During the '90s, he was busy leading his own band, Al DeLory and Mambo '98, and most recently, he has been leading a salsa band in Nashville. In the intervening years, his daughter, singer Donna DeLory, has emerged as a recording artist in her own right.
Engineer : Shannon O’Neill
Drums : Larry “Fatback” Tolbert. He was also in the group Raydio (Ray Parker).
Bass : Eddie Watkins & Domenic Geneva
Guitars : Paul Jackson Jr, Russ Feiter, Marlo Henderson
Percussion : Shondu Akiem, Tommy Vig
Keyboards : Al DeLory
Personal Direction : Don Kelley Organization
Thanks To (could this be singers ?) : Jolene, Donna (*), Merry & Bobby, Sam The Tux Man, Bridget
(*) Could this already be Donna DeLory ? She would be age 15 in 1979, but started doing background vocals at an early age, also doing backing vocals for Ray Parker and Madonna.
Mastered by Bob MacLeod at Artisan Sound Recorders, Hollywood
Recorded at Gold Star Recording Studios, Hollywood & Can Am Recorders, Inc, Tarzana, CA.
The song Midnight Dream sounds very much like Ultimate, listen to the “Ooooh”s and the very similar voices and orchestration.
There was another Dream Express disco group operating out of Belgium during the same years. They were a totally different band then the Dream Express listed here.
The Belgian Dream Express had some success in Europe with "A Million In One Two Three", having represented Belgium for the 1977 Eurovision contest, which, for those who don't know it, is a pan-European (plus Israel & Turkey) song contest, held annually, where consistently unknown, and often awful groups contended. For some reason, foreigners were often chosen to represent other countries, like Celine Dion for Switzerland.
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Dream Express - Take Me Out Dancing.MP3
