Dream Dream Dream - The Anthology (Deluxe Clamshellbox)

Mark Wirtz was one of the behind-the-scenes whiz kids that made the 60s music scene in the U.K. so magical and Dream, Dream, Dream: The Anthology is an expansive, well-chosen collection of singles, albums tracks, and rarities that shows off all facets of his work. He was a jack of all trades who could sing, play instruments, write songs, arrange them, and produce them as well. Though his resume isnt littered with hits, he concocted one of the great lost albums of the era -- A Teenage Opera -- collaborated with Tomorrow on their landmark debut album that helped invent psychedelic pop, gave easy listening music a hip twist, and never quit trying to capture his musical vision. He started off writing novelty pop in the beat group era, shifted to writing for male and female vocalists, and after making a splash with his Mood Mosaic easy listening album, he started working for EMI and teamed up with Tomorrow. At the same time, he tried to launch his ambitious Teenage Opera song cycle and had a hit single with 1967s "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera." Though it failed to be released until years later, the concept led many others (like Pete Townshend) to think about albums as more than just a collection of singles. Attempts to get bubblegum hits under the Matchmakers name or make an adult pop splash as Philwit & Pegasus didnt quite work; neither did his solo albums made in the early 70s where he revisited his love of the Beatles in a Badfinger-esque way. Dream gathers up key songs from all phases of Wirtz’s career and all of them make it clear that he was more than just a craftsman out for a quick buck. He was more of a visionary with a clear sense of what pop music meant to him, and that comes through whether its Peanuts girl groupy cover of the Beach Boys "Im Waiting for the Day," the swirling psych of Tomorrows "Revolution," the groovy smoothness of his easy pop covers and originals like "A Touch of Velvet - A Sting of Brass," the mainstream pop singles he made with singers like Zion De Gallier, the silly bubblegum novelties recorded by the Matchmakers, or his more serious records made under his own name in 1973. Alongside the three discs of previously released and reissued songs, there are two discs of songs that are rarer. Two albums of easy pop covers and originals -- Come Back and Shake Me from 1968 and Fantastic Teenage Fair from 1970 -- are aired here for the first time in decades and there is a full disc of outtakes, alternate versions and a batch of stereo remixes made in 2024 by the sets complier Stephen C. Wilson. Mark Wirtz will never be a household name, but for a certain set of pop-loving 60s fanatics, hes the ultimate, and as such deserves a reissue like this that treats him and his music with suitable respect and a well-earned sense of awe. ~ Tim Sendra