Life in a Northern Town

[bitflipper]

When this song was originally released, I had never seen Saturday Night Live because I was a working musician and Saturday nights were spoken for. But I had bought the first videotape machine I could afford and began recording SNL episodes and watching them on Sunday. It was a Sony Beta, which my technoid brain assumed would become the prevailing videotape format, being technically superior to VHS. That thing cost over a grand and didn't even have a wireless remote.

I can still vividly recall playing back an SNL episode that featured a band named Dream Academy, playing Life in a Northern Town. I stood there slackjawed, thinking this was the best thing I'd ever heard on that show. Rewound and played it over and over, then ran out that afternoon and bought the album on cassette. Only to find that Life in a Northern Town was the only good song on the album.  The band vanished, leaving only this one masterpiece as their legacy.

Here's Justin Hayward covering it 40 years later, with an orchestra and still sounding remarkably mellifluous for an old man.

 

[Salvatore Sorice]

It's a very simple song (which most great songs are). Great lyrics - and this is an excellent interpretation.

[Jeremy Oakes]

I believe this is the version (audio only) from an 1985 US TV broadcast. I have to say it I find Justin Hayward's version too "spoken" and not sung enough.

But what a great song.

J

 

[Marc Cormier]

Their follow-up album, A Different Kind of Weather, is THE soundtrack of my 20's.  AMAZING album.  No duds.  Just Nick Laird Clowes at his finest.

[bitflipper]

Thanks for that, Marc. I was so disappointed with the first album that I never gave the band a second chance. But your comment spurred me to give it a listen. You're right - it's pretty good.

I know there's a lot of good stuff from the 90's that I missed due to spending that decade completely disconnected from popular music.  It was disco that pushed me away in the 80's, resulting in a retreat to the music of my youth, primarily oldies from the 19th century. The Brandenburg Concertos - that's the soundtrack of my youth, my musical comfort food. 

[JoeGBradford]

Great song - speaking as someone from a northern town in England!