The Key of Dreams [LTMCD 2310]

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Section 25 \ The Key of Dreams [LTMCD 2310]

An expanded edition of The Key of Dreams, the second studio album by Section 25, first released by Factory Benelux in 1982 as FBN 14.

The remaster includes the original album self-produced by the band at their own SSRU facility in Blackpool, plus singles The Beast, Sakura and Je Veux Ton Amour, as well as compilation track Hold Me.

Original artwork by Larry Cassidy. Liner notes in CD booklet. Digitally remastered from the original analogue master tapes.

Tracklist:

1. Always Now
2. Visitation
3. Regions
4. The Wheel
5. No Abiding Place
6. Once Before
7. There Was a Time
8. Wretch
9. Sutra
10. The Beast
11. Sakura
12. Je Veux Ton Amour
13. Sakura (Matrixmix)
14. Hold Me

Available on CD and digital (MP3 or FLAC). To order CD please first select correct shipping option (UK, Europe or Rest of World) and then click on Add To Cart button below cover image. Digital copies are supplied to customers via link sent by email.

Reviews:

"Featuring more improvisation than Always Now, The Key of Dreams sounds even more like it was made by people hellbent on escaping from themselves. Or is the album an elaborate experiment in pursuing disengagement to the point where the group might just grind to a halt? But like its predecessor, it's a record that defies criticism because you're never really sure of the intent behind its haunted dirges and strung out incantations" (The Wire, 06/2015)

"The Key of Dreams found them experimenting with electronics and tape edits, submerging an already bleak sound in even bleaker atmospherics" (Pitchfork, 2008)

"Some mesmerising trance vehicles, they sometimes spin off heart-stopping klanging harmonics pitched somewhere between Public Image and The Grateful Dead's Dark Star" (The Wire, 06/2002)

"Earmarked by an expansive tension that separated the ambient and minimalist Kraftwerkian elements of their music" (Q, 11/1991)

"Provided you are absolutely knackered or smashed, this record will make a lasting impression on you" (Vinyl Magazine, 07/1982)

"Always Now had plenty of looseness about it, and that's no shocker because a third of it was improvised. However, the structures of the songs on Section 25's second LP, Key of Dreams, make its predecessor seem a lot more honed and warmed-over in comparison. The overall sound, influenced by dub, Krautrock, and '60s psychedelia (and, yes, probably Joy Division as well), has changed little from the debut, though the sullen eeriness has gotten more extreme. As a result, the album doesn't quite have the bite of Always Now, as it's sunken in a glum, mid-tempo pit of dejection. It does have a consistency of sound and a good flow to it (the swirling, relatively buoyant No Abiding Place comes along at just the right time) but it could just as easily be taken as a same-y stretch of pointless murmuring. Let it be said that if you're attempting to shake comparisons to Saucerful of Secrets-era Pink Floyd, which Always Now was likened to, the last thing you should do is conclude your next record with a 15-minute instrumental full of crashing cymbals, meandering guitars, and creeped-out atmospherics. And that's exactly what Sutra is. So if Section 25 claimed to not be influenced by certain spacey elements of Pink Floyd, it would have been just as ridiculous as Pink Floyd's complaints that their music wasn't psychedelic. The LTM reissue adds a number of things. First, there's most of The Beast, a 12" EP that boasted two versions of the electro-fied Sakura, the group's first dabbling with sequencers (with some help from Bernard Sumner). Second, there's Je Veux Ton Amour, a French version of Dirty Disco. And then there's Hold Me, a decent compilation track that also reflects their early foray into dance music" (All Music Guide)