Album of week 16: Dreams so Real – Rough Night in Jericho
A Hidden Gem: Rough Night in Jericho
This album is a true "pearl"—largely unknown and, for the most part, absent from modern streaming services (though you can find stuff on YouTube). Back in the late 1980s, I was an avid reader of the monthly magazine Musikexpress/Sounds. It was there that I stumbled upon a review for this band’s debut album, which had been awarded the highest possible rating.
In those days, reviews were vital. There was no World Wide Web, no streaming, and in the provinces where I lived, there were no record stores where you could "test-listen" before buying. So, I took a leap of faith and ordered it via mail-order. It wasn’t an easy decision; music carried a real physical and financial weight back then. As a student, I invested the lion's share of my allowance into my collection—usually one record a month, maybe two if there was a sale.
The Value of the "Treasure"
We listened to our "treasures" with an intensity that is rare today. You would play an album back-to-back, over and over, studying the sleeve and every word of the liner notes. Although I am far from being a technophobe—I am a computer scientist by trade, after all—music simply held a higher status then, and the quality felt like it was on a completely different level. One has to wonder: who will be guarding a Taylor Swift album like a sacred treasure forty years from now?
The Sound of California
Coming back to the album "Rough Night in Jericho": my investment certainly paid off! The record radiates an immense amount of charm; the sound immediately transports you to the warmth of the Californian sun (even if the band was from Georgia). The guitars, the vocals, the songwriting—it all feels like a single, cohesive piece of art. As a rule, records become masterpieces when they don’t feel "glued together," but rather flow naturally.
I have a dim memory of that Musikexpress review mentioning a nine-album contract, so convinced was the record label of the band’s potential. Unfortunately, that never came to fruition; I believe they only released three albums in total. I lost track of them after that—without the internet, gathering information was a challenge.
For me, this record remains a perennial highlight. I still put it on from time to time. The photos show my original vinyl from 1988; years later, I tracked down the CD on eBay just so I could import the tracks into my digital library.
A Note on the Band: For those unfamiliar, Dreams So Real (the band behind Rough Night in Jericho) remains one of the great "what ifs" of the Athens, Georgia scene. Produced by Bill Berry of R.E.M., they captured that melodic, jangle-pop power that defined an era, even if the nine-album prophecy didn't quite come true.
Rough Night in Jericho (YouTube)
See the album here and the rest of my weekly album recommendations on Album Whale.