Burning The Ground Exclusive 1985
NEW 2023 Transfer!
NEW Meticulous Audio Restoration!
Originally posted March 26, 2012
“The Love Parade” is the fourth single released by The Dream Academy. It was a more “edgy” song than their previous singles, made so by the inclusion of implied themes of adultery and erotic temptation in the lyrics, and was arranged to a brisk bossa nova-esque beat which was in stark contrast to the style of the group’s first single Life In A Northern Town. There were two additional singles released in the UK by Blanco y Negro, a 7″ shaped picture disc and a second limited edition release.
The Love Parade is the only song on The Dream Academy’s eponymous album not to be produced by David Gilmour. Instead, the band recruited Alan Tarney to work with them on the track. Tarney was brought in at the suggestion of Rough Trade Records founder Geoff Travis to work on “The Love Parade”. “What happened was, we had a pretty good demo for “Love Parade,” and we loved it, and when we made the record with David, somehow we never got ’round to it”. Lead vocalist Nick Laird-Clowes noted that Tarney brought some “real special techniques” to the table: he tracked the vocals “12 or 15 times” during certain portions of the song.
There were high hopes for the single, especially from Warner, and there was some degree of promotion of the song (such as a live performance on American Bandstand). However, the single failed to live up to the expectations of their debut single, “Life in a Northern Town”, just making the top 40 (#36) in the US and reaching #68 in the UK.
SIDE A:
The Love Parade (12″) 6:16
Engineer, Mixed By – John Hudson
Producer – Alan Tarney
SIDE B:
The Love Parade (7″) 3:46
Producer – Alan Tarney
Girl In A Million (For Edie Sedgwick) 3:47
Producer – Paul O’Duffy*, The Dream Academy
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | The Love Parade | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #36 |
| 1985 | The Love Parade | U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary Tracks | #13 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Blanco Y Negro – NEG16T, Blanco Y Negro – NEG 16(T), WEA – 920363-0
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: UK
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop, New Wave
CREDITS:
- Artwork By [Screened By] – Art-O-Matic
- Design – Peter Saville Associates
- Written-By – Gabriel*, Laird-Clowes*
NOTES:
From the LP “The Dream Academy”
Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS
VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net
THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus: Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC: Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner
SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!
Password: burningtheground
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Love, love seeing this pop up. One of my favorite bands from that era, and I adore this song. Thanks a TON, Paul!
Oh I LOVE The Dream Academy. Any chance you have the 2×7” version of this single with the instrumental and the cover of “Things She Said Today?” I think the only copies of those floating around the net come from an old YouTube upload.
This is a new find for me as like most only knew of their biggest hit.
I like the production from Alan Tarney, who i think worked on some of Cliff Richard’s releases.
Thanks Paul 🙂
Honestly thought this track was from the 90’s
MIND. HONESTLY. BLOWN.
Unfortunately, this song also didn’t grab me until I heard the beat about half a dozen times. Once it does though you are quite possessed by it. These particular new waver kids were quite atypically sincere. Thanks much.
Also, their whole debut album is unusually great from start to finish.
(Johnny) New Light!
I adore this track, thanks so much for the background information! I recently, for fun, picked up another album of theirs on cassette while used record shopping. I still have a tape player / CD changer in my truck so sometimes I go “old school” shopping and get something in every format ! 😆 🎶 I look for to hearing the 12” version!!!
Thank you Paul! I love The Dream Academy’s debut, expertly produced by David Gilmour. For me it’s forever tied both to Life In A Northern Town and their two songs in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This overlooked gem deserves a reexamination. Thank you!
I really love this song! Although not immediately as catchy as their debut song, I slowly got into it. Wow, Paul, thanks for bringing it back! I love the old archives of BTG and it’s great to relive them especially for me who discovered you much later on. I’m feeling quite nostalgic and sentimental as of late. Thanks, Paul! Jeff Bonus Beats: Speaking of nostalgia, today I read that Ministry will be touring with Gary Numan next year. What’s cool about it is that Ministry will be revisiting songs from “With Sympathy” and from “Twitch” too. Sounds intriguing!! I really… Read more »
You’re welcome, Jeff. That tour does sound very interesting I love Ministry during their new wave era.
“I wanted to to tell her, but I stuck to my lies” is way different than what made them well known for sure. I have that 12” BTW.
Thank you Paul for this new transfer. I love the Dream Academy. “Life in a northern town” is still one of my favourites ever.
You’re welcome, Daniel 🙂
What a classic 80s tune! At first I didn’t care for it but it grew on me and then I listened to the entire album and love every song.
It is a super-overlooked song that should have been mich bigger. 🙂