Dreamtime (Tom Verlaine album)

Dreamtime is the second solo studio album by American musician Tom Verlaine, released in 1981. "Without a Word" is a rewrite of "Hard On Love," an unreleased Television song performed live in 1974 and 1975.

Dreamtime
Studio album by Tom Verlaine
Released	July 1981 (1981-07)
Recorded	1981
Studio	A&R, RPM and Penny Lane Studios, New York
Genre	Post-punk
Length	38:21
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Tom Verlaine
Tom Verlaine chronology
Tom Verlaine (1979) Dreamtime (1981) Words from the Front (1982)
Alternative cover
1994 Infinite Zero reissue

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Christgau's Record Guide	A−^[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[3]
The Great Rock Discography	6/10^[4]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	^[5]
Record Collector	^[6]
Record Mirror	^[7]
Rolling Stone	^[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[9]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	8/10^[10]

The album was reissued in 1994 by Infinite Zero Archive/American Recordings label, with two bonus tracks drawn from the 1981 "Always" 7" & 12" single. It was reissued in 2008 by Collectors' Choice Music with no bonus tracks.

Track listing

All songs written by Tom Verlaine.

Side one

1. "There's a Reason" – 3:39
2. "Penetration" – 4:01
3. "Always" – 3:58
4. "The Blue Robe" – 3:54
5. "Without a Word" – 3:17

Side two

1. "Mr Blur" – 3:24
2. "Fragile" – 3:27
3. "A Future in Noise" – 4:13
4. "Down on the Farm" – 4:49
5. "Mary Marie" – 3:25

Bonus tracks (1994 CD reissue)

1. "The Blue Robe" (alternate version) – 4:17
2. "Always" (alternate version) – 4:09

Personnel

• Tom Verlaine – guitars, solos, vocals on all tracks; bass on "Penetration"
• Ritchie Fliegler – guitars on all tracks, except "Penetration"
• Fred Smith – bass on "Mr. Blur", "Down on the Farm", "There's a Reason" and "Without a Word"
• Donnie Nossov – bass on "Always", "Mary Marie", "Fragile", "The Blue Robe", "A Future in Noise" and bonus tracks
• Jay Dee Daugherty – drums on "Mr. Blur", "Down on the Farm", "There's a Reason", "Without a Word" and "Penetration"
• Rich Teeter – drums on "Always", "Mary Marie", "Fragile", "The Blue Robe", "A Future in Noise" and bonus tracks
• Bruce Brody – keyboards on "Always", "Mary Marie", end of "Penetration" and "Always" (alternate version)

Technical

• Robert Clifford – engineer
• David Chenkin, John Terelle, Steve Ett – assistant engineers
• George Delmerico – design
• James Hamilton – photography

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Peak Position
1981	Billboard Pop Albums^[11]	177

Notes

1. Nastos, Michael G. "Dreamtime – Tom Verlaine". AllMusic. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
2. Christgau, Robert (1990). "Tom Verlaine: Dreamtime". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-73015-X. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
3. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
4. Martin C. Strong (1998). The Great Rock Discography (1st ed.). Canongate Books. ISBN 978-0-86241-827-4.
5. Gary Graff, ed. (1996). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (1st ed.). London: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-0-7876-1037-1.
6. "Tom Verlaine: Dreamtime". Record Collector. p. 102. 1981's Dreamtime is a showcase for Verlaine's fretwork, the brittle, tense sound of early Television giving way to a much freer, resonant sound.
7. Nicholls, Mike (September 12, 1981). "Tom Verlaine: Dreamtime". Record Mirror. p. 15.
8. Fricke, David (December 10, 1981). . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 4 June 2008. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
9. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Tom Verlaine". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 848–49. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
10. Sheffield, Rob (1995). "Television". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 398–99. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
11. "allmusic (((Dreamtime > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums)))". Retrieved 2008-09-14.