Ever since the dawn of MTV and Friday Night Videos, the music video has significantly impacted musical tastes and pop culture. It might not be as extreme as when the Buggles declared that "Video Killed the Radio Star", but there is no arguing that the music video certainly could make or break a song's popularity. So this regular Flashback Video feature will serve to remember some of the music videos from the great '80s decade that made an impact on me in one way or another. This issue we will cover "Dreamtime" by Daryl Hall. Yes, that's right, just Daryl Hall and not Hall & Oates. Hall is one of my very favorite voices of all time and he has written or co-written 11 Billboard #1 songs. Most of those hits were in the late '70s and early '80s. Many people do not remember that Daryl Hall also has done some solo work. After about 12 straight years of recording and touring, Hall released his second solo album in 1986 called Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine which would include his most successful single as a solo artist. “Dreamtime” was released as a single in July of 1986 and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October. It also reached #11 on the Mainstream Rock, #24 on the Adult Contemporary and even #36 on the Dance Club charts showing a diverse popularity. "Dreamtime" was definitely more uptempo pop than most of Hall’s blue-eyed soul songs and it almost had sort of a new-wave feel to it. The song seems to be largely forgotten for some unfortunate reason, but I have always remembered it well. Maybe it was because of the music video which received significant exposure during that same time.
The music video was directed by the Scottish-born Matt Forrest who had previously directed videos for The Art of Noise and Grace Jones. Forrest specialized in animation, so he brought those psychedelic special effects to the video. Here is the music video for “Dreamtime” by Daryl Hall…
Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics was not only the co-producer on this single, but he also played lead guitar including the featured solo, though not shown in the video. Kate St. John who was a member of The Dream Academy provided some backing vocals and Michael Kamen conducted the string arrangement which is performed by animated cellos near the end of the video. It all helped create an underrated hit from 1986 that gets overshadowed by all of the greatness he created as part of Hall & Oates. Hope you enjoyed another trip back to the '80s thanks to Flashback Video!