Released 8 May 1990 Length 40:41 Dreamland
(1990) Mixed Up
(1991) Release date 8 May 1990 | Recorded 1989 Producer Groove Groove Melody Artist Black Box Label Deconstruction Records | |
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Genres House music, Disco, Italo house, Electronic dance music, Eurodance, Electronica People also search for Hits & Mixes, Positive Vibration | ||
Dreamland is the debut studio album of Italo house band Black Box. It was released in May 1990 on RCA Records, and was preceded in 1989 by the international hit single, "Ride On Time". The album was certified gold in both the US and the UK. The album is mostly remembered today for its opening song "Everybody Everybody" and the ensuing lawsuits by Loleatta Holloway and Martha Wash over their lack of proper credit and payment for their vocal contributions to the album.
Contents
History
When the album was originally released, the credits listed the band members as Mirko Limoni, Valerio Semplici, and Daniele Davoli (as the producers, songwriters, and musicians), as well as Katrin Quinol on vocals. "Ride On Time" had been released as a single prior to the album's release, and musician Dan Hartman and vocalist Loleatta Holloway had threatened to sue Black Box, as well as label RCA Records, claiming that the song contained heavy sampling of an earlier recording by the two (the 1980 number one dance club hit "Love Sensation"), although no credit had been given to them upon the release of the single. Subsequently, Hartman was given songwriting credit for this track, and Holloway was listed as the featured vocalist prior to the release of the album. However, American R&B vocalist Martha Wash actually sang the lead vocals on six of the other eight tracks on the album, although she was not credited in any way. The songs sung by Wash are: "Everybody Everybody"; "I Don't Know Anybody Else"; "Open Your Eyes"; "Fantasy"; "Hold On"; and "Strike It Up". Many of these songs were released as singles and achieved significant success on radio airplay and dance club charts across the world. Wash claimed in a lawsuit filed soon after the success of the album's release that she was paid a flat fee as a "session singer" to record demos of the tracks that would eventually appear on the album, but that those songs would be re-recorded with a different vocalist. She reached a settlement with RCA Records that led to her recording contract with the label, as well as an undisclosed monetary compensation. Wash's courtroom efforts spurred legislation in the U.S. making vocal credits mandatory on albums and music videos.
Track listing
All tracks by Daniele Davoli, Mirko Limoni & Valerio Semplici (Copyright: Lombardoni Edizioni Musicali, admin. by Intersong USA) except where noted
- "Everybody Everybody" (vocals by Martha Wash) – 5:24*
- "I Don't Know Anybody Else" (vocals by Martha Wash) – 4:36
- "Open Your Eyes" (vocals by Martha Wash) – 5:21
- "Fantasy" (Eduardo del Barrio, Maurice White, Verdine White; vocals by Martha Wash) – 5:14
- "Dreamland" – 2:03
- "Ride On Time" (Davoli, Dan Hartman, Limoni, Semplici, Semplici; vocals by Loleatta Holloway; reissue vocals by Heather Small) – 4:37
- "Hold On" (vocals by Martha Wash) – 5:38
- "Ghost Box" – 3:57
- "Strike It Up" (vocals by Martha Wash) – 5:15
*U.S. and Canadian editions of the album have the Le Freak Mix 7" Edit of this song, which is 4:09 in length
Black Box
Vocalists
Additional musicians
Production
Songs
1Everybody Everybody5:22
2I Don't Know Anybody Else4:35
3Open Your Eyes5:21