Title: “I've been dreaming up a storm lately”
Format: Album track
Written by: Jim Steinman
Performed by: Pandora's Box
Genre: Progressive/Art Rock
Taken from: Original Sin
Year: 1989
Acclaim: n/a
Finish up then on a quirky little one. I loved the Pandora's Box project, even though they only released the one album, and some of the material made it into future Meat Loaf albums. There are three spoken pieces on the album, of which this is the second, and I think the best. It has no music, apart from some guitar feedback (I think) and wind sounds, and is driven by Steinman's increasingly manic voice as he describes the life of a man who believes that magic mirrors are forcing him to go out and kill. “They create a reflection”, he tells the unnamed victim, “and then I have to go out and find the real thing that matches it. And almost always, when I put the real person in front of the mirrors it is not nearly as beautiful as the reflection that came first. And at that point I have to destroy the real thing.” I love the way his voice almost cracks into a growl on the word “reflection”; you really get the idea he is twitching, fighting back the urge to lash out, and it's a perfect study of a man on the edge and about to topple over, who believes in his crazy fantasies and refuses to take responsibility for the murders he perpetrates, blaming his compulsion on the mirrors.
Things I like about this :
1. The different idea of speaking the whole thing
2. The unhinged voice of Steinman
3. The minimal sound effects
4. The way he seems to make you hear mirrors scream
5. The storyline
6. The rhythm and cadences of his voice; you could almost hear this being sung
Things I don't like about this:
1. I'm not crazy about the opening lines, but that's about it.
2. Actually, I don't like the throwaway last line either.
Rating: 