PM – Street Of Dreams / Red Wine And Lemonade

Here’s the second and third PM albums ‘Street Of Dreams’ and ‘Red Wine And Lemonade’.

Written by: gdmonline

ARTIST: PM
ALBUM: Street Of Dreams/Red Wine And Lemonade
LABEL: Shadow Records
SERIAL: SR21150, SR21151
YEAR: 1993
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue LIST SOD
Discogs Reissue List RWAL
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

LINEUP: Peter Mayer – vocals, guitars, keyboards * Jim Mayer – bass, backing vocals, production * Roger Guth – drums, keyboards, backing vocals

TRACK LISTING:
Street Of Dreams

01 Wind On The Water * 02 Right Time To Tremble * 03 Tender Moments * 04 River City Sunday * 05 My Intuition * 06 Love Blue * 07 Nothing To Lose * 08 Restless * 09 Between Love * 10 Bang! Bang! Bang! * 11 Street Of Dreams * 12 Sister Annie * 13 Kiss And Tell * 14 Cowboys And Indians * 15 Roses In The Rain

Red Wine And Lemonade
01 Love Is The Right Thing * 02 Red Wine And Lemonade * 03 Last Train To Eden * 04 The End * 05 India * 06 My Intuition II * 07 I Need Life * 08 Liberty Lies * 09 Legend Of The Faithful Man * 10 Blue Sky Rider * 11 Follow Me

WEBLINKS: Site Link

Background

There’s not much info out there regarding the second and third PM albums ‘Street Of Dreams’, and ‘Red Wine And Lemonade’ so bear with us as we attempt to piece it together. From what snippets of info we have been able to retrieve, the debut PM album from 1988 was the trio’s only major label release. A surprise really that Warner Bros dropped the ball as it contained a #8 hit single in ‘Piece Of Paradise’. Undeterred, the PM trio moved on later that year to become Jimmy Buffet‘s backing band called The Coral Reefers.

By 1990, PM had released a cassette only version of the’ Street Of Dreams’ album. Not only was it low key and self released, it was extremely hard to find a good quality digital recording. This didn’t occur until 1993 when local St Louis label Shadow Records picked up the license to distribute the album, along with the other PM album released that year called ‘Red Wine And Lemonade’.

The Songs

Due to the absence of information during this period, I will bundle the articles for both albums in the one page, and we’ll place it in the 1993 year (tag) and 90’s Decade category.

Street Of Dreams
The songs on this album still have more of an 80’s rock vibe than the later material from Mayer which headed down Americana Lane. Production values for a self released effort are top notch, and you hear the quality throughout. Ambient guitar melodies flow like liquid gold and Peter’s vocal is the glue that holds it altogether. The original cassette only had 12 tracks but the CD is extended to 15.

My favourite tracks include the atmospheric ‘Tender Moments’ a simply beautiful tune soaked in teardrops. So too the effortless ‘Love Blue’ topped by Peter’s sublime falsetto parts. Its clear that the ambient ballads is where PM excel and ‘Between Love’ is another example of that. For something different, ‘Nothing To Lose’ and ‘Bang Bang Bang’ are funky tunes with 80’s leanings, but overall there’s lots to like here. I’m only just touching the edges.

Red Wine And Lemonade
Probably not as spatial as ‘Street Of Dreams’ but contains a quota of rock but more in a Midwest and organic style. Not surprising considering these boys are originally from St Louis but now based in Nashville. ‘Love Is The Right Thing’ kicks it off as a jangly slow burner, it’s followed by the cranky title track ‘Red Wine And Lemonade’ which sits somewhere between John Kilzer and The Outfield, believe it or not. ‘Last Train To Eden’ is a lovely windswept tune, great accompaniment for that long drive across the prairies.

On the other hand, ‘India’ is a punchier compact affair that is ideal in a bar room setting. ‘I Need Life’ sounds like an offcut from that debut PM album, whereas ‘Liberty Lies’ goes down the country bumpkin road, very rural and pastoral. ‘Legend Of The Faithful Man’ is the rock slinger tune here, with a big production, perhaps the heaviest on board. ‘Blue Sky Rider’ stutters along a Novo Combo like rhythm, while closer ‘Follow Me’ features guitar melodies jetting in from all over the soundscape.

In Summary

During 1993, Peter Mayer created the Little Flock Music label, and reissued ‘Street Of Dreams’ alongside the Shadow Records pressing that same year. LFM didn’t get around to reissuing ‘Red Wine And Lemonade’ until 1999, which also coincided with his solo albums ‘Romeo’s Garage’ and ‘Spare Tire Orchestra’. Peter is still out there appearing under different guises, you can find him on Facebook to catch up with what he’s working on and where he and the band will be playing next.

Video

Tender Moments

Last Train To Eden