Recently a number of albums featuring New York City subway musicians have been released, including the slickly packaged studio recording Subplay and the acclaimed album by Patti Rothberg, Between the 1 and the 9. The recent release Street Dreams New York is notable as the first album actually recorded in the subway (the others were were recorded in studios with obvious results). Street Dreams' raw sound is at the same time an advantage and a disadvantage; some songs, like "The Saddest Day of My Life" by Asheba and the One Vibe Band, has the background noise of crowds and subway trains obscuring the music. However, the unproduced sound does justice to Kathleen Mock's strong folk-rock vocals and acoustic guitar on her songs "Touch Your Hair", "You Should Know" and "It Must Have Been an Angel". Mock, probably the most important "find" on this album, also appears on "Subplay" and hopefully will follow in the footsteps of fellow underground artist Patti Rothberg by releasing a complete solo album. But until she does, she remains a highlight of these collection discs.
The songs are mostly original compositions, and as is probably expected from an album of subway musicians, the collection is rather eclectic. A number of tracks features the didjeridoo performances of Simon 7 and Didjiworks; for those unfamiliar, a didjeridoo is an Australian instrument that doesn't sound like anything else - and what better place to find a didjeridoo master than in the New York City subway? The blind folk-pop group Herman Ferman is represented by two tracks, the unremarkable "Nothing" and the introspective "End of the Line" (yes, the band's three members are all completely blind). Rounding out the collection are songs influenced by blues, jazz, rock, folk, and African tribal music, performed by brother and sister Roger and Tan Ridley and Briton Paul Clements.
Overall, Street Dreams provides a good look at the underground music culture of the New York subway, and offers a few real gems. In addition, part of the proceeds benefits the AIDS support organization LifeBeat, making it a worthy effort all around.
