RPM
2005
Midsummer Nights Dreaming
About This Album
At a glance, this 35-track, two-CD set looks like it's combining two 1960s albums by the Ministry of Sound with bonus tracks. It's not; the Ministry of Sound issued just one single, and this is a witty facsimile of how their discography might have played out if things had turned out differently, complete with mock artwork for two LPs, one from 1966 and one from 1968. So almost all of these 35 cuts, all recorded between 1966-1968, were previously unreleased; the only two that actually came out in the 1960s were on the 1966 single "White Collar Worker"/"Back Seat Driver." The group did deserve better than just one official single, but nor was its output particularly deserving of deluxe treatment. Fans of John Carter, who sang and helped write some of the tracks, will be familiar with the kind of idiosyncratic spin on late-'60s harmony pop the Ministry of Sound offered, combining elements of sunshine pop, the Beach Boys, the Beatles at their poppiest, pop-psychedelia, and maybe a bit of the early Bee Gees. This blend is particularly prevalent on the second and better of the CDs, which groups the more sophisticated and psychedelically inclined tracks into the mock album Midsummer Nights Dreaming, with its very British lyrical blend of everyday life and fairytale imagery.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and 13)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and 13)

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