Road to Our Dream explained

Road to Our Dream
Cover:T'PauRoadToOurDreamSingle.jpg
Type:single
Artist:T'Pau
Album:Rage
B-Side:Time of Our Lives
Released:7 November 1988
Genre:Pop rock
Length:3:59
Label:Siren Records
Producer:Roy Thomas Baker
Prev Title:Secret Garden
Prev Year:1988
Next Title:Only the Lonely
Next Year:1989

"Road to Our Dream" is a song by English band T'Pau, released in 1988 as the second single from their second studio album Rage. It was written by vocalist Carol Decker and rhythm guitarist Ron Rogers, and produced by Roy Thomas Baker. "Road to Our Dream" peaked at No. 42 on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the Top 100 for seven weeks.[1]

Music video

The song's music video was shot at various sites in Cornwall, including Cornwall Coliseum and Tintagel Castle.[2] The scenes filmed at the Cornwall Coliseum showed the band performing at the venue during final production rehearsals for the "Rage Across Europe" tour. Speaking to This Is Cornwall in 2013, Decker recalled: "We always held our production rehearsals at the Cornwall Coliseum – it's very sad it's gone to ruin and is frozen in time. If you have a look at the video for our single "Road to our Dream" you can see us putting up T'Pau posters at the Coliseum."[3]

Critical reception

Upon its release as a single, Music & Media wrote, "Definitely one of the best tracks from Rage. Much more likely to chart than the rather limp "Secret Garden"."[4] Paul Oldfield of Melody Maker stated, "It's in that vein of American AOR that begins as a lowing of grief though yards of billowing gauze and ascends from there, apart from interludes when a desultory guitar solo or sax is coaxed forth. Whatever some people saw in 'China In Your Hand', it's suffered a massive hernia along the way, and reaches its destination in a support truss here."[5]

Gideon Haigh of The Age commented, "More Proustian observations from Decker. Life's like a road, geddit? It's long and hard, right? Sometimes the struggle may appear futile, but eventually we reach our dream, okay? Goes on for weeks, and this is just the radio mix. Phew."[6] Hannsjörg Riemann of German magazine Bravo gave a three out of three star rating. He said that Decker "comes across as really strong" and noted the "heavy guitars" which "drive" the song. He added, "From the slow tempo one shouldn't conclude that the song doesn't have enough steam under the hood."[7]

Formats

7" single
  1. "Road to Our Dream (Edit)" - 3:59
  2. "Time of Our Lives" - 3:30
7" single (UK only)
  1. "Road to Our Dream" - 4:40
  2. "Time of Our Lives" - 3:30
12" single
  1. "Road to Our Dream" - 4:40
  2. "Time of Our Lives" - 3:30
  3. "Call Me" - 3:12
CD single
  1. "Road to Our Dream" (Full Length Version) - 4:41
  2. "Call Me" - 3:16
  3. "Time of Our Lives" - 3:31
  4. "Road to Our Dream" (Instrumental) - 4:42

Personnel

T'Pau

Production

Other

Charts

Chart (1989)Peak
position
Irish Singles Chart[8] 24
UK Singles Chart42

Notes and References

  1. Web site: T'PAU | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company. officialcharts.com. 2016-11-09.
  2. Web site: T'pau - Road To Our Dream . YouTube . 2007-07-23 . 2012-06-23.
  3. Web site: Plenty of heart and soul as T'Pau return | Cornwall Live. thisiscornwall.co.uk. 2016-11-09.
  4. 17 December 1988. Previews: Singles. Music & Media.
  5. Oldfield. Paul. 26 November 1988. Previews: Singles. Melody Maker. 31.
  6. News: Haigh. Gideon. 24 February 1989. Singles. The Age.
  7. Riemann . Hannsjörg . Platten-News: Singles . de . . 29 December 1988 . 55 . 1 . Munich . Heinrich Bauer Zeitschriften Verlag KG. . 23 November 2022.
  8. Web site: Jaclyn Ward. The Irish Charts - All there is to know . Irishcharts.ie . 2012-06-23.