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I want to thank all of you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. Nothing makes me happier than receiving your wonderful responses and knowing that you are enjoying my music. After all, I am making these albums for you!

Full Reviews
DJ Quotes
Listener Responses

Full Reviews

Bill Binkelman
WIND AND WIRE
The Magazine of New Instrumental Music

Dreaming For Real is one of those special debut recordings that blew me away when I first dropped the virtual needle onto the virtual first groove.

Those synth strings entered on the title cut and my heart melted. Hey, laugh all you want, fuzz-ball (copyright, Han Solo); this CD is one of the more romantic and warmly melodic releases I've heard in a long time. That the music is also complex, quite varied in emotional mood, and engineered to near-flawless perfection shoots Mister Potts' recording into the Binkelman stratosphere with ease.

The music on Dreaming For Real is exquisite and unabashedly romantic. Blending his synth strings with bells, chimes, piano, and neo-symphonic keyboards, Mister Potts hits one great song after another, launching each one into different bleachers. BAM! Heart-rending beauty ("Symphony Erotica")! CRACK! Haunting mystery ("Nocturnal Tapestry")! POW! Frantic, neo-classical menace ("Imsomnia")! BOOM! Somber yet sublime reflection ("Sleepwalking"). The baseball analogy is my way of saying that Dreaming For Real is a bases-loaded out-of-the-park smash hit! This music is some of the prettiest yet non-melodramatic stuff you will hear this year, guaranteed!

The other point worth mentioning is how original this music is. Mister Potts really doesn't sound like anyone. Oh sure, you could say that on some songs you might hear echoes of Ciani, and on others a smidgen of Vangelis. But, the strong neo-classical elements, combined with the considerably varied pallette of synths, place this CD into a whole other realm from them. Plus, the diversity of tempos and moods across the recording are stunning. There is a characteristic "Potts" sound (synth strings and a vague symphonic texture at times), and it's not like you'll hear Feet In The Soil Asher-isms next to Eno-esque ambience. The diversity I'm speaking of is actually harder for an artist to nail. It's easy to make wildly different music, song-to-song. But, to lend just enough of your signature touch to a tune, yet always bring a new wrinkle to the process. Well, not a lot of people can do that. Mister Potts, on his first recording no less, does it magnificently. I love the descending synth notes in "Nightmare" that seem to come from out of nowhere (appropriately enough). And then, just when you think the song will be a "typical" darker ambient piece, the guy slips in some beautiful major chord symphonic synths, before bringing the noir elements back, even more menacing than before. I tell ya, this man has it! This stuff is magic!

Dreaming For Real gets my highest recommendations. It is beautiful beyond my ability to describe it. It sparkles, dances, flits, and walks the darkened corridors of your mind during the deepest part of the night. Dreaming For Real is for real, all right. Sweet dreams are assured with this one.


Fred Puhan
Music for a New Age

With dreams the likes of which Mister Potts weaves, who would ever want to wake up?

How often does the word "elegant" come into play when describing music? Well, this is one of those times. Mister Potts has been composing and performing for quite some time it would seem. And yet "Dreaming For Real" is his debut album. Legend has it that Mister Potts has been honing his skills composing music for film, radio, television -- even ballet! And it shows. This is an album full of genuine complexity, maturity, polish, and yes, elegance.

The title "Dreaming For Real" refers to the fact that Potts claims to dream the music, and then upon waking, remembers it and puts it to paper. The song titles too, refer to elements of sleep and dreaming: Dancing With A Dream, Cosmic Night, Nocturnal Tapestry, Insomnia, Sleepwalking, and so on.

Each cut on the album has its own flavor; its own timbre, so to speak. Yet the album works as a single entity as well, so tightly woven are the spells, or dare I say it, the dreams, that bind it together.

Potts uses keyboards (synths and piano) primarily. A nod of appreciation must be given to Larry Mah, who recorded and mixed the album, and whose touch lends a masterful professionalism to the quality of the recording. A most impressive debut, indeed. I've listened to this CD at home, in hotel rooms, on board airplanes, and in my car. Despite the sometimes cacophonous surroundings, "Dreaming For Real" has never failed to put my mind and soul at ease, granting me extended periods of luxurious calm.

I never used to wonder what it would be like to experience someone else's dreams. Thanks to Mister Potts, however, I now have a glimpse. And it's certainly "For Real." Thanks, Mister Potts.


"great and sweet melodies..."
-V. Arenas
Amazing Sounds


DJ Quotes

"I liked your CD, it's one of the best ones I've heard in a while"
-Tani Chen
Dreams of a New Age
WMBR-FM, Boston


"It's in my CD Changer at home right now... One of four CDs I've taken home this year out of around 110 submitted CDs. Does that tell you what I think?"
-Brian Schell
Daypub.com Internet Radio


Listener Responses

"WOW -- I love it! Congratulations on a job beautifully done from top to bottom." S.S., Cambridge, MA


"My entire family loves it, even the kids. I may order more later on for Xmas presents." J.D., Londonderry, NH


"It was over too soon. The CD stopped and I thought - "No, I want to hear more." J.H., Nassua, NY


"We got our CD, it made beautiful lounging music for us last week." V.S. Beverly, MA


"It takes me into a comfort zone of peace." M.G.P., Chicago, IL


"I always feel better after it's been on for awhile--more peaceful, in better spirits. Once it even cured an intractable headache that had been impervious to drugs and acupressure (thank you for that!). There must be something about the different brain-wave frequencies of the dream state, something you have managed to `bring to life.' M.M., Jamaica Plain, MA


"In his "Dreaming For Real" he touches so many levels of the unconscious from the wanting to reach the heavens, to edgy sleepiness, to reliving the days worries, he captures the sensual sleep in us, as well as the longing for a different or better place.....every note becomes a statement....He brings his dreams to life and isn't that something we all wish we could do...that safe warm place where we love to spend hours just being wrapped up in our dreams and inner thoughts...or even working through some of lifes' daily routines and problems...... the music embraces you then takes you on a journey to another world, another frame of mind where you can stop and just be.....he becomes the mastermind behind your spirits being lifted to the heavens......he can transcend you to a different place because of love, because of his love of music and wanting to share the moods and shapes of his world...he brings beauty and quiet to what has become a very noisy world...and if it sounds cliche...then so be it....Just sit and listen to the sounds of the night and let Mister Potts be your blanket into the dream world........" D.A., Boston, MA


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