Big Bus Dream – C’mon Dream
Big Bus Dream – C’mon Dream – Album Review
Alrighty y’all…let’s talk about Big Bus Dream. You might remember some of the postings we’ve had of this project led by Mike Shannon, formerly of the band 4th Ward back in the early 2000s – we’ve posted up tracks by Big Bus Dream called “Operator” back in 2021, and more recently, the title track “C’Mon Dream” in our special reports section earlier this year. Those that know our site well know that our video posts have always been positive-based highlights and semi-gloss snapshots of what we see & hear – and that we get a lot more critical & objective when we’re doing full-on reviews. So buckle-up dear readers, dear friends…it’s time to let Big Bus Dream in on what we really think about the music!
Part of me wonders how much I’ll be alone in that too. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of great things about Big Bus Dream to be found for sure…but I also know what this scene is like when it comes to my peers and how honest they’re willing to be. Mike’s project has received a ton of positive press from the more mainstream Pitchfork, all the way to independent journalism in Jamsphere…he’s charted nationally with his music in the past, and heck, he’s even had it featured on MTV’s Pimp My Ride. Which really ain’t that bad at all, considering that he’s noticeably rocking with a vibe that is well off the beaten path. It wouldn’t take more than a mere ten seconds into “Die Just A Little” to understand what I’m talking about – your ears will hear it…musically, Big Bus Dream is actually fairly ‘normal’ for lack of a better term, but vocally, Mike’s gruff whispered melodies make this music so much more challenging when it comes to reaching the average everyday listener. Again, that’s just objective reality, I’m not trying to be an asshole, I’m simply explaining the consequences of pursuing art without compromise. On a personal level, it takes me a minute or two to adjust to how Mike sings, but I get there to the point where I can appreciate what he does and the difference it creates. You don’t hear a lot of music out there like you’ll hear in Big Bus Dream, or singers like Shannon, who somewhat sound like they’re in the process of dying just a little while singing songs about what it’s like to “Die Just A Little.” It’s an odd combination for sure…you’ve got what’s actually quite a comforting vibe at the core of this opening track, which contrasts hard with the way Mike chooses to sing. Listen to moments like around the 1:20 spot though, where he takes a moment away from the mic to let “Die Just A Little” have about thirty-five seconds of instrumentation…you’ll notice the level of accessibility instantly increases a couple degrees. The music is naturally appealing, the vocals are an acquired taste, and the songwriting is pretty stellar overall; it’s a combination that works the more you spin it, but it’s certain to throw most listeners at first. I wouldn’t be telling Mike anything he doesn’t already know I’m sure…he’s making a stylistic choice in how he chooses to sing at the end of the day, and he’s not without melody…there are many positives on display for sure, and ultimately he’s adding an artistic dimension to the sound even if it’s still likely to be a bit of a barrier between the music and the masses. Make the music you wanna make, how you wanna make it…that’s what I’ve always said. If people happen to dig what you do, then that’s a bonus.
“C’Mon Dream” was the first track I’d heard on this record when we posted it up on our pages back in early September – and you betcha, it instantly had me doing a double-take. On the one hand, there’s certainly uniqueness here…Mike is downright poetic when it comes right down to it, and he tackles this material from an interesting angle – it’s all based on dreams as far as I know. It’s tougher to get to that part of his music given how he layers his vocals and the textural qualities he applies to the way he sings, but he’s an observant dude when it comes to what he chooses to sing about, and I dig that. “C’Mon Dream” is an interesting track that dives into what it’s like to hate being awake when dreams can be so damn good. As a person that didn’t dream at all for the first forty-one years of his life, I’m still trying to get a handle on having them now…I honestly don’t know how y’all can sleep with all that stuff goin’ on. What I find interesting about “C’Mon Dream” beyond its theme, is the structure it has…it’s almost like Mike is surprised by the spot where the main chorus hooks come in each time…like he’s hurried to start that part after the verses have finished. So it seems jarring in a way, yet so laidback in others…it’s a little bizarre in that sense, but again, not without melody, not without hooks, and not without something that will likely catch your interest for some reason or another. Is it a typical single? Not even remotely y’all.
I grew up with Tom Waits as a regular artist featured on our home stereo…so don’t get it twisted, I’m fully accustomed to strange voices on the mic. Mike would certainly be aware that he doesn’t sound like everyone else out there…but in the long run, given time to acclimate, being different can be a great thing. Listen to the spot around the 2:05 mark and the note he hits on “In My Mind” – it’s clear the guy could sing more straightforwardly if he wanted to, and that he’s actually got quite a commendable singing voice…but if he was just like everyone else, would you remember the music? Say what you want about the approach or his stylistic choices, but the objective reality is that you’ll likely remember listening to Big Bus Dream after a single listen to the music, forever. You know how many bands and artists would kill for that degree of identity in their sound? It’s priceless. We forget a good eighty or ninety percent of the music we listen to…so recognize that, whether you think you’d want to listen to Big Bus Dream over and over again aside, the identity is completely established and that’s quite an accomplishment at the end of the day. “I expect in the end, I’ll get what I deserve.” I tell ya, for a guy that writes about dreams all day long, he’s remarkably grounded and realistic. The music surrounding Mike has been incredibly well-played throughout this record so far…tremendous skills being flashed from the guitars, the rhythm section is always on point…it’s really just a matter of whether or not the masses will be able to comprehend the artistic twist he’s applied to the vocals, or not. Hopefully they’ll dig deep and give it a chance…it’s not the public’s strong suit, but you never know. I think that anything unique or different takes time to catch on, but there’s lots of great things happening on C’mon Dream.
The clarity you’ll find in the music and the production also makes for an interesting juxtaposition with the whispered vocals of Mike Shannon too…it’s like he’s telling you a secret in each and every song, you know what I mean? Listen to “Dying Before I Sleep” – it’s like he’s imparting the wisdom to ya before he kicks off. Describing a “kaleidoscope of colors” and hearing voices…it’s like he’s tapped into another realm of consciousness on this fourth track on C’mon Dream, and that’s heckin’ interesting to me. The question becomes whether or not people will seek out interesting versus easily accessible…and I feel like we all objectively know what the real answer is to that. I figure as long as Mike is realistic about what the goals are and knows he’s delivered music with a much more niche appeal than the majority of what’s out there, then everything’s all good. It’s only when folks go into making something so radically different and expect it to resonate with everyone that things get complicated. “My mind no longer mine to keep” is a great way to describe going to sleep and the transition that occurs between being awake and nodding off. Mike’s gifted with perspective, and the courage required to express himself how he wants to – I’ve got respect for the way he does what he’s doing, even if I’m realistic about the barriers it would theoretically create between the music and the average everyday listener. He’s right on the edge of Spoken Word in many ways…that might be the right way to reach people. I love the mix of emotions that he puts into his words…there is beauty, there is darkness, there is pain, comfort, confusion…all of the things that you somewhat experience as you transition from being awake to dreams, and back again.
“House On The Corner” was one of my favorite tracks on this album, and certainly within the first half. Dude’s got such an impressively vivid way of describing his memories & the moments he’s experienced in life…you feel that dreamlike imagery he relays in his songs, and you can see it in your mind. “House On The Corner” is a seriously versatile tune when it comes right down to it…but this is art more than it is what you’d typically define as music, you feel me? Like I said, what you’ll hear in Big Bus Dream actually has a lot more in common with Spoken Word than perhaps it would with any specific genre of music, and that might be the best avenue to get this out there into the world. The main chorus hooks of “House On The Corner” is freakin’ SPECIAL though y’all…don’t get it twisted. The moments where you’ll find melody creeping into Mike’s words or the music on this record can be truly magical and straight-up transformative…what you’ll hear in the main transitions of “House On The Corner” takes it from good to great every time. I like that Shannon also displays humility, humbleness, and humor when the right occasion arises too. “House On The Corner” sounds like he’s revisiting his childhood home, and when he’s describing how rough it was, he says in an aside: “We survived. I’ll be more accurate, most of us survived.” It makes you chuckle a bit, and revisit the points in your own childhood that you had your own brushes with death. I really love what Mike chooses to communicate with us. “It’s not just a memory to me” is a brilliant line, and powerfully sincere – these moments are what his LIFE is all about. Our memories are what make us, and special pieces of time that go on to define who we are. I really dig Mike’s profound appreciation for the days that have passed by & how he describes them in the present.
Each track has merit of its own kind. I’m not gonna be the guy to tell ya that every song is as good or as appealing as the next, because I don’t think that’s true of anything we listen to – we all like what we like, we all love what we love, and certain moments will always resonate more than others. Case in-point, I can appreciate the uniqueness of a track like “Forgiveness” and the messages that Mike is beaming out into the world through his words, but it’d still be tougher to feel like this is the cut you’d wanna turn up, you following me? From the timing to the structure, “Forgiveness” appears gentle and delicate while being much more complex and involved at the same time. I can get behind the main hooks, where Mike is singing “there’s no love without forgiveness” – that’s quite beautiful in both the sentiment & melody. As for the rest, it’s again a lot more like listening to a good story than it would be something you’d likely consider to be music as we typically define it. All-in-all, you end up feeling like an album like C’mon Dream would have its time and place, pure and simple; you’d know when you were in the mood to listen to this album. It’s not like you’re gonna be able to take a track or two outta this lineup and slide it onto a playlist with a bunch of other tunes by different bands & artists – that’s not the way this is designed. This record is truly a unique experience unto itself, which ultimately really works both for, and against it. I think he did an exceptional job in the finale of “Forgiveness” – its final thirty seconds were my favorite.
He’s endlessly observant, and personally, I really enjoy that. Listening to “Unreasonable Convictions,” he actually reminds me a lot of the way that Bill Owens writes his music in Blunt Objects. It’s about saying things how you’d say’em, no filter, no pretense, no bullshit – pass or fail. Artists like Mike Shannon aren’t all that concerned about whether or not you’re going to agree with everything they bring up in a song – heck, so much of what’s being said is like unbiased reporting anyhow…I think it’d be a bit of a stretch to even assume that Mike takes a defined position on everything he’s singing about. He’s playing the role of an observer on tracks like “Unreasonable Convictions” more or less; he’s still expressing a point of view and a perspective if you’re listening closely, but he’s also making you dig for it a bit by listening closely, which I also like. Musically, we’ve ended up in this like…Progressive Jazz/Rock terrain, which is actually pretty damn cool too. Again, I ain’t here to argue that this is anything remotely close to typical – it’s not – but I would HOPE that this IS interesting to your ears, because it should be. Shannon’s opening up the chasm between art & music and showing you what it sounds like when you combine both in equal parts. So what if it ain’t for everyone? There really isn’t any music or art that is!
“Art is crack and there’s no rehab for that” might very well be one of the most insightful & accurate lines I’ve ever heard in any tune out there. I’ve always personally said that your art should be the thing that kills you, and now Mike has perfectly illustrated why that’s the case on “No Rehab For That.” When it comes to whatever your art is personally, I would only hope there is “No Rehab For That” either. I’m all about tracks like this, and combined with the mysteriously intense vibe in the music that comes along with it, “No Rehab For That” would also be right up there with my favorites on this record. This is an inventive tune, but equally honest and realistic about what the act of making music or art involves as it points out the toll it takes on all of us too. I figure that none of us do anything in life without feeling like it should be recognized on some level, but the most grounded among us understand that it’s rarely the case. “It gnaws at me, claws at me” – just like Mike describes. We’d all love what we do to be noticed, but even in the event that it’s not, which is usually the case for the majority of the planet, we’re still gonna keep on doing it. It’s the most beautiful version of the definition of insanity. We do things over and over and over, regardless of whether or not anyone’s actually paying attention. And why? Did you read that quote up top? Because THAT. “Art is crack and there’s no rehab for that.” Bloody brilliant. The desire to create is both a blessing and a curse, and Shannon has detailed that push/pull perfectly.
“I Thought I Was Special” somewhat continues this line of thinking, and puts the feelings of an artist right under the microscope. It’s heartbreakingly accurate once again. “Here’s the thing, I thought I was special – I was meant for real big things.” You’ve felt that way, haven’t you? Well…wait for it…because here comes the gravity of the situation from Mike when he sings “in the end, I was not” & “I was wrong.” It’s tragic, it’s sad, it’s so freakishly realistic and direct and honest…and I absolutely love it. You’ll rarely experience music that is so unafraid to tell it like it is, which is why it’s actually completely bizarre that tomorrow I’ll be talking about another man that takes on music from the same angle, Bill Owens in Blunt Objects – I think these two dudes should absolutely collaborate with each other given the astounding similarities in their approach/perspective on LIFE. They just randomly both showed up in my inbox this week with new music, and I find both Mike and Bill inspiring to no end. I want to BE these people when/if I ever grow up one day. However unlikely that might be, I’d only hope that I’d have the same insightful perspective and artistic fearlessness they possess one day. “I Thought I Was Special” is definitely one of the most kickass cuts on this record…it’s thought-provoking, it’s genuinely catchy too – it’s got a little something for everyone, while also serving as a reminder to be more humble than any of us probably are. We’re all comparable to someone else. We’re all similar to something in some way. It’s extremely tough to leave your mark on the world at this point, given how long this floating rock has already been rotating for. What’s truly beautiful about this trip though, is that we all still try to anyway.
So…there’s two ways of looking at this record, and I couldn’t tell you which is actually the truth. On the one hand, I was talking to you earlier about acclimating to a sound…and ten tracks into a lineup of songs, you can see that’s somewhat taken effect in what I’ve had to say. On the other hand, I think it’s completely fair to say that the material has gotten stronger too! I’ll let all you be the final judge and jury on all that…but suffice it to say, I’ve been listening to C’mon Dream throughout the week, and every time I reached the second half of this album, I felt like the material just continually got more convincing. “Just A Natural” is a great example. It’s like psychedelically tinged poetry…the music is fantastic and some of the best you’ll find on the album, but so too is what you’ll hear outta the vocals of Shannon. “I’m out of touch, I’m out of time, I’m out of place…out of line” – it’s a great opening line. It’s so good in fact, that it makes me want to get on him less about the following line diving into the cliché about flying and how I’ve been ranting about that in every second review I write lately…so I’ll go light on it and simply say that Mike has been so damn good about saying exactly what he wants to say that I was almost surprised to find him using this analogy that always sounds like it’s saying something when its effectually saying nothing at all. Other than that one tiny aspect of the lyricism in “Just A Natural,” I still think this song is among the best you’ll find in the lineup. I dig Mike’s vocals, I think the music is superb, the melody & hooks are there…and like the majority of cuts throughout this record, it’s truly interesting.
“Not Meant For You Or Me” is another track that I’d say bends towards a more accessible sound for the music of Big Bus Dream. It still ain’t typical by any stretch of the imagination y’all, but the effort has continually been put into every tune you’ll hear on this record. The performances are noteworthy, the production has been nothing short of stellar…so from there, it really comes down to what does or doesn’t resonate with ya. “Not Meant For You Or Me” is surprisingly pleasant, especially considering the content you’ll hear as it starts out thematically…it’s a song that’s basically about extreme gun violence. Set amidst a beautifully dreamy vibe and catchy sound, Big Bus Dream crashes straight into one of the most serious subjects you’ll hear in this whole lineup, headlong without hesitation. It’s a song that both reminds us about how blessed we are, yet how remarkably stupid at the same time – “if you feel the anger, embarrassment to the core” is a POTENT line y’all…I think it’s an outright exceptional way of describing what MOST of us feel, daily as we scan through the horrific headlines before we get to the sports. Because that IS the reality dear readers, dear friends – don’t get any illusions otherwise – we’re incredibly united on hating the horrors of gun violence and wanting to prevent them as best we can – it’s only the special interest groups that would have you believing otherwise. Any poll will show you that whether you’re on the right or on the left, the citizens of planet earth want measures put in place so that the violence ENDS once and for all. I’m in Canada…so believe me, I’m one of those people that’s in favor of just melting them all the fuck down, because they’re entirely unnecessary. It’s more than confounding to me that we can see our brothers and sisters down south continually murdered in the worst ways, and we’re somehow expected to just move on to whatever’s next? And now, sports? I don’t see how this can go on and on and on and thoughts and prayers are the best we can come up with – it’s clearly not working. Bullets were “Not Meant For You Or Me” – but we might just catch one anyway. The simple act of living life shouldn’t become a lottery…feel free to disagree with me on that.
“I don’t expect you to understand, I don’t expect you to comprehend” he sings on “Snapshot” – and that’s a good thing! Most people don’t. I’m not even suggesting that I fully get what Mike has been up to with Big Bus Dream…I’m giving you theories, but who knows if I’ve been anywhere close to what any given tune has been about or the reasons why he does what he does, or how he does it. I’ll say this…I don’t know that “Snapshot” quite continued the hot streak for me…but I don’t know that it didn’t either. I kind of went back & forth about the inclusion of this tune this late in the lineup overall. It’s a tough call to make…there’s really no way to figure out what would or wouldn’t be too much or too far inside of a lineup of artistically-designed songs that are already going to be an incredibly tough sell to the average everyday listeners out there, know what I mean? So in that instance, isn’t it just best to do whatever you’d like to anyway? I figure that’s the way to go. I think Big Bus Dream was wise to not let it get out of control and push C’mon Dream into something like eighteen tracks, which would have certainly strained the strength of the material for sure, but my gut still tells me that thirteen cuts would still be a bit lengthy for most folks listening already. To dig this album is to really understand that music can be more than what we’ve been typically presented with throughout the years…it can totally be an art form of its own right, and I’d argue that’s how Mike has been using it over the course of this entire lineup. “Snapshot” is a good tune…and if you’ve been enjoying the album so far, I honestly don’t think you’d enjoy this song any less than anything else you’ve already heard. Does it push the album forward at track twelve? Probably a bit more debatable I guess…but I do feel like it showed he’s still got plenty to say this deep into the set-list, and in many ways, “Snapshot” is amongst the album’s most insightful cuts.
As the ol’ saying goes, “he’s just not that into you” – but he clearly doesn’t expect us to be that into him either if you’re listening to his words on “We’re Not Addicted,” or indeed this record’s worth of songs. “I’m addicted to the thought of you. What was…and should be.” I feel like that’s my exact take on the entire human race personally…it’s like Mike extracted that thought directly from my own brain. The concept of people seems fan-freakin’-tastic to me…but the reality of them, not so much. Things just aren’t adding up to their potential…I feel like that’s what a lot of C’mon Dream is really all about…the fact that we’ve got access to seeing things so clearly when we sleep, as opposed to the horrors we’ve created while we’re awake. This final cut on the record perhaps lays out some of the whole message more clearly than the rest…how you’ll do you, and I’ll do me…which might just be the best way we can go about things on this planet. Live and let live, you know? Yet, we’re endlessly forced to interact, and those dreams we have still turn into reality every time we open up our eyes – “is it ever enough?” Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it hasn’t been. Maybe it will be one day. C’mon Dream has been a stunning reminder of why it’s great to be alive and what makes life worth living, even if a large part of that has been done by pointing out the opposite along the way. It’s a highly commendable artistic effort…one that makes me wonder what verdict will be rendered by the court of public opinion for sure, but also an album that will likely surprise you individually if you’re really listening closely. It’s about being having a dream “with album art and liner notes,” and the resilience of one man never willing to give up on it.
Find out more about Big Bus Dream from the official page at Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigbusdream
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