Sweet Dreams is an oral history of the New Romantics, from the beginnings and the clubs of the late 1970s to Live Aid and changes in music in 1985. Jones collates interviews from a huge range of sources (a difficult task seeing as 'New Romantic' is wide-ranging and widely disparaged as a term, so the bands covered are diverse) and connects these with explanatory narration that sets scenes and points out important moments. The book is split by year, clearing charting the progression of the bands and the scene, and has a discography at its end for those wanting further listening, whether as a reminder or to discover new music.

As someone who likes the music but wasn't alive during the period, perhaps the more nostalgic element you tend to find in oral histories of music scenes didn't work for me. The book is a very comprehensive charting of the people, bands, and music you could loosely call 'New Romantic', and like similar books, brings a useful picture of what it was like. However, I found it lacked analysis or insight into a lot of the phenomena it was describing, which I would've found more interesting than just what happened: more on why things happened as they did, which some parts of the book do look at in passing (for example, why there were a lot of both straight and gay people at the New Romantic clubs and trying out the fashions).

Music oral histories tend to either feel like you wanted more, or you wanted less, and in the case of Sweet Dreams it did drag a lot, feeling comprehensive but lacking a spark. A lot of people, especially those who were into it at the time, will probably enjoy the book and it'd make a great gift for someone who likes the bands, but for me it felt like an endeavour to get through, even with the music playing in my head.

Loved, loved, loved.
I was a Cellmate in the 80s and I really loved this book that brought back memories and helped me to improve my knowledge of the people involved and their impact on the society.
Well researched and well written, a very interesting and enjoyable read.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

O.M.G.

Comprehensive does not even begin to cover it.

As ever, Dylan Jones tackles his subject matter in extraordinary depth, painting a vivid picture of the times using the words of the people who contributed to the cultural impact.

An utter, utter delight from the first page.

I couldn’t wait to read this book as I grew up in the 80s and everything in the book was so familiar to me. The music, the fashion and the wider political climate are all explored in this book. I enjoyed the many perspectives offered by the people who were active in the London music scene at the time but, more than that, I enjoyed the analysis of what culture meant to the people who were actually shaping it.

‘You lived and died by what you wore below your knees” - says so much about the concept of finding your place in society!