SEPTEMBER – Dreams & Lessons ’87 (Remastered 2025) HQ *Exclusive*
320_1 /// 320_2 /// HQ 1 /// HQ 2
Founded in the ’70s by siblings Russ & Doug Kirkland and their sister Dale, the St. Louis-based band SEPTEMBER wrote and performed 7 albums over a twenty year span, as well as running an active music production studio.
“Dreams & Lessons” – from 1987 – was the band’s last release and musically their most complete in terms of production and sound design, mixing classic ’80s AOR with Melodic Rock and some Westcoast touches. Think TOTO and iTEN meets STARSHIP meets JOHN PARR.
Both Russ and Dale share lead vocals most the time providing a very nice counterpoint on the varied material on offer here, as the TOTO-esque opener “It Hurts Me”, the highly harmonized midtempo “If You Believe”, the FM-ready “Over My Wing”, and the hardest rocking track on the record; “Stand Up Follow Me”.
Dale leads solely on the TANE CAIN sounding “Heaventime”, while Russ does the same on the anthemic “Checkin’ My Six” (somehow akin JOHN PARR), the STARSHIP-like rocker “I Fool Me”, and the ballad “Sean’s Song”. September even flirts with hi-tech stylings on “Animal Land”, plenty of keyboards all over.
Unlike the more known groups from the CCM movement, SEPTEMBER remained independent because their lyrics aren’t completely religious-oriented, with songs focused to secular radio. That’s why the band released their material through their own Sugar Records label. Hence, their albums are so hard to find and never were reissued on CD.
But now SEPTEMBER has remastered ”Dreams & Lessons” for all Eighties fans rejoice.
Highly Recommended
01 – It Hurts Me
02 – If You Believe
03 – Over My Wing
04 – Heaventime
05 – Sean’s Song
06 – Animal Land
07 – I Fool Me
08 – Checkin’ My Six
09 – Stand Up Follow Me
Dale Kirkland – Lead vocals, Keyboards
Russ Kirkland – Lead vocals, Synth, Electric Piano
Doug Kirkland – Keyboards, Vocals
John Hayes, Rob Williams, Scott Payne – Guitar
Jim Bullard, Jay Hungerford – Bass
Carl Albrecht – Drums, Percussion
BUY
www.amazon.com/dp/B0FV2CRZJY
