Dion McGregor "Dreaming Like Mad" LP LA #32 Less than 10 copies left

The Return to Vinyl of the World’s Greatest Sleeptalker

Dion McGregor is one of the most unusual cult figures in history—and certainly among the most unique recordings artists the world has known. In 1964, Decca Records released an LP called The Dream World of Dion McGregor (He Talks in His Sleep). The cover featured a now-classic illustration by Edward Gorey, and the contents were unlike anything heard before: the tape-recorded musings, stories, rants and screams of a man who was fast asleep. These spoken dreams—or “somniloquies”—had been recorded by McGregor’s roommate Michael Barr (with whom, in waking life, he composed songs recorded by stars such as Blossom Dearie and Barbra Streisand). Barr’s diligent eavesdropping on his friend’s uncanny habit would, over the years, yield dozens of reel-to-reel tapes full of outlandish, hilarious, and often startling monologues.
Interest in McGregor’s dream world was revived in 1999 when Phil Milstein, through John Zorn’s Tzadik label, released a bawdy and bizarre new compilation of somniloquies—a CD entitled Dion McGregor Dreams Again. Milstein’s extensive interviews with friends and colleagues of McGregor, who died in 1994, have proven invaluable to our understanding of the lives—both dream and waking—of this master orator of slumberland.
Shortly after that release, I became involved in the project and began digitizing the entire somniloquy archive, which had been entrusted to me by Michael Barr. The first product of this process was a 2004 CD issued by my Torpor Vigil label under the title The Further Somniloquies of Dion McGregor (More Outrageous Recordings of the World’s Most Renowned Sleeptalker).
When a last overlooked trove of tapes came my way after Michael’s death in 2009, I began to assemble a new sequence of the most outstanding previously unreleased recordings. Bearing suitably surreal cover art and illustrations by Kerry Zentner, Dreaming Like Mad with Dion McGregor would be released on CD and other digital formats in 2014—the fiftieth anniversary of the Dream World LP.
Inquiries from ardent McGregor fans longing for a collectible vinyl edition of the album followed swiftly. When Ken/Limited Appeal proposed creating just such an artifact, I was satisfied that the right agent for the job had come along.
The present LP is the first McGregor release of its kind in over half a century—a special pressing that will surely be welcomed by the growing audience captivated by what Phil Milstein called “the damnedest sounds you’ll ever hear.” So if you’re ready for a distinctly strange and spellbinding listening experience, drop the needle in the groove and be treated to a front-row seat at the bedside of the world’s maddest dreamer. If you’re at all like me, you’ll find that the appeal of these preternatural monologues is, despite what the label suggests, unlimited.

Steve Venright
Toronto, 2019