Andwellas Dream - Biography
By Eric Brightwell
Andwellas Dream (later just Andwella) was an Irish band whose mix of blues, folk and jazz exemplified the transmogrification of psychedelia into prog with a sound occasionally reminiscent of (early) Argent, Cream, Pentangle, Procul Harum and (late) Small Faces. Though favorites of FM radio, none of their albums sold especially well and they disbanded after recording only three.
The band that would become Andwella’s Dream first coalesced in the mid-60s in Belfast, centered around a musical prodigy named Dave Lewis. Originally known as The Method, they changed their named to Andwellas Dream in 1968, after a move to London. They spent only two days in the studio (with noted session musican Bob Downes) on their debut, Love and Poetry (1969 CBS), and lost their original drummer to homesickness. Nonetheless, the results were well-crafted and winningly balanced, with psychedelia’s abstraction and progressive rock's technicality, as embodied by the song “The Days Grew Longer for Love.” That year they released a clutch of singles, “Sunday/Midday Sun,” “Mrs. Man/Felix” and “Mister Sunshine (Junkie Woman Blues)/Shades of Grey.” The CD re-issue contains several of these non-album cuts as well as alternate takes.
At the end of the year, Lewis recorded a solo record, The Songs of David Lewis. It was released on Ax Records the following year, in 1970. That years witnessed a flurry of activity from the band and Lewis wrote and provided musical backdrop for an album of acid poetry by David Baxter, Goodbye Dave (1970 Reflection.) Next, Dave McDougall joined the band and they shortened their name to Andwella. Their next few releases were through CBS’s progressive imprint, Reflection. World’s End (1970) found the band abandoning some of their psychedelic tendencies and pursuing a more straightforward direction in the vein of Traffic. The singles “Every Little Minute/Michael Fitzhenry,” “Hold On To Your Mind/Shadow of the Night” and “Are You Ready/People's People” all followed, with little commercial impact. “World's End (part 2)/I Got a Woman” came out on Dunhill and “Lady Love/Just How Long” was released on yet another label, Pink Elephant Records.
People's People (1971) followed with a new bassist, Dave Struthers and Scottish, ex-Thuderclap Newman drummer, Jack McCulloch. In the vein of its predecessor, neither it nor the singles, “I Got A Woman/Hold On To Your Mind” and “Mississippi Water” sold well. Feeling they’d run their course, they parted ways in 1972.
After the break-up, Dave McDougall joined Speedy Keen from Thunderclap Newman. Nigel Smith passed through Khan, Magna Carta and Pentangle. Drummer Gordon Barton played on a John Entwistle album. David Lewis released two solo albums on Polydor and went on to write “Happy to be an Island in the Sun” for Demi Roussos.
