Definitely something of a rarity, today’s song is currently fetching in the realms of £200-500 for an original copy, and that’s if you are lucky enough to find one! Just as well the fantastic Numero Group reissued some of this band’s rare tracks a few years ago via their Eccentric Soul 45’s series!
Little Ed & The Soundmasters only released a handful of songs in the early 1970’s. Little Ed was only seven years old when he started to sing and play drums, and by the time he was eight, he had joined a band with his older brothers!
There isn’t a specific release date for It’s A Dream, with some sources suggesting it saw a late 1960’s issue, and others suggesting it was 1972, so I cannot accurately tell you when it was initially released. I’m anticipating the latter date (1972) as the label that pressed it was a 1970’s soul label from Chicago, Illinois called Fised Records! It’s A Dream explores the dark side to soul – if there is such a thing – and strays into a grimy blues feel with that brassy harmonica melody slinking about in the background. Lyrically it’s a love song but, tinged with that (nicely) murky melody, the delivery obscures the typical, which makes it more interesting!
Numero Group released a collection of Little Ed & The Soundmasters’ 45’s back in 2016 and this is what the accompanying write-up had to say:
Collected here in a handsome 3×45 box set, Chicago’s only blues-funk family band with an eight-year-old drummer finally gets its due. Chock-full of photos stripped from family albums, the complete Soundmasters story is laid out in all of its child labor law-breaking glory, from their earliest days backing J. B. Hutto to their damaged, Vietnam vet-turned-cop lead singer Johnny Dollar.
It’s A Dream originally appeared as the flip-side to the funky sounds of Struggling For Survival, which also features on Numero 2016 Eccentric Soul release. This you can find that here. Enjoy!
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