AMG Review of Just a Million Dreams

Victor W. Valdivia
All Music Guide

Just a Million Dreams was Alan Vega's second shot at mainstream stardom on a major label, but whereas his previous album, Saturn Strip, was an impressive distillation of his best ideas, Dreams is an unconvincing disappointment. The sleek production sounds dated rather than fresh and vibrant as it did before. The energetic playing and singing can't conceal the fundamental weakness of the material. None of the songs are truly bad, but they are a deeply misguided attempt at mainstream stardom that, this time, sounds forced and contrived. Though Vega once again shed his experimental tendencies on Dreams, this time, it's to no end, since he replaced them with surprisingly drab lyrics and banal melodies. Worst of all, the material, lacking any compelling hooks, fails even as an attempt at mainstream synth pop. The result was the second commercial flop in a row for Vega, who parted ways with Elektra and returned to Suicide and experimental synth-noise. Dreams is not the best introduction to Vega's music, and will be of interest only to hardcore fanatics.