The Cult “Dreamtime” released just over 40 years ago, on August 31st, 1984. Beggars Banquet. The debut LP by then-post punk goth rockers (before they went hard rock/metal) with a sound described by lead singer Ian Astbury “like Big Country and U2, only better.” Big-ass 80’s drums, soaring and anthemic guitars and vocals: check! Dreamtime went to #21 in the UK. The first of the two singles released from the album, “Spiritwalker,” is one of my favorites on the LP: a alternative/goth ass-shaker that if I wan’t dancing to back in the mid-80’s at teen nights, I certainly could have been. “Spiritwalker” went to #77 on the UK singles chart and to #1 on the UK indie chart. Though it’s good, I’m not quite as crazy about the second and final single, “Go West (Crazy Spinning Circles)” which went to #90 in the UK. It’s a bit more on the pop end of gothy post-punk but it’s a bit repetitive and at times tedious. I do like “A Flower in the Desert” quite a bit (a bit of a Smith/Cure mashup). Like “Spiritwalker,” “A Flower in the Desert” was written back when The Cult was going by the name Southern Death Cult; its original title was “Flowers in the Forest.” Also of interest: the lead track “Horse Nation” very directly channels Astbury wanna-be Native American aesthetic – according to Wiki its lyrics “are taken almost verbatim from the non-fiction book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.” (“Spiritwalker is also clearly Native-inspired,  so too ‘Dreamtime‘ is inspired by mythology of the Aboriginal Australians and ‘Butterflies‘ is a reference to the Hopi ceremonial butterfly dance.” – wiki). The final track on Dreamtime, “Bad Medicine Waltz,” is an over-the-top gothic dirge and a dead-ringer for “Black Angel,” the closer on their subsequent release, Love from 1985, one of my all-time favorite 80’s releases.