Incredibly Wackerman's work with these guys stretches back four decades. Indeed, Holdsworth's the new guy here: he's only recorded with the Wack (has ever a drummer been better monikered?) since 1982. Not surprisingly that well-worn cliché ‘telepathy’ comes to mind around this collection of improvisations and compositions (though I dare you to work out which is which). Those who fear a mix of shredding and drum pyrotechnics do Wackerman a huge disservice: his compositions are lyrical, tight, and at times darkly disconcerting. The tone is set by the chiming ‘Glass Lullaby’, gentle, thoughtful, never quite what it seems. Holdsworth particularly relishes the occasion, leaning into shadowy Messiaen-like yearnings one moment, then laying down some old school grooves on the long-lined lyricism of ‘The Billows’. Of course the lads can't help rocking out at times: the dirty funk and cocky strut of ‘Two For Ya’ rolls back the years. But much of Dreams is inwardly elegiac; this is a band that has been there, done that and now definitely wants to go somewhere else.