LIVING IN A CHILD'S DREAM (1967) by the Masters Apprentices

The Masters Apprentices were an Australian rock/pop/beat group from the sixties. They were fronted by singer Jim Keays, and the main songwriter at the outset was Mick Bower, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist. Their early singles, 'Undecided' and 'Buried and Dead' were garage band type tracks, and this song contrasted with those, with Bower writing a ballad expressing a longing of going to back to the simplicity and wonder of childhood. It's considered a psychedelic classic, although apparently Bower did not have this in mind and did not consider it a drug song. The other members were not sure that the song suited the band, but by the time they put it out, psychedelia had arrived and it became a big hit.

By the time of this single, two original members had left, drummer Brian Vaughton, and lead guitarist Rick Morrison. They were replaced by Steve Hopgood and Tony Sommers respectively, who both play on this track. Sommers in particular does a nice guitar solo in the middle and at the outro. The other member was Gavin Webb on bass.

The great music site 'Milesago' has this background on the song: "Living in A Child's Dream" was recorded at Bill Armstrong's famous South Melbourne studio at 100 Albert Park Rd, and as with all their Astor cuts, it was (nominally) produced by staff producer Dick Heming although his input, says Keays, was mainly limited to watching the clock to ensure sessions started and finished on time! Most of the real production was done by Armstrong's renowned house engineer Roger Savage, who before leaving England had recorded Dusty Springfield, the Rolling Stones' debut single "Come On", and produced the backing track for The Easybeats' breakthrough hit "She's So Fine". Another important factor was the presence of Molly Meldrum -- Keays' book reveals that Molly attended the session and had quite an influence on the eventual outcome; in fact this single might be considered his first production. Released in August, at the peak of the 'Summer Of Love' psychedelic explosion, it became one of their biggest successes, reaching No.9 in the national charts. Both "Living In A Child's Dream" and "Undecided" ranked in the Top 5 Australian Singles of 1967, and "Living In A Child's Dream" was voted Australian Song of the Year.

As there is no video, I have done a slideshow video for the song, using mainly images of this line up of the Masters. I have also put some images of Mick Bower at the end as a tribute to one of Australia's great songwriters.

(Aztec Music have released a remastered two cd issue of the early Bower version of the Masters).

Comments are invited.