Dream Into It finds Billy Idol in a reflective mood. That may be surprising since so many of his early hits looked outward and reveled in the early ‘80s rock lifestyle. But, now some 45 years on, Idol looks back at the trip.
Indeed, the album itself is a concept album that follows Idol from before his stint in Chelsea, to his chart topping early 80s bashers, through drug addiction, into recovery, before winding up in a victorious “Still dancing.”
What definitely is surprising is how somber the album is. Ever since Chelsea, and especially in Generation X and during the Rebel yell era, Idol was the epitome of ROCK. He looked cool, he sounded cool, and his songs were catchy as hell. But here, let’s take the opening track as an example. “Dream into it” finds Billy as a teenager dreaming about what might be, and the song is a gentle, soaring ballad. The track, as with most of the album, juggles heavy, thick, modern pop production with broad, emotive swashes. This change up might catch a lot of listeners off guard since his last two, excellent Eps, leaned more into classic, 80s rock (with a modern production sheen) than anything since his 80s heyday.
Even the follow up track, “77,” which focuses on the initial Bromley contingent and Gen X spark, doesn’t tear the roof off. Rather, it’s a sort of energetic love song that has energy, but goes for the heart rather than the throat. One of the main selling points of the record was that “77” featured Idol with Avril Lavigne who, in the public eye, has waivered between being a pop-punk princess and an object of ridicule. Right now, she’s more in the territory of the former and to me, it’s very interesting to see Idol merge his world with Avril’s- is this an act of defiance against the close minded of the punk world? Does he think he can use some of Avril’s glitter for himself? Well, what’s weird is that even though this team-up was pushed as one of the biggest maneuvers of the LP, the physical versions, both the CD and vinyl record, feature an alternate version of “77” that doesn’t include Avril at all- she’s relegated to the digital version only- that’s a bizarre move. It’s even more bizarre since the album is only nine songs long. Surely there was room for a bonus track.
Joan Jett does, however, show up and it’s cool to see these two icons locking together, especially since they just kicked off a combo tour. But even here, we’re not knocked out of skull with a monster rocker. Again, we sort of have a shiny pop song that has flares of rock, but is tinged with a melancholy, or perhaps self-reflection, that conjures more internal music than body rocking. “John Wayne,” which has Alisson Mosshart, is almost goth and here Idol does conjure that slick ice heard on songs like “Catch my fall” and “blue highway.”
The album does end with the victorious “Still Dancing” which, of course references his first huge hit and does rock to a degree. To whereas many may have expected that Idol’s first LP after 10 years be a rock destroyer, it’s probably his most mediative to date. It’s always great to hear Idol rev it up like the rock god that he is, but arguably, at this stage, it’s more interesting to hear what Idol thinks of Bill. And he still rocks live.