Ella Mental – Uncomplicated Dreams

The South African Rock Encyclopedia > Rock Legends > 1980s > Ella Mental > Discography > Ella Mental – Uncomplicated Dreams

Tracks

1. See Yourself (Clowns) (Parr) (3:31)
2. Magic Mother (Parr, Eugster) (3:24)
3. Dancing (In The Moonlight) (Mac, Parr, Whitelaw, Eugster) (4:29)
4. Pressure (I’m Getting Stronger) (Mac, Parr, Vardas) (4:20)
5. Ain’t Nobody Like You (Uncomplicated Dreams) (Mac, Parr) (2:20)
6. Wet Washing (Parr) (2:09)
7. Monsters (Mac, Parr) (3:35)
   

Bonus tracks on 2002 CD reissue

8. Small Towns (Mac, Parr) / Point Of View (Parr) (6:21) listed as separate tracks on CD back cover
9. Once Awake (Mac, Parr, Whitelaw, Eugster) (3:33) live at the Chelsea Theatre, April 1984
10. See Yourself (Clowns) (Parr) (3:39) live at the Concert In The Park, 12 January 1985
11. Don’t Shout It (Mac, Parr, Tutty) (5:22) previously unreleased track
12. Give Me My Hat Back (Mac, Parr, Tutty) (3:18) previously unreleased track

Produced by Malcolm Watson
Engineered by Phillip Nel

Tracks 8 and 9 were previously released on the “Pressure” 12″ single in 1984.

Track 10 was previously released on the Concert In The Park in 1985.

Tracks 11 and 12 are possibly from the sessions for the Ella Mental album released in 1989.

Incorrect track information on streaming services

On Spotify (and Apple Music), “Point Of View” is actually part of “Small Towns,” while the track listed as “Point Of View” is actually a duplicate of “Give Me My Hat Back.” “See Yourself (Clowns) (Live At Concert In The Park 1984)” was actually recorded in January 1985. The Spotify playlist above has been recreated to reflect the correct information as far as possible.

On Bandcamp “Point Of View” is included as part of “Small Towns”. The other bonus tracks are incorrectly labelled. Here are the correct song titles:

“Point Of View” → actually “Once Awake (Live At The Chelsea 1984)”

“Once Awake (Live At The Chelsea 1984)” → actually “See Yourself (Clowns) (Live At Concert In The Park 1985)”

“See Yourself (Live At Concert In The Park 1985)” → actually “Don’t Shout It”

“Don’t Shout It” → actually “Give Me My Hat Back”

Additional information

See Yourself (Clowns) Live 1985

Performed live at Concert In The Park, 12 January 1985

30 Million Lonely People (Single 1985)

Released as a single in 1985, and was also part of a various artists 12″ EP “4 For Africa“.

“30 Million Lonely People” was recorded after “Uncomplicated Dreams”. We spent 3 days at EMI studios with Little Steve Van Zandt producing.

Tim Parr, July 2025

Musicians

• Heather Mac: vocals
• Tim Parr: guitar, vocals
• Adrian Levi: bass
• Hermann Eugster: drums
• George Vardas: bass on “Pressure”

Release information

LP: 1984, EMI, EMCJ(E) 4115921
Cassette: 1984, EMI, L4 EMCJ(E) 4115921
CD: September 2002, Retro Fresh, freshcd127

Press Release

September 2002

Fusing elements of rock, pop, theatre, and mime into a unique and heady musical brew. Ella Mental trailblazed their way through the mid-’80s with great songs like “See yourself (Clowns)”, “Pressure” and “Magic Mother”…who can ever forget their phenomenal live performances! Digitally remastered and available for the first time on CD the band’s debut album “Uncomplicated Dreams” includes all the original songs plus the rare 12″ EP tracks, the stunning live performance of “See yourself (Clowns)” at 1985’s Concert in the Park and a pair of new songs from the band’s archive.

Review

One of the first concerts I ever went to was the Free People’s Concert at Wits University. It was during the turmoil of the 80’s and at a time when South Africa was producing some excellent music. One of the acts on the bill was Ella Mental who were just rising to fame with the singles ‘See Yourself (Clowns)’ and ‘Pressure’ getting some good airplay (the former managing to reach number 16 on the Radio 5 charts). One of my abiding memories of the concert was standing near the stage being concerned at offending Heather Mac as I was standing with my fingers in my ears (that and my friend’s girlfriend favourably comparing my rear end with Bruce Springsteen’s. But I digress). The reason I was blocking my ears was not that I disliked the music, but I hadn’t realised how loud it would be.

Ella Mental’s debut album ‘Uncomplicated Dreams’ contained the aforementioned singles and five other tracks. The dreams may have been uncomplicated, but the music is sophisticated rock. Heather Mac’s mature and commanding vocals immediately set the tone on the opener ‘See Yourself (Clowns)’ and maintain it throughout the album. These strong vocals and the guitar playing of one of South Africa’s leading axemen, Tim Parr, meant that this album was bound to be something special. Apart from the wonderful pop rock of ‘See Yourself’ and the edgy ‘Pressure’, the album has touches of Anglo-African sounds, particularly evident in the Void-y guitar on ‘Dancing (in the Moonlight)’, a great rockabilly track in ‘Wet Washing’ and closes with the punky ‘Monsters’ (which was the B-Side of the ‘See Yourself’ single).

The big question that surrounds this album for me is the meaning of the song ‘Magic Mother’ with the lyric ‘Magic Mother cast spell on us/teach us to dance away all of our fears’. Is the mother referred to Mama Africa, or is Magic Mother used here a code for Magic Mushroom? You never know with these rock musician types. I can’t recall ever hearing this tune on the radio, so I guess the SABC protected us from this highly subversive song.

After the success of this album, Ella Mental recorded the single ’30 Million Lonely People’ which had limited success. They then headed over to the States possibly more as self-imposed exiles rather than seeking fame and fortune. There they recorded the less impressive ‘Ella Mental’ an album that grew out of the cracks in the pavement of New York and lacked the passion of ‘Uncomplicated Dreams’ which was firmly rooted in the fertile soil of 80’s South Africa.

~ John Samson, SA Rock Digest #165, 4 August 2002

Info supplied by John Samson, May 2002. CD reissue supplied by Benjy Mudie from Retro Fresh.