All Your Dreams...and More (1981-1984)

Album Review

Action Now is best remembered as an early vehicle for future Pandoras' leader Paula Pierce, but as this excellent compilation demonstrates, as a whole, the band recorded great power pop songs. The 27 tracks on All Your Dreams...And More 1981-1984, contain the previously released French-only album All Your Dreams, remastered by Bill Inglot from the original tapes, thought to be long gone, plus a complete live show from December 1981 recorded at Madame Wong's West in Los Angeles. Apart from Pierce on lead guitar and vocals, Action Now (or The Action Now, as the teenaged Pierce demanded they be called) included Jim Schuster on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Mike Lawrence on bass and vocals and drummer Scott Hillman. They took a decidedly poppier, hook-laden approach to garage rock than the majority of Paisley Underground bands that began sprouting in L.A. about the time Action Now broke up. Only the track "Try" gained any exposure, albeit minuscule, as an early pick on the influential Rodney Bingenheimer KROQ radio show and the third Rodney on the ROQ compilation album. With this Avebury release, power pop fans get 25 songs never before released in the United States, including the original version of "Stop Pretending," which was later waxed by the Pandoras.