"All That You Dream" is the second song on Little Feat's 1975 album "The Last Record Album". I first heard this playing in a record store in Manchester in 1975, when it was still only available on import. (At the time, some albums would be released several months earlier in the USA, often with superior packaging to their UK versions). I remember not really understanding the music at the time, but I bought the album anyway when it was finally released in the UK, on the grounds that other leading musicians of the time always raved about Little Feat, therefore they must be good.
"The Last Record Album" marked the beginnings of a move away from New Orleans-influenced boogie towards more complex, jazz-influenced songs for Little Feat. This trend may have been partly responsible for Lowell George's later decision to leave the group. The shift led to a greater songwriting involvement by Paul Barrere and Bill Payne.
"All That You Dream" is Little Feat, with John Hall (from the group Orleans) playing third guitar. Sam Clayton's percussion is almost totally absent from the track, although his voice can be heard in the vocal mix. The tune is therefore carried totally by kit drummer Richie Hayward.
Hayward has always had an ability (shared by a limited number of drummers including the late John Bonham) to play exactly on the beat, instead of slightly ahead of the beat. On this tune, he exhibits that capability throughout, which gives the whole tune a floating, elastic feel. The overall feel is enhanced by Hayward's minimalistic groove-based playing, with few fills; any drum accents are sparse and intended to enhance other instruments. Overall, the final recorded sound is basically sparse and streamlined, with great use of space.
Throughout the song, Barrere and Hall's guitars interlock and weave complimentary patterns, with Lowell George's slide guitar playing legato lines mostly in the chorus.
"All That You Dream" starts with a twice-repeated 4-bar intro led by unison bass and guitar, before launching into the chorus, which in the song precedes the verses.
After 2 verses, the intro is re-used as a backing for a Bill Payne electric piano and synth solo, repeated 4 times before a lead-back via an instrumental instance of the chorus.
After the lead-back chorus, there is a unique moment as the band instrument collection sound seems to fall away during the first line of the third verse, with only a single guitar accent intruding; the use of space proving the wisdom of Ry Cooder's saying "never play a note where none will do". A harmonically-modified variant of the intro is used to end the song, and the slide guitar vibrato from Lowell George at the end creates the illusion that the pitch of the ending is actually rising. The ending demonstrates that you can often spot intelligent bands by their song endings; a band relying mostly on cliches to end it's songs will often be of limited interest on a more general musical front.
I spent hours playing this tune when I first got the album, and today it remains my favourite song on what is an excellent album. Interestingly, the live version (released on "Waiting For Columbus"), suffers by comparison by being too busy, with both Hayward and the band playing too much, and the "floating" feel of this version is also missing.