The best way to listen to ‘Memory Or Dream’ is on the beautiful vinyl version released by High On The Pyg Track Records. There are only 265 copies so you need to act fast. E-mail Colin Hill pygtrack@btinternet.com or check out www.pygtrack.com

Recorded in a burst of creative energy in the Autumn of 2022 after they'd officially broken up, 'Memory Or Dream' contains some of the most inspired and inventive performances ever to grace a Brainiac Five album - a real magnum opus.

This totally unexpected 'headful of Brainiac steam' of all-new material brings matters almost full circle with the band comprising three of the four original 1970s members (the ever-present Charlie Taylor, long-serving Woody on bass and Bert Biscoe, who actually left in 1979) plus ex-Plummet Airlines guitarist Duncan Kerr who joined when the band reformed in 2012.

It's a wacky, complex and adventurous album with a haunting elegiac flavour on many tracks referencing many of the locations and happenings significant to the band's early Cornish roots. They don't actually attempt to re-create their late 70's music although you'll find many of their trademark stuttering rhythms and tripped-out guitar solos a-plenty. The album actually grew organically from Woody sharing his home experiments with bass rhythms and unusual instrumentation (especially kalimba) with Bert and Charlie and it then became obvious there were still Brainiac demons to be exorcised and stories to be told. Duncan subsequently added his superbly-crafted solos (a couple of which bear the unmistakeable influence of 'Clear'-era Randy California) to sit alongside Charlie's more frenzied and edgy guitar excursions.

There's social and political comment as well as the deeply personal and metaphysical and many of the songs (especially those by Bert) could stand on their own as pure poetry which has made the inclusion of a full lyric sheet essential. The front cover art by West-country psychedelic artist John Hurford perfectly captures the mushied-out (mushy doubt?) Cornish flavour of the album (including the band's notoriously un-reliable Commer High-top van) while the reverse includes a fabulous homage to the back cover of Beefheart and The Magic Band's 'Trout Mask Replica'.

The Wire review:
This is what I’d hoped Mallard would sound like when I first read about them – a balance of roots music and freak detailing. Brainiac 5 sound almost like a cool version of Dire Straits if such a thing is even imaginable. As summer winds down I’ve been listening to ‘Memory Or Dream’ regularly. I like to slot it in between Man’s ‘Rhinos, Winos & Lunatics’ and Mu’s self-titled debut.
Byron Coley

Ptolemaic Terrascope review:
'Memory Or Dream' is to my mind one of the most complex and yet distinctive Brainiacs albums to date, and almost certainly my favourite. Bert's songs are strongly lyrical, poetic and elegiac - 'Cry in Style' in particular contains some great lines ('a tear is not a tear that's not followed by a smile' and 'everybody wakes up from the very worst of dreams') - whilst Duncan's superbly-crafted guitar solos sit alongside Charlie's more frenzied and edgy guitar excursions throughout, and bear, as label-guru Colin Hill gleefully pointed out to me, the unmistakeable influence of 'Clear'-era Randy California - check out the title track if you don't believe me; whilst 'Running Through The Night' will have you smiling from ear to eye.
My favourite track 'A Blind Man's Life' is possibly one of the least representative on here, but the Brainiacs always have had a knack for delivering the unexpected, and it's one of their most endearing traits. It'll be a shame if this really is their last hurrah, but what a fantastic way to go out.
Phil McMullen