Recorded for the Shreveport, Louisiana-based Paula label, Dreaming Out of Season is the sole LP from the East St. Louis vocal group the Montclairs. There are two things that separate this LP from the dozens of like-minded sweet soul albums recorded in the same era: the soaring, versatile voice of Phil Perry, and the production and arrangement work of Oliver Sain. While other soul LP’s were often slapdash affairs built around two or three strong singles, Dreaming Out of Season is as fleshed out and fully realized as works by Marvin Gaye and the O’Jays. “Do I Stand A Chance” and “Dreaming’s Out of Season” are more like suites than songs, cycling through several moods and sections before resolving themselves to Perry’s singularly mournful wail. Dreaming Out of Season doesn’t just prove the potential of this short-lived quintet, it validates sweet soul as a vehicle for innovation and ranks with the great Gamble-Huff productions as proof of just how much the genre could accomplish.