Time Machine – Echoes of Shattered Dreams is not just a revisit, it’s a rebirth. The original 2014 debut, Time Machine – Reflecting Shattered Dreams, produced with care by Dan Cooper, was a project I was proud of. Yet as the years passed, I felt the songs still carried more within them—hidden depths waiting to be unlocked.

In 2025, the dawn of AI-driven production gave me the means to finally unleash that potential. These tracks have been reimagined, expanded, and elevated into the sonic landscapes I always believed they could inhabit.

Time Machine – Echoes of Shattered Dreams breathes new life into the past while honouring its roots—a fusion of memory and innovation, reflection and reinvention.

Time Machine – Echoes of Shattered Dreams

A classic love song unfolds with piano and soft strings, underpinned by delicate acoustic guitar, Gentle male vocals glide over each verse, The arrangement swells subtly in the chorus with warm harmonies, while understated percussion and tasteful brass colour the final refrain.

TIME

[Verse 1]
It's been so long since I've been on my own
I've always known this time would come
So now I've got to sit down and plan the rest of my life
It's time to change this, we've waited so long

[Chorus]
Everybody needs a little time
Everybody needs a little space in their life
Our time has come, we must face the truth
We are going nowhere fast, we've suffocated all our past
We all need some room
Everybody needs a little room

[Verse 2]
I'm not saying, I don't love you no more
And I'm not saying that I don't care
But if we go back, I've got to be sure
Cause I don't want to go through this again, my lady

[Chorus]
Everybody needs a little time
Everybody needs a little space in their life
Our time has come, we must face the truth
We are going nowhere fast, we've suffocated all our past
We all need some room
Everybody needs a little room

[Bridge]
The journey home is so lonely, it's true
Communication breaks down too
An empty heart, with an empty glass
A picture on the wall, a ghost from the past
I've got to find the strength to live without you, my lady

[Chorus]
Everybody needs a little time
And everybody needs a little space in their life
Our time has come, we must face the truth, yeah
We are going nowhere fast, we've suffocated all our past
We all need some room
Everybody needs a little room

[Bridge]
A time to leave (a time to leave)
No time for love (no time for love)
A time to remember all the things that we have done
I'll take your picture (remove your picture) from the wall
Memories are all around me, I can't take this anymore

[Chorus]
Everybody needs a little time (that's what they keep telling me)
And everybody needs a little space in their life
Our time has come, we must face the truth, yeah
We are going nowhere fast, we've suffocated all our past
We all need some room

[Outro]
Everybody needs a little room
Everybody needs
They keep telling me
Everybody needs
Everybody needs a little room

Time Machine - Echoes of Shattered Dreams

Time

TRACK REVIEW

“EYES” is a bold reimagining of one of Dean R. Chandler’s most powerful tracks, written in 1993 and first appearing on his 2014 double album TiME MACHiNE – Reflecting Shattered Dreams. Here, Chandler breathes new life into the song with a modern AI-assisted production that transforms it into a cinematic modern rock experience.

The track feels heavier, sharper, and more atmospheric than its original incarnation. Guitars grind and surge with a gritty edge, the rhythm section drives like a pulse of paranoia, and the vocal sits front and center, carrying both anger and vulnerability. AI doesn’t dull the emotion—it amplifies it, giving “EYES” an almost theatrical quality, as if scored for a psychological rock opera.

Lyrically, the song remains as potent as ever. Themes of love, betrayal, and obsession cut like the knife mentioned in the pre-chorus, while the haunting refrain “It’s in her eyes and her arms and her heart” echoes like an accusation that can’t be forgotten. Where the 2014 version was raw and reflective, this 2025 version is darker, cinematic, and unapologetically intense.

By revisiting “EYES” through the lens of modern tools, Chandler proves that AI can be more than a gimmick—it can be a collaborator, reshaping memory into something new. This track isn’t just a remix; it’s a reinvention, bridging past and future while reaffirming Chandler’s reputation as an artist unafraid to innovate.

EYES
[Verse 1]
This is my story, my disease
This is an anger, a hunger that feeds
This is a new world that I don't know
This is a secret, a secret that shows

[Pre-Chorus]
I've been in love, I've played the game
I've been up to come crashing down again
I've heard your rumours and I've heard the lies
But my God, I didn't realize

[Chorus]
What are you looking for?
Now you walk out the door
Tell me your reason for leaving
I should have known before
I've heard it all, I'm sure
It's in her eyes and her arms and her heart
It's in her eyes and her arms and her heart

[Verse 2]
(Yeah) You talk of love and now you talk about pain
You're telling me you've played in every kind of game
You think you've been around and seen it all before
I'm telling you you've seen nothing at all

[Pre-Chorus]
You're all mixed up, watching TV
You're a girl caught in a fantasy
So it's about time that you realize
This game called love cuts like a knife

[Chorus]
What are you looking for?
Now you walk out the door
Tell me your reason for leaving
I should have known before
I've heard it all, I'm sure
It's in her eyes and her arms and her heart
It's in her eyes and her arms and her heart
It's in her eyes, arms, heart
It's in her eyes and her arms and her heart

[Guitar Solo]

[Chorus]
What are you looking for?
Now you walk out the door
Tell me your reason for leaving
I should have known before
I've heard it all, I'm sure
It's in her eyes and her arms and her heart
It's in her eyes and her arms and her heart
What are you looking for?
Now you walk out the door
Tell me your reason for leaving
I should have known before, because I know the score
It's in her eyes and her arms and her heart
It's in her eyes and her arms and her heart
It's in her eyes, arms, heart
It's in her eyes and her arms and her heart

Dean R. Chandler 1993

Eyes

“Cold Jack” began life in 1993–94 when my bandmates Grant Burchill, Gary Wilson, John Fraser and I reimagined a melody from my track Eyes into a dark, cinematic show opener for our band Cold Jack. It was raw, moody, and made to set the stage. Years later, I revived that same intro as the launch piece for my 2014 double album TiME MACHiNE – Reflecting Shattered Dreams, thinking that would be its final outing.

But music has a funny way of refusing to stay buried. In 2025, the track has been reborn with a fresh remix—haunting, powerful, and sharper than ever. What started as a one-off band intro now feels timeless, ready to spin once more into the future.

---------------------

Cold Jack

In the smoke-stained backstreets of the 1930s London, a man called Jack appeared—his name traded in whispers through shadowed jazz halls and under the dripping arches of midnight stations. Cloaked in a long coat, grey hat pulled low, a cigarette ember flickering in the fog, and a battered case at his side, he was never bound to one place… or even one time.

By night, after the bars had closed and the crowd had gone, Jack would sit alone at the piano, coaxing out a fragile, haunting melody. Those who lingered swore the music carried something otherworldly—a sorrow too deep for one lifetime to bear. For Jack was no ordinary musician. He was a wanderer through centuries, cursed—or perhaps chosen—to slip between eras, carrying with him a song that could never die. His music was not invention, but memory: echoes of wars and wonders, heartbreak and fleeting joy, fragments of the human story gathered across ages.

Once, in the 1990s, Jack believed he had finally found what he had been searching for—true love. For a moment, the endless wandering seemed to have purpose. But she left him, and with her went the only warmth he had ever known. Since then, he has been chasing the ghost of that feeling, though deep down he knows it will never return.

And so, Jack remains a lonely figure. He writes of passion, but love continues to evade him. He sings of longing, but it always dissolves into smoke before he can hold it. Forever searching, never arriving, he moves on—leaving only whispers in the night and the lingering melody from the bar's piano.

In time, his legend hardened into myth. He became known as Cold Jack—phantom troubadour, eternal wanderer, storyteller of forgotten ages. Forever on the edge of time, he plays songs no one else could ever write.

Cold Jack

“I’m Falling Apart” is a haunting ballad that captures the devastation of a man left broken after the love of his life walks away. With raw vulnerability, the lyrics chart his descent into grief — from the moment of betrayal and cold indifference, to the lonely nights where he questions his very existence. Against a backdrop of stormy classical instrumentation, he clings to memories, a prayer, and the remnants of faith as he stares into the void. It’s not just a breakup song — it’s a cinematic cry from the soul, a struggle between despair and hope, life and oblivion.

I'M FALLING APART

[Verse 1]
Here am I, I'm looking right through you
I see the lie and what has become of you

[Pre-Chorus]
Your reasons, they leave me cold
Your reasons, left me feeling so old, so cold now

[Chorus]
I'm falling apart, but I don't know why
The one whom I long for has long said goodbye
It's in her eyes, my life has died
So I call to my God to take me tonight
She's shaken my very foundation for life
It's over now for me, is this the end of my dream?

[Verse 2]
This world comes apart, no soul in your heart, it's a crying shame
Misleading and cruel, the words that you use to inflict such pain

[Pre-Chorus] 
A coldness ran through me, a darker side drew me within
Oblivion calls me, yet somehow alludes  me and I, I live this nightmare

[Chorus]
I'm falling apart, yet I don't know why
The one whom I long for has long said goodbye
It's in her eyes, my life has died
So I call to my God, please take me tonight
Its shaken my very foundations for life
It's over now for me, but is this the end of my dream?

[Instrumental]

[Outro]
As day turns to night, I can feel you inside
Whispering dreams, then my nightmare begins
Well I pray for a time, I'll be one with my mind
When I'm over you
When I am over you

I'm Falling Apart

Song Description — “Time and Emotion” by Dean R. Chandler

“Time and Emotion” was born from one of the darkest chapters of my life. I’d just gone through a painful breakup that left me completely shattered — I genuinely didn’t want to be here anymore. Everything stopped: my drive, my emotions, even time itself. I felt empty, broken, and stuck in the wreckage of a love I couldn’t repair.

Then, out of nowhere, came an extraordinary twist of fate. A few weeks later, I was given the incredible opportunity to record my demos with my musical hero, Gary Numan, at his Outland Studio. I was just 21, he was 35 — and for three unforgettable days, we worked together, talked about music, life, and heartbreak. Gary had this quiet wisdom about him. When I told him how lost I felt, he just looked at me and said things that made me feel like I had an older brother watching over me.

Those conversations changed me. I left his studio feeling alive again — determined to stand up, dust myself off, and grab life by the throat. Gary helped me see that heartbreak wasn’t the end, but the beginning of something new.

“Time and Emotion” captures that transformation — the moment between despair and renewal, when pain gives way to purpose. It’s a song about losing everything, finding a spark in the darkness, and realising that time only truly stops if you let it.

Written in 1993. Originally recorded and released on my debut album Time Machine – Reflecting Shattered Dreams in 2014. AI-reimagined in 2025.
The moral of this story: when you feel like giving up — don’t. You never know what good things are waiting just around the corner.

A song about survival, gratitude, and the power of a musical hero to change a young man’s life.

TIME & EMOTION

[Verse 1]
I listen to the sex musician stories from the heart
I'm listening to the people as they're tearing me apart
There is no emotion, no argument or gain
I can't watch the time go by, it's driving me insane

[Chorus]
Time and emotion, my time and emotion stops again
Time and emotion, my time and emotion stops again

[Verse 2]
Looking to the future, looking for the light
I'm looking for anything to make a better life
I've waited for a long time now, I must make the change
Now I know the reason why love has turned to pain

[Chorus]
Time and emotion, my time and emotion stops again
Time and emotion, my time and emotion stops again

[Bridge]
Stand up, look around, opportunities to be found
Don't waste your life or lose it all, find a key to your golden door
Stand up, look proud, time is running out
So take a chance and move them all, find a key and take it all

[Instrumental]

[Chorus]
Time and emotion, my time and emotion stops again (oh-ho)
Time and emotion, my time and emotion stops again

[Bridge]
Stand up, look around, opportunities to be found
Don't waste your life or lose it all, find a key to your golden door
Stand up, look proud, time is running out
So take a chance and move them all, find a key and take it all now

[Chorus]
Time and emotion, my time and emotion stops again (oh-ho)
Time and emotion, my time and emotion stops again
Time and emotion, my time and emotion stops again
Time and emotion, my time and emotion stops again

[Outro]
Love has gone and now I'm all alone
Time moves on and I am growing old
I can't change this love and pain, please go

Time & Emotion

“A Child’s War” The original 2003 composition by Dean R. Chandler is a haunting cinematic ballad that captures the horror, heartbreak, and humanity found within the chaos of conflict. Originally composed as part of Human Odyssey, it tells the story of a man torn between survival and despair — a father haunted by the cries of his son and the memory of his wife as war consumes everything around him.

Through powerful orchestration, emotional vocals, and vivid storytelling, the song explores the innocence lost in war, the spiritual battle between faith and fear, and the desperate plea for peace in a world gone mad.

This 2025 AI reimagining takes the track in a new direction — it would’ve fit perfectly in my Cold Jack set from ’94/’95, or as a dark, cinematic James Bond–style theme.

This is not just a song — it’s a cinematic journey through the eyes of those who never chose to fight, but must. A tribute to the fallen, the forgotten, and the survivors who still carry the sound of their children’s cries.

A CHILD'S WAR 

[Verse 1]
I cry, without explanation
I hear her voice in my head
I smell the perfume that she wears
My son cries in his bed
Death will surround me
Sacrificed blood spills around me

[Chorus]
I've never had a reason to fight for my life
I've never had a reason 'til now
Guns sound around me as I fall to the ground
I pray for an end to this, I don't want to die
Because my son cries at night
And I have tears from my wife
Oh, I must survive

[Verse 2]
I've seen, a man with no reason
Take the, life of a child
So young, so lost and discouraged
No home or hand to hold tight
Abandoned and lonely
I'm finding this action unholy

[Chorus]
I've never had a reason to fight for my life
I've never had a reason 'til now
Guns sound around me as I fall to the ground
I pray for an end to this, I don't want to die
Because my son cries at night
And I have tears from my wife
Oh, I must survive

[Verse 3]
This is a child's war
No man can win
No explanation hides this sin
Save me
Save my child's heart

[Chorus]
I've never had a reason to fight for my life
I've never had a reason 'til now
Gun sound around me as I fall to the ground
I pray for an end to this, I don't want to die
Because my son cries at night
And I have tears from my wife
Oh, I must survive

[Instrumental]

[Verse 4]
Give, me a reason
And send me your heart
Send all of your angels
To end this holy war

{Verse 5]
Fall from the red sky
And wipe all the tears
Take all our anger
And banish all fear
Give me a sign
Send us your son
It's time

[Chorus outro]
I've never had a reason to fight for my life
I've never had a reason 'til now
Guns sound around me as I fall to the ground
I pray for an end to this, I don't want to die
Because my son cries at night
And I have tears from my wife
And so I'll fight for my life

A Child's War

About

I’m Dean R. Chandler — a London based songwriter, recording artist, and storyteller. My music is rooted in a lifelong search for meaning, weaving together themes of love, loss, faith, alien contact, and humanity’s future.

My upcoming double concept album Human Odyssey (set for release in January 2027) is the culmination of decades of writing and reflection. It’s a narrative journey that begins with a search for God and ends with an encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence — exploring not only what it means to be human, but also where we might be heading as a species. Musically, it draws inspiration from the epic storytelling of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, the synth-driven edge of Gary Numan, and the emotional depth of artists like Tori Amos and Chris de Burgh.

I previously released Time Machine – Reflecting Shattered Dreams (2014) and continue to revisit my archive of songs written across 35 years, reimagining them with today’s tools and sounds. Some pieces remain intimate and acoustic, while others expand into dark rock, industrial, or orchestral landscapes — but all are connected by a focus on emotional honesty and cinematic storytelling.

Beyond music, I’m fascinated by the intersection of creativity and technology. I’ve been experimenting with AI-driven composition and production to bring old demos to life and to spark entirely new works. For me, these tools are not replacements for human artistry but extensions of it — ways of unlocking stories and emotions that otherwise might have remained hidden.

At its heart, my work is about connection: to the past, to the future, and to the unseen mysteries of existence. Music, for me, isn’t just entertainment — it’s a chronicle of transformation, a conversation between spirit, science, and sound.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-r-chandler-b19715382/
www.deanrchandler.co.uk