For my final rarities collection from The Dream Syndicate, we cover the very productive years between 1986 to 1988, with one late addition from 1991. While recording their 1986 album 'Out Of The Grey' the band taped a number of additional songs, including a take of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass's 'The Lonely Bull' and a aborted cover of the Stones' 'Shake Your Hips', while the 1997 re-issue added in some songs recorded at KCRW studios in Los Angeles and in Van Nuys in California, including some choice covers from Alice Cooper, Eric Clapton and Neil Young. When their 1988 'Ghost Stories' album was re-issued in 2004 it also included extra songs recorded at KCRW studios, a number of which were unique to those recordings. Finally, we have the band's contribution to the 1991 Bob Dylan tribute album 'I Shall Be Unreleased', with their version of his 'Blind Willie McTell'.
Track listing
01 If You Should Ever Need A Fool (KCRW studios, Los Angeles 1988)02 Darlin' They Know (KCRW studios, Los Angeles 1987)03 Let It Rain (previously unreleased 1987)04 Shake Your Hips ('Out Of The Grey' out-take 1986)05 I Won't Forget (previously unreleased 1986)06 Ballad Of Dwight Frye (previously unreleased 1986)07 Spill The Wine (KCRW studios, Los Angeles 1988)08 Blind Willie McTell (from 'I Shall Be Unreleased: The Songs Of Bob Dylan' 1991)09 Never Ending Rain (KCRW studios, Los Angeles 1988)10 The Lonely Bull ('Out Of The Grey' out-take 1986)11 Carolyn (KCRW studios, Los Angeles 1988)12 Cinnamon Girl (previously unreleased 1987)
I've already professed my love for The Dream Syndicate on this site, and 'Days Of Wine And Roses' is a classic album on anybody's terms. Over the years it's been repackaged and re-released, and we've often been treated to rare bonus tracks by the band. The 2001 re-issue added in four songs from their eponymous 1982 EP, plus rehearsal takes of two of the album tracks, but the 2015 Omnivore re-issue was the one to get, as it added in six rehearsal recordings of songs which never appeared on the album, and many of them didn't turn up on later records either. The music is a bit rough and ready, as would be expected from rehearsals, but the power of the band still shines through, so what we have is basically a live album by a band playing just for the sheer fun of it. To flesh the album out to 42 minutes I've added in two tracks from Fifteen Minutes, which was a band formed by Steve Wynn and members of Alternate Learning in 1981, and who released just the one single in that year. The A-side was a song which just a year later would grace the 'Days Of Wine And Roses' album, but the b-side is well worth a listen, so those two songs round off this collection of Dream Syndicate rarities.
Track listing
01 Is It Rolling, Bob? 02 A Reason 03 Still Holding On To You 04 Armed With An Empty Gun 05 Like Mary 06 Outside The Dream Syndicate 07 That's What You Always Say (single by Fifteen Minutes 1981)08 Last Chance For You (b-side of 'That's What You Always Say')
The Dream Syndicate were one of the first, and undoubtedly one of the best, of the short-lived Paisley Underground movement of the early 80's. Along with Rain Parade, Green On Red, The Bangles and The Three O'Clock they blended their love of 60's psychedelic music with a healthy dose of Americana to come up with a new genre - neo-psyche. The Dream Syndicate were formed when Steve Wynn met Karl Precoda in Los Angeles and the two formed a new group, with Wynn's friend from the University of California Kendra Smith on bass, and a drummer that she brought with her, Dennis Duck. Duck suggested the name 'the Dream Syndicate' in reference to Tony Conrad's early 1960's New York experimental ensemble (better known as the Theatre of Eternal Music), whose members included John Cale, and on February 23, 1982, the newly-named Dream Syndicate performed their first show at Club Lingerie in Hollywood. A four-song EP was recorded at the home of Tom Mehren in Pasadena and released on Wynn's Down There label, and the band quickly achieved local attention for their often aggressively long, feedback-soaked improvisations. The band signed to Slash Records, whose subsidiary Ruby Records released their debut album, 'The Days of Wine and Roses', in 1982. This album sent shockwaves through the American underground in the early 1980's, and remains one of my all-time favourite records. Following it's release, Smith left the band and joined David Roback (formerly of Rain Parade) to form Opal, and she was replaced on bass by David Provost. 'Medicine Show' was recorded in 1984 in San Francisco with producer Sandy Pearlman and released that year by A&M Records, and was a worthy follow-up to 'Days....', and between opening for bands such as R.E.M. and U2, they released the five-song live EP, 'This Is Not The New Dream Syndicate Album... Live!'. This was the last record to feature Precoda on guitar, as he left soon afterward to pursue a career in screenwriting, and he was replaced by Mark Walton. The EP's commercial failure contributed to the group's temporary breakup, and the band was dropped by A&M after the label rejected its demo for 'Slide Away', later released on the semi-official 'It's Too Late To Stop Now' compilation. After a brief hiatus Wynn, Duck and Walton joined forces with Paul B. Cutler (who had produced the group's first EP) to form the next version of the Dream Syndicate, and in 1986 they released the more mainstream rock of 'Out of the Grey'. The following year they wrote and recorded a number of songs for a proposed new album, but it was never released, and so this is The Dream Syndicate's lost album, recorded in Los Angeles between their third and fourth official releases, and featuring Chris Cacavas of Green on Red. It's the missing link between their later Americana sound and the Velvets spirit of 'The Days of Wine and Roses', and only the title track has since turned up on an official album, appearing on 'Ghost Stories' in 1988. If you're a fan of the band then this is a must-hear record, and they're still releasing superb albums today, with the latest 'These Times' sounding just as fresh as when they started.
Track listing
01 Here On Earth As Well (recorded in Hollywood, April 1985)02 Blood Money (recorded in Hollywood, April 1985)03 It Hits You Again (recorded in Hollywood, August 1985)04 I Ain't Living Long Like This (recorded at Lyceum Studios, August 1987)05 Killing Time (recorded at Lyceum Studios, August 1987)06 Lucky (recorded at Lyceum Studios, August 1987)07 Weathered And Torn (recorded at Lyceum Studios, August 1987)08 The Best Years Of My Life (recorded at Lyceum Studios, August 1987)09 Running From The Memory (recorded at Lyceum Studios, August 1987)
