February 21, 2022 by A.S. Van Dorston

The Paisley Underground figureheads fuse 60s garage psych, The Velvet Underground, Television and Crazy Horse into their career defining debut.

The Dream Syndicate was my first exposure to Los Angeles’ Paisley Underground scene/movement/subgenre. Like other awkwardly named scenes, the bands (Dream Syndicate, The Three O’Clock, The Bangles, Rain Parade, Game Theory, Thin White Rope) didn’t really sound that similar, other than being somewhat inspired by 60s psychedelic bands like Love, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. The Dream Syndicate were actually drunk on the sounds of The Velvet Underground, as filtered through Television and a left coast sensibility of Crazy Horse’s fuzzed out overdrive of sprawling impressionist guitar sound sculptures. Guitars and more guitars, that’s what drew kids like me to The Dream Syndicate. In retrospect, they actually have more in common with contemporary British psychedelic post-punk bands Echo & the Bunnymen and The Psychedelic Furs in their VU/Television obsessions with a touch of The Doors.

At the time, the band vehemently denied VU’s inspiration, which was incredibly dishonest because, come on, did they really expect no one would ever hear the alternate extended version of “Sweet Jane” with the extra verse, “Heavenly wine and roses/Seem to whisper to her, when he smiles”? That clearly inspired lyrics to two of their songs, and of course the band name was taken from the original project that John Cale formed with La Monte Young, Tony Conrad and others in 1965. Anyway, the influences are easy to spot, but their debut is a nearly perfect record that Steve Wynne would struggle to top for the rest of his career.

Produced by Chris D. (Flesh Eaters/Divine Horsemen), the album balances the rawness of the noise and feedback of the guitars with more delicate stream-of-consciousness drone-ballads. If they had more eerie tunes like “That’s What You Always Say,” “Halloween” and “When You Smile,” they could have just as easily been credited with sparking a West Coast goth scene. As it is, there is a nice alignment with the more twangy garage noir of The Gun Club and Flesh Eaters, which made for some glorious lineups in the L.A. punk clubs for a hot minute. The album kicks off in epic fashion with the sweeping guitar riffs of “Tell Me When It’s Over.” With a bit better promotion, that could have been some kind of hit. It’s at least a pretty well known cult classic. “Definitely Clean” is a noisy, up-tempo garage rave-up for a change of pace. “Then She Remembers” serves a similar purpose, channeling Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison’s guitar squalls from White Light/White Heat (1968). After the journey through the album’s dark center, “Halloween” and “When You Smile,” the smouldering cinders cool on the slow blues sprawl of “Until Lately.” Kendra Smith seems to play a Mo Tucker role in taking over lead vocal on the somewhat slight ballad “Too Little, Too Late” that is just haunting enough in it’s minor key melodies not to derail the mood. Like I said, the album is nearly perfect, but not quite.

It ends with another highlight, the 7:34 runaway train and guitar showcase of the title track, a very satisfying conclusion, though of course many were left slavering for more, rooting like truffle-sniffin’ pigs through scraps like “Sure Thing,” a chooglin’ ditty from the preceding EP with Wynne sounding a lot like Lou Reed on their 1969 era outtakes. Various reissues have added other outtakes, like early versions of “That’s What You Always Say” and “Last Chance For You” from Wynne’s previous band 15 Minutes, and more recently Omnivore’s discoveries of six rehearsal recordings I never heard before. Interesting stuff, but nothing that really adds to the intoxication of the original album. I was originally disappointed by the bluesy Americana direction of Medicine Show (1984), but perhaps for lack of anything really like their debut, it’s the closest in spirit (and guitars) to the original phase of the band.

Steve Wynne has also amassed a huge solo catalog of over 20 albums that have plenty of tracks that siphon from the juju of 1982. The band even reunited and put out several solid albums starting in 2017. Also, there will be a special 40th Anniversary performance of the entire The Days of Wine and Roses album at SXSW on March 18 at St. David’s Historic Sanctuary in Austin. Fingers crossed, Fast ‘n’ Bulbous will be there.