WHEN 1980 WAS "LATE"

Bob Biggs, the guy behind Slash Records, died a few days ago. He came aboard in the waning days of Slash, the magazine, and funded Slash Records, taking over that avenue when the magazine folded. I hadn't reviewed the Slash discography in a while and was surprised when I took a look. Everybody into punk rock will remember Slash as the label that put out the seminal first LPs by the Germs and X. I had forgotten that the Slash discography also included the first Dream Syndicate LP, the first Gun Club LP, Rank and File, the Blasters and Los Lobos. Each of those bands was significant, in a big way. The label also had the Violent Femmes, L7, and Faith No More. Reading further I realized that I had probably never read through the entire discography. If I had I would have definitely remembered that Slash put out two Burning Spear LPs. That I did not know.

Here's just three songs. There are more by the other bands mentioned above elsewhere on other posts here. Just use the search box (at the top left above the mast head) or the tags to the right. I'm not going to cut and paste links all night.

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Listen:
The Gun Club - Sex Beat mp3 at ATumblr (?)
The Blasters - Marie Marie mp3 at Snuhthing Anything
The Dream Syndicate - Halloween mp3 at Quit Mumbling

Visit:

Slash Records discography at Discogs

DUH. THIRTY SEVEN FUCKING YEARS LATER

I really didn't expect to become excited again about Dream Syndicate. Seriously, the last album I was apeshit about was their first, The Days of Wine and Roses. After that LP, bassist Kendra Smith split and it just didn't seem the same. Shortly after Karl Precoda, carrier of the feedback torch when it needed carrying, left. That's when my interest waned. Paul Cutler, no slouch himself, took over guitar, but it might as well of been Clapton taking over guitar duties in the Jimi Hendrix Experience as far as I was concerned. Just not right. I made a half effort to give their ensuing releases hoping for a return to form, then I just plain stopped checking. It had been a long wait, that first LP came out in 1982. The wait ended last night.

I ran into a post of recently recorded covers, The Lagniappe Sessions: The Dream Syndicate at Aquarium Drunkard. That still didn't completely rope me in. It was interesting, Pere Ubu's "Non-Alignment Pact", John Cale's "Gun" and the Stylistic's  "People Make the World Go Round", but it wasn't quite there. Then I decided to see what this current line up was made of. I stumbled on the track "How Did I Find Myself Here". Ho-ly shit. It may not be the semi-controlled chaos of Precoda's feedback, but if you want eleven minutes of distorted feeding back noodling, this is your song. The pace, particularly the drums, and the stony meandering makes it sound like an Exile on Main St. outtake. And the piano, though a Rhodes, doesn't hurt. I'm not going to front. I could very likely have been wrong. Who gives a shit? There's feedback!

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Listen:
The Dream Syndicate - How Did I Find Myself Here (streaming) at YouTube
From the first LP (1982)
The Dream Syndicate - Halloween mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Dream Syndicate - Tell Me When It’s Over mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Dream Syndicate - Then She Remembers mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Dream Syndicate - Until Lately mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Video:
The Dream Syndicate with Kendra Smith - Kendra's Dream (Live, 2017) at YouTube

LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED

You just gotta know that at some point in the eighties or nineties, there was some college radio DJ somewhere that just thought his shit did not stink because he pieced a five song set of the songs below. Oh yeah, he's a hero all right, no Boingo for him. He stepped out of that booth at the end of his shift practically beating his chest. There's a chance he got laid that night. A couple decades later, he's got the corner office and he's wondering what went haywire.

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Listen:
Misfits - Halloween mp3 at Emotion Lotion
Dead Kennedys - Halloween mp3 at Hey Cool Kid
The Dream Syndicate - Halloween mp3 at Quit Mumbling
Mudhoney - Halloween (streaming) at YouTube Sonic Youth cover
Sonic Youth - Halloween (streaming) at YouTube

ATTACK OF THE BEER POACHERS

It's the night you've been prepping for and some of the more hardcore of you are cracking your knuckles and getting ready to run this whole thing right off the road. Hat's off to you and your soon to be disheveled costume, hat's off to you and your miserable day after. You are warriors...of some sort. Here's three more numbers all from the same era, all with the same title, but definitely different factions.

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Listen:
Misfits - Halloween mp3 at Emotion Lotion
Dead Kennedys - Halloween mp3 at Hey Cool Kid
The Dream Syndicate - Halloween mp3 at The Mad Mackerel

ATTN: SO CAL GEEZERS

Those of you already familiar with the Dream Syndicate (above) may, like me, prefer the original line up over later incarnations. For my dollar, the line up of Steve Wynn, Kendra Smith, Karl Precoda and Dennis Duck was it. Maybe you too have lamented the fact that they recorded just a couple records before personnel changes started watering things down. Shit, I think it was only an EP, an album, and a live B-side. I think that's it. Regardless, there's a lot more available with later line ups. I'd given up looking for other early stuff long ago, so I was pleased as punch when I checked today and found out that they just released an expanded version of their debut LP, The Days of Wine and Roses. Granted the added tracks are from rehearsals, it might still be cool to hear. Another release I wasn't aware of The Day Before Wine and Roses, an album made up of much of the same material, recorded live in the studio of radio station KPFK, a few weeks before they recorded the LP. That's the one I gotta get my mitts on. For now, here's a few from the original LP.  Be reminded of how freakishly good this stuff was (check the build in that last one, "Until Lately"). Note to the uninitiated, if you dig the Velvet Underground, Television, the Modern Lovers, early Neil Young, or any combination of them, you'll dig these.

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Listen:
The Dream Syndicate - Definitely Clean mp3 at The Walrus
The Dream Syndicate - Halloween mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Dream Syndicate - Tell Me When It’s Over mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Dream Syndicate - Then She Remembers mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
The Dream Syndicate - Until Lately mp3 at Now That's What I Call Bullshit
Visit:
Halloween [Concise bio of Dream Syndicate] at Now That's What I call Bullshit 

PAISLEY, REALLY? YOU'RE GOING WITH THAT?

I'm not sure what possesses a group of loosely associated bands, or their followers, to make up names for their regional thing, but the names they come up with for these scenes within scenes almost always sound forced, like some marketing term. They're usually lame, and sometimes don't even accurately describe the music of all of the bands that are lumped together. Like "the paisley underground". Yeesh, that one had me turned off the first time I heard it, despite liking several of the bands that were lumped with it. They could just as easily been referred to as "the bands that sometimes utilize long feedback laden solos somewhere this side of early Neil Young meets Marquee Moon era Televison guitar interplay underground". But like 'em I did and I was reminded of that after seeing a clip of a song from a 2013 reunion gig by Rain Parade (the band above). So, bad name or not, it's paisley underground sampler night. These are just three of the bands. If you want to get caught up on all of the bands, check the oral history of the movement at the Guardian. It's a good read, and there's a Spotify mix with thirty plus songs, if you do that sort of thing.

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Listen:
Rain Parade - No Easy Way Down mp3 at 20 Jazz Funk Greats Go there to get it
The Dream Syndicate - Definitely Clean mp3 at The Walrus
The Salvation Army - She Turns to Flowers mp3 at Recidivism Go there to get it.
Video:
Rain Parade - No Easy Way Down (live, 2013) at YouTube
The Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses (live, 2013) at You Tube
Visit:
The Paisley Underground: Los Angeles's 1980s psychedelic explosion at Guardian UK

FEEDBACK MERIT BADGE

Here's one that's semi-topical, at least in the title. It's from the only LP by the original line up of the Dream Syndicate, which was when they were the shit. They were. Loosely grouped with the so-called Paisley Underground, but that's inaccurate, at least with the original version of the band. In the beginning, they were a little like the Velvets, but with some kind of guitar sound. Lead guitarist Karl Precoda gets a lot of the credit, and it's deserved. He was a man who knew feedback. Steve Wynn was no slouch, in a way his playing was the perfect complement. But that Precoda, in just about every song, he was messing with feedback. It's not the act of  show off, he knew where to place it, and for how long. Even the extended solos were kept interesting.

I couldn't find an mp3, so you'll have to check it at YouTube, but do check it out. Precoda's doing some wicked shit. (Note: Do a web search for "YouTube mp3 converter" and you should be able to find a way to save it. Just a head's up.) The other band down there, the Suspects, was Steve Wynn's earlier band, that featured future Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith as a lead singer. I'm not posting it as a chuckle, but to illustrate what a big change they went through in only about four years. They went from just another new wave band to great band, if only for a couple years in that original incarnation. But, still, the guitar freakout hybrid (at different times the Velvets, Neil Young, Robert Quine and Television) wouldn't be, and wasn't, the same without Precoda. His playing on this must be heard. Listen to the whole thing.

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Listen:
The Dream Syndicate - Halloween (streaming) at YouTube 1982
The Suspects - Talking Loud, It's Up To You (streaming) at YouTube ca 1978
Video:
The Dream Syndicate - Tell Me When It's Over, Still Holding On You at YouTube ca 1982
The Dream Syndicate - When You Smile at YouTube In store appearance, Tower Records, El Toro, CA 1982
Visit:
The Dream Syndicate at Wikipedia

REPETITIVE AND DISTORTED RULES

How short is the life span of the almost-was next (semi)big thing? Scott & Charlene's Wedding, from Victoria, Australia, pulled a Van Gogh, breaking up before they had a chance to cash in. The band, some sort of Victoria supergroup, seemed almost destined to implode. Their only record (and the one that created the buzz), "Para Vista Social Club," was initially pressed in a run of 200 copies, and packaged in altered used record covers (which makes for great curiosity copy). Before you could say "Let's tour", the band's central figure, Craig Dermondy, decided to pack it in and buy a one way ticket to the U.S. I'd make a "little fish coming to a big pond" crack, but I really hope the guy can put together an outfit similar to Scott & Charlene's Wedding. Though that may not happen, considering he's only one, of four S&CW-ers.

While the songs and vocals belong to Dermody, I'm not sure who's playing the guitar, but it's some real good stuff. Your first impression of their "Rejected" will be something along the lines of the Velvet Underground. But, there's a whole lot of other stuff going on; maybe some Television, and a tiny bit of Neil Young in there. The best comparison, though not necessarily an influence, is to the Dream Syndicate, when Karl Precoda was in it. For guitar, that's high praise; Precoda was the shit.

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Scott & Charlene's Wedding - Rejected mp3 at The Mad Makerel
Scott & Charlene's Wedding - Footscray Station mp3 at Rose Quartz
The Velvet Underground - I'm Waiting For the Man mp3 at Barrrel of Nails
Television - Friction mp3 at Barrel of Nails
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Cinnamon Girl mp3 at Salad Days Music
The Dream Syndicate - Halloween mp3 at The Mad Mackerel
Interview with Craig Dermody at Music & Noise
Scott & Charlene's Wedding at MySpace