Dream Syndicate

AMG Review of Dream Syndicate

Stewart Mason
All Music Guide

A 1985 U.K. reissue of the Dream Syndicate's first album (first released on Steve Wynn's own Down There label in April 1982), this version has nicer packaging, considerably better sound, and, for the vinyl-phobic, is the only CD release. The tracks don't seem to be remixed, merely mastered and pressed with more care; honestly, these eight-track tapes, supposedly recorded for the princely sum of 100 dollars, are only going to sound so good. However, this is one case where a little tape hiss and a murky bottom (Kendra Smith might as well have stayed home for all that her basslines are audible) actually don't detract from the songs. The two songs later re-recorded for The Days of Wine & Roses, "That's What You Always Say" and "When You Smile," actually sound a little more surly and threatening here, especially the latter, which Wynn invests with a bit more snarl in the vocals. Of the others, "Some Kinda Itch" is the song that once and for all commits the sin of sounding a little too much like the Velvet Underground, a flip dismissal of the Dream Syndicate that was usually off the mark. That said, it's a perfectly fine Velvets cop and a fine end to an under-noticed release.