from the LP The Days of Wine & Roses, Ruby Records, 1982Heroes of the short-lived “paisley underground” scene which blossomed out in California in the early ‘80s (basically just neo-psych rock, but the very notion ran afoul of the prevailing new wave trends popular at that time), the Dream Syndicate triumphed at trying very hard to sound like they weren’t trying hard at all. You won’t find any synthesizers or cold-war-paranoid ramblings about nuclear holocaust here; instead, Steve Wynn tossed off existential quips about life and loss, a slacker ahead of his time. “Yeah you say it’s a waste, oh, not to learn from mistakes; yeah, it’s really a shame…and I really don’t know, ‘cause I don’t wanna know…tell me when it’s over…let me know when it’s done…” These guys get name-dropped a lot, and for good reason---they rocked!
