The Dream Syndicate
The Days of Wine and Roses
(Rhino reissue)

Postpunk paisley underground favourites The Dream Syndicate surely deserve the attention afforded by a reissue of their classic Slash debut, complete with eight new bonus tracks. Not a bad deal, when the original release only contained nine.

It could be argued that the Syndicate’s primarily contribution to modern rock was Kendra Smith, the ultimate cool female bass player of early ’80s college rock. Here, she only sings "Too Little, Too Late," but you can already hear the trademark calm delivery and unusual vocal style that would reach heights of brilliance in her work with Opal and as a solo artist.

But the band also restored the guitar as a primary instrument in an increasingly synth-driven new wave world, hitching Steve Wynn’s sparse, intelligent songwriting to a fuzzy rock sound and piling on the psychedelia in doses you could swallow (as opposed to choking on them). With enough punk smoulder to be truly engaging, "Until Lately" builds a bridge between The Kinks and Nirvana, while deceptively simple numbers like "Halloween" and "Definitely Clean" could be serve as the template for hundreds of straightforward, mildly depressive indie rock songs that appeared in the ensuing decades. The original LP tracks are joined by an assortment of EP versions and rehearsal takes – good fun, though probably not essential to anyone but a true fan.

On Wine and Roses, introversion and basic beats exist in perfect harmony with bursts of tension and melodic gushes of guitar-based noise – as is true of the Velvet Underground, to whom the Syndicate were frequently compared. But this sound is definitely unique to the Wynn, Smith, and the other Dreamers: appropriately for a reissue, it both captures a bygone era and proves fresh and relevant to music today. – Tiffany Lee Brown

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7