Dream Daddy

Helen Schneider has spread herself out during her career, studying classical piano in her youth; singing blues, rock, and pop; performing in various musicals; and finally turning to standards a few years prior to the making of this CD. There's little doubt that she is a trained singer, as she always hits her notes and enunciates clearly, yet this album leaves little lasting impression, compared to many singers who have covered these well-known works.

One of the most celebrated bands to come out of the Los Angeles "Paisley Underground" scene of the '80s, the Dream Syndicate were different than most of their peers. While bands such as the Rain Parade and the Three O'Clock owed a debt to psychedelia, and the Long Ryders and Green on Red were informed in different ways by roots rock, the Dream Syndicate clearly adored the intricate wordplay and edgy energy of Highway 61 Revisited-era Bob Dylan, as well as the noisy guitars and bracing darkness of the Velvet Underground. Dream Syndicate leader Steve Wynn's initial influences may have been clear, but he was a strong enough songwriter to give the group material that stood on its own, and over the course of their run, the Dream Syndicate took their music in a number of bracing directions…

Symphonion Dream was the last album recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band before Jim Ibbotson left and the band began to move away from its traditional jug band/bluegrass roots. The big question is why in 1975, when the rest of the First Division of country-rock practitioners – the Eagles, Poco, Souther-Hillman-Furay et al – had been travelling for some time in the direction of simplified, stadium-friendly AOR, the NGDB went the other way and produced what I think is the best, and surely the quirkiest, psychedelic country album ever.