The Dream Syndicate Medicine Show 40° Anniversary Expanded

In 2017, the Dream Syndicate, one of the leading lights of LA’s neo-psychedelic Paisley Underground scene, returned with Did I Find Myself Here?, their first new album since 1988’s Ghost Stories. Earlier this year, they contributed to the Paisley Underground covers compilation 3 x 4: The Bangles, The Three O’Clock, The Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, and now, they’re coming back again with a new full-length. These Times, their second LP since reuniting in 2012, will be out in May, and according to frontman Steve Wynn, it was inspired in part of J Dilla.

The Dream Syndicate are at the foundation of contemporary alternative music because back in 1981 at a time when most bands were experimenting with new technology, they choose to bring back the guitar. Their seminal album The Days of Wine and Roses (1984) has been cited as influential by artists from Nirvana to the Black Crowes. Known for their incredible live performances, the band toured with everyone from REM to U2, before splitting up in 1988. In 2012 after years apart in solo projects, frontman Steve Wynn reunited The Dream Syndicate to perform at a charity festival in Spain. The reunited band took everything in baby steps. A few shows here and there - including a still talked-about set at Wilco's Solid Sound Festival. The shows were exciting - for both the band and the eagerly awaiting fans, many of whom weren't even alive when the band were around the first time. The next step was to see if the excitement and newfound chemistry would extend to the studio.

John Cale / Tony Conrad / Angus MacLise / La Monte Young / Marian Zazeela, Volume I / Day Of Niagara (1965)
Avant-Garde, Modern Classical, Experimental, Minimal| EAC (APE,CUE) NO LOG | 0:30:52 | 178 MB
Filefactory, Rapidshare | Table Of The Elements | (7z) | Released 2000

Since its initial release, controversy has swirled around this album. In the early '60s, John Cale, Tony Conrad, La Monte Young, Angus Maclise, and Marian Zazeela were all a part of New York's underground music and emergent minimalist scenes. In a variety of formations, usually involving Cale, Conrad, and Young, they played together billed alternately as the Theater of Eternal Music or as the Dream Syndicate. Together they were articulating what were to become the central tenets of American minimalism. They disbanded around 1965, and since then all involved have staked, depending on the day and weather, various claims to the group's musical and philosophical ideas and – more importantly in this case – unreleased recordings. This album, a remastered copy of a tape from one of the Dream Syndicate's sessions recorded in Young's Church Street apartment, was released without anyone's expressed written consent and occasioned a ten-page statement from Young and his lawyer contesting the label's legal authority to put out this "unauthorized bootleg." The record makes these issues of intellectual property all the more critical, as the few obscure albums from the Dream Syndicate are long out of print and notoriously difficult to find. For anyone who cares about the history of American music, however, the album is an exceptional piece of musical history. All of the early precepts of minimalism are present – incremental variation, drone, sustained pitch – as well as the emphasis on group creation through improvisation. Unfortunately, the mix is not overwhelming in quality, and the effects of the interplay among instruments is lessened. Nonetheless, the album is sonically beatific, formally profound, and an incomparable look inside the Syndicate. Table of the Elements should be praised for letting the chips fall where they may in the interest of a more complete understanding of music history, especially since history is still too near to clearly substantiate anyone's claims. ~ Brian Whitener, All Music Guide

The brand-new album from The Dream Syndicate blends vintage Krautrock, Eno-like ambience, Neu-inspired rhythmic groove and a Californian sun baked sheen into the their classic psychedelic, melodic, hue. The Dream Syndicate have moved well past their early Velvet Underground influences and taken on British glam, German prog, and more.

When one thinks of the Dream Syndicate, it’s not just the wild abandon with which singer / guitarist Steve Wynn, drummer Dennis Duck, bassist Mark Walton, and lead guitarist Jason Victor perform - it’s the carefully constructed songwriting of Wynn that comes to mind. By now every rock critic in the country has predetermined who he or she feels Wynn reminds them of and what they think of that style of songs. This time, don’t! Which brings us to The Universe Inside. Every article or review ever written will claim “this is new and different”- well, it is! Just look at the song lengths: 20:27, 7:36, 8:56, 9:55 and 10:53. Ok, sure - the Syndicate have occasionally committed a long song to vinyl, John Coltrane Stereo Blues was 9 minutes with live versions over the ten-minute mark.

The Dream Syndicate - Out Of The Grey
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 415 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Normal Records # NORMAL 184 CD | Country/Year: Germany 1997, 1986
Genre: Rock | Style: College Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Paisley Undeground

Like nearly everything released that year, Out of the Grey suffered from a touch of the post-new wave flu. But "50 in a 25 Zone" has that old, bluesy Syndicate spirit, as does "Now I Ride Alone," and Steve Wynn is still an exceptional vocal stylist, bringing heart and meaning to every word he writes.