Steve Wynn’s first solo album since 2010, Make It Right is a musical memoir that coincides with the release of I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True, his literary one. Ruminating on the past without indulging in nostalgia, Wynn lays out tales tall and true, starting with “Santa Monica,” a reminiscence of his days cruising his hometown, and ending with “Roosevelt Avenue,” a look at doing the same in his current home of Queens. In between he considers confidence, self-doubt, and determination in a variety of settings, taking advantage of his time away from the Dream Syndicate to explore territories he hasn’t visited in years – or ever.
Wynn goes for garage rock on “Making Good On My Promises,” the subtle R&B undercurrent of the horns and the funk underpinning of the breakdowns keeping it from appearing on a future version of Nuggets. The horns also make an impression on the smiling “Santa Monica.” On “What Were You Expecting,” he gets politely snarky atop an otherworldly electronic groove, while he indulges in old-fashioned folk rock on the title track. For “Madly,” Wynn takes a turn at a blue-eyed, vibraphone-soaked corrido, while on “Simpler Than Rain” he revisits the kind of soulful folk rock Dan Penn would have made had he been born in California. On “Roosevelt” Avenue” he freewheels through a driving, lo-fi state of the union address, while on “Cherry Avenue,” he crosses old school balladry and atmospheric psychedelia for a track not quite like anything he’s done before. Eclectic, imaginative, and effective, Make It Right makes us wish Wynn would carve out more time for solo albums during his Dream Syndicate journey.
