The Dream Syndicate The Days of Wine and Roses (Rhino)
This list will be comprised entirely of things that I bought at Amoeba’s gigantic store (specifically in the huge used section) in Hollywood during my recent trip to LA. Next week I’ll go back to the regularly scheduled Top 10.
This is a 2001 reissue of the 1982 classic debut album. This album, along with perhaps The Feelies’ Crazy Rhythms, pointed the door for many future Velvet Underground-influence dual-guitar explorations. A must.
The Dictators – Go Girl Crazy! (Epic)
Yes this album is juvenile and stupid (hilariously so) and very un-PC (song titles like “Two Tub Man”, “Master Race Rock”, “I Live for Cars and Girls” and “Teengenerate” should clue you in), but man is it fun. It’s also a groundbreaking (for 1975 especially when you consider what was going on then) mix of Blue Oyster Cult-like hard rock and the Ramones-like punk rock that would follow in their wake. Their sound was like a bridge between those 2 styles and of course, neither the narrow-minded hard rock or punk audiences ever fully accepted them, which led to their breakup after 2 brilliant albums (and 1 so-so one) in the late ‘70s. However, they reformed for 2001’s D.F.F.D. and play sporadically, so if you have a chance, catch them live!
The Soft Boys – Invisible Hits (Glass Fish Records)
By far the most high-priced item on this list, I paid $18.99 for this 1990 UK reissue of their 2nd album because it’s out of print and extremely hard to find.
Laughing Clowns – Golden Days-When Giants Ruled the Earth (Hot)
This is a compilation of stuff from the band that former Saints guitarist Ed Kuepper formed after the break-up of the original Saints lineup in 1978.
Wall of Voodoo – Call of the West (I.R.S.)
Much like The Days of Wine and Roses, this seemed like an appropriate purchase for driving around in LA.
Squeeze – Ridiculous (I.R.S.)
Not only is this a fantastic and vastly underrated album, but I believe that it’s also the last record that I.R.S. released in the U.S. before folding.
Husker Du – Everything Falls Apart (Rykodisc)
This is Rykodisc’s reissue of their 1st full-length studio album (the live Land Speed Record came first) complete with 2 hard-to-find singles (“Statues” and “In a Free Land”), great liner notes and a few demos. This isn’t their finest hour as it was recorded before they really found their sound, but it’s still a solid slab of early ‘80s US hardcore punk and you could already see the songwriting dynamic of Bob Mould and Grant Hart at play as well as a more defined sense of melody than most other bands of their ilk.
Pere Ubu – The Art of Walking (Rough Trade)
Although I have some of their very early material, I’ve yet to explore their material from the ‘80s and beyond, though I do know the song “Birdies” from the film and double Lp Urgh! A Music War.
Saint Etienne – Tiger Bay (Warner Brothers)
Since me and my girlfriend saw them at Avalon (a dance club in Hollywood) during our trip, this one seemed appropriate to buy when I saw it used.
Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff plus Early Singles (Sub Pop)
For a long time, aside from their brilliant singles “You Got It” and “Touch Me I’m Sick” (both on this compilation), I’d always dismissed Mudhoney as grunge also-rans until I saw them live a few years ago at Warsaw. That show changed my entire perception of them. I realized then and there that they were playing raunchy ‘60s influenced garage rock that could’ve had a place during the ‘80s revival (see the recently released Children of Nuggets box set) that they just missed as well as the more recent one spearheaded by bands like The White Stripes. Upon further inspection, listening to this compilation of early material leads me to believe that at this point of their development they were more similar to the demented blues-punk of The Birthday Party (though not quite as psychotic) than the “grunge” tag they unfortunately got saddled since they were from Seattle and all. In short, they’re a great and underrated band who are still going strong today.
