Recorded at Quad Teck Studio, Los Angeles, California in September 1982.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Personnel: Steve Wynn (vocals, guitar); Kendra Smith (vocals); Karl Precoda (guitar); Dennis Duck (drums).

Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot.

Liner Note Author: Byron Coley.

Recording information: Down There Studios, Los Angeles, CA (09/1982); Quad Teck Studio, Los Angeles, CA (09/1982); Southwest Sound, Pasadena, CA (09/1982).

Photographers: David Arnoff; Laura Levine.

This Davis, California quartet's full-length debut stands alongside such classics as R.E.M.'s CHRONIC TOWN and the Replacements' HOOTENANNY in proving there was more to early '80s music than MTV-ready synthpop. Regularly compared to the first Velvet Underground album on its release, the only points of similarity between the two are in guitarist Karl Precoda's liberal use of feedback, and bassist Kendra Smith's deadpan Nico-like vocal on the coolly dismissive "Too Little Too Late."

Lou Reed has never sounded anywhere near as crazed as Steve Wynn does on the manic title track, and the sneering opener "Tell Me When It's Over" owes more to Dylan's "Positively Fourth Street" than it does to "Heroin." This is one of the classic American pop albums of the '80s.

On the one hand, where the Dream Syndicate came from was so obvious that it almost hurt. The Velvet Underground was a clear touchstone (if not quite the original LaMonte Young ensemble the band name referred to), as were the Doors, the Byrds, and any number of blues and country traditions and more. Had they been around in the late '60, one might have wondered whether they would have garnered much attention in comparison. But the early '80s was the band's time and place, and their fusions of all the above and more via punk-inspired energy achieved its own level of deserved attention. Capturing the original killer Wynn/Precoda/Smith/Duck lineup performing with inspiration throughout, The Days of Wine and Roses trumps the "paisley underground" tag the band was saddled with by being a great rock record, full on. While Wynn received the lion's share of attention thanks to his ghost-of-Lou Reed vocals and frontman status, arguably it's Precoda who is the real reason to listen in. Both his rave-ups and gentler shadings are phenomenal, as a random listen of songs like "Definitely Clean" and the sweet, Smith-sung "Too Little, Too Late" show. The Smith/Duck rhythm section grooves along fairly enough, at its best on the Krautrock-inspired chug of Precoda's composition "Halloween." Highlights include the romping "Then She Remembers," with a much more direct Wynn vocal that makes for good in-your-face fun, and the mid-tempo moodout of "When You Smile," Precoda's screeching feedback playing around the mix's edges. Concluding with the epochal title track, which builds to a frenetic climax not once but twice, The Days of Wine and Roses is a grand treat. [The 2001 reissue offers eight bonus tracks: four from the Down There EP ("Sure Thing," "That's What You Always Say," "When You Smile," "Some Kinda Itch,") two rehearsal takes ("Too Little, Too Late," "Definitely Clean,") and different versions of "Thats What You Always Say" and "Last Chance for You"] ~ Ned Raggett