Steve Wynn "What I Did After My Band Broke Up/Visitation Rights" 1990-2004(orig) 2005(comp)****

The band that "broke up" was Dream Syndicate, a fantastic neo-psychedelic guitar band, influenced by the likes of Velvet Underground and Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and which in turn influenced a lot of indie rock bands in the 80's. Their singer, Steve Wynn, has gone on to make a string of well crafted yet underrated albums running the gamut from country-ish ballads to fiery garage rock. He was a frequent visitor in Greece and I got to see him many times, always delivering a great show and displaying an agreeable, fan-friendly personality. This compilation covers the first 15 years of his solo career, starting with 1990's Kerosene Man.  Maybe as a reaction to Dream Syndicate's guitar excesses, it was  more conventional singer-songwriter stuff, with echoes of Bob Dylan and Lou Reed. That record's "Carolyn" was an especially catchy and melodic single, but neither that nor "Tears Won't Help" nor Johnette Napolitano duet "Conspiracy of the Heart" became hits. 1994's Fluorescent ("Carelessly", "Collision Course") was a mostly acoustic affair and 1996's Melting in the Dark ("Shelley's Blues, Vol. 2," "Why") a return to the raw guitar sound of Dream Syndicate, with Bostonian indie band Come backing him instead of session musicians. 1999's My Midnight ("Nothing But the Shell", "Cats and Dogs","500 Girl Mornings") contained his most mature songwriting yet,  while 2001's double CD Here Come the Miracles ("Sustain", "Death Valley Rain," "There Will Come a Day") is arguably his greatest achievement, combining the guitar fury of his Dream Syndicate days with a more varied approach that encompasses all indie Americana sounds. What I Did... works well as an introduction to the artist, but inevitably suffers from inconsistency, with different styles and backing bands form different periods mixed together. The second disc, entitled Visitation Rights, contains reworkings of older material with stark piano and/or organ backing by long-time associate (and former Green On Red keyboardist) Chris Cacavas. It provides an alternate setting for the songs and confirms that they can withstand transformation (a mark of great songwriting) but it's otherwise quite inessential listening. All in all, this makes for a nice introduction for an artist we'll be getting back to often in this blog, as I have more than 15 of his albums (solo, with Dream Syndicate, Gutterball, Danny & Dusty etc). Listening to it again brought back memories and made me realize I haven't seen him play live for 10 years, when he played on the last night of the historic Rodon Club. And now that I said Rodon Club; I really feel sad: The temple of music for my generation is gone and my mind goes to all the great artists I've seen there and are no more: The Ramones, Gun Club's Jeffrey Lee Pierce, the Cramp's Lux Interior and so many others close to my heart.  I saw bluesman John Campbell giving a smokin' hot concert there only weeks before he died, just like Les Negresses Vertes whose 30-year old singer Helno also died only weeks after performing in Rodon. Now, let's just stop here with this list and return to Steve Wynn who is alive and well and, according to wikipedia, a billionaire who owns half of Las Vegas - WTF? could that be true?

May 29, 2005: Last show at Rodon Club, the end of an era

***** for Death Valley Rain, Nothing But The Shell, Carolyn

**** for Amphetamine, Sustain, Shelley's Blues Pt 2, Black Magic, Tears Won't Help, Collision Course, Cats and Dogs, Conspiracy Of The Heart

*** for Carelessly, Drag, There Will Come a Day,  What Comes After, Why, 500 Girl Mornings.

Visitation Rights:

*** for James River Incident. Drought, Anthem, For All I Care, Mandy Breakdown, Riverside, Follow Me, The Mask Of Shame, Something To Remember Me By, What We Call Love, Epilogue

** for My Family, Gospel, Crawling Misanthropic Blues