It's been 30 years since I first saw Steve Wynn play live. I had heard people praising Dream Syndicate's appearance in one of the first Greek rock festivals (at Veakeio theater in Piraeus 1987, months before I started going to gigs) and was disappointed that the band didn't exist anymore. Which I needn't have done because Wynn played a lot of DS songs, and they sounded great. I've lost count of the times I saw him with his various bands (certainly more than 5), all I can tell you is he's never disappointed me. I never saw him with Gutterball though, which is a pity, as they were a great band and not likely to reform any more - unlike Dream Syndicate.
Gutterball were a strange sort of supergroup: none of the players was really famous, but they all served in highly-rated indie/neo-psychedelic bands: Dream Syndicate (Wynn), The Long Ryders (Stephen McCarthy, guitar/vocals), Silos (Bob Rupe, bass) and House Of Freaks (Bryan Harvey on vocals and guitar and Johnny Hott on drums). Wynn and Harvey wrote and sang most of the songs. Unsurprisingly, the dominant sound here is indie guitar rock with a touch of Americana. Velvet Underground and Neil Young with Crazy Horse seem to provide the main inspiration, just like with Dream Syndicate. There's a bit more diversity here, but that's not to say that this is a hodge-podge album with each member contributing something in their own style. No, Gutterball are a real band with a distinct character, even if that's a blend of the individual artists' styles. So we get a terrific opener in electric Dylan-circa-Highway 61 pastiche "Trial Separation Blues", followed by the repetitive blues motif of "Top Of The Bill", then DS-like garage rocker "Lester Young" and Neil Young-circa-On The Beach ballad "Motorcycle Boy". "One By One" is probably my favorite, even though uncharacteristic of the band: a sea shanty recounting a day in the life of a gambler. "When You Make Up Your Mind" shows a similar flare for storytelling but with a VU-like musical backing. "Think It Over" and "Patent Leather Shoes" display Gutterball's fun R&B side (albeit a very white-sounding R&B), while "Falling From The Sky" is a fiery garage rocker. Ballad "Please Don't Hold Back" reminds me in retrospective of (then not-yet-existent) Calexico, and "The Preacher And The Prostitute" of Neil Young with Crazy Horse. The CD closes with bittersweet ballad "Blessing In Disguise" in slow quasi-Latin tempo. Hearing the whole album from start to finish, I can't find a bad or indifferent track. The lyrics are interesting, and the music, ranging from tender ballads to loud and distorted guitars, should satisfy both classic rock and alternative scene fans. This should have been a contender for the best album of 1993 title, but it slipped through the cracks. This what you get for being consistently good Steve Wynn! People just stop noticing you! Tragically, the band's co-leader Bryan Harvey and his family were the victims of a horrible and senseless crime, which means that the Gutterball story will probably not be revived again. Nevertheless, we have the two albums they recorded back in the 90's, as well as a compilation of demos. All are worth hearing, but this one especially counts as the proverbial "buried treasure" CD.
**** for Trial Separation Blues, Lester Young, Motorcycle Boy, One By One, When You Make Up Your Mind, Think It Over, Falling From The Sky, Blessing In Disguise
*** for Top Of The Bill, Please Don't Hold Back, The Preacher And The Prostitute, Patent Leather Shoes
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