The Dream Syndicate’s “The Days Of Wine and Roses” getting a 4-disc, 54-song reissue

The Dream Syndicate | Photo by David Arnoff

The Dream Syndicate’s 1982 debut album The Days of Wine and Roses — a classic of Los Angeles’ early-’80s Paisley Underground scene — will receive a 40th anniversary reissue this summer in the form of 4-disc, 54-track collection boasting 10 rarities and 31 previously unreleased recordings.

Fire Records will release History Kinda Pales When It and You Are Aligned: The Days Of Wine and Roses on June 23 in digital formats worldwide, and, in North America only, as a 4CD bookback edition and a 2LP vinyl edition, featuring the remastered album plus the band’s debut EP. (Pre-order: Amazon.com, Apple Music, Bandcamp)

The 4CD edition includes a wealth of bonus material by the original lineup of Steve Wynn, Dennis Duck, Kendra Smith and Karl Precoda, with the first disc featuring a newly remastered edition of the original nine-song album, plus the band’s four-song, self-titled debut EP, also released in 1982 on Down There Records.

The second disc features both tracks off a 7-inch Wynn recorded with an earlier band called 15 Minutes, plus Dream Syndicate rehearsal takes from 1981 and 1982, and a pair of live radio performances from ’82.

Disc 3 includes a mix of live recordings and rehearsal takes, while the fourth disc features 15 live cuts from a concert in Reseda, California, in 1982 and material recorded backstage in Tucson, Arizona, that same year.

Of the new collection, Wynn says:

“Hearing these bonus tracks of live and rehearsal performances of The Dream Syndicate, culled by Pat Thomas from the cassette collection of Dennis Duck, I remember things about that band and what we were doing in 1982 that I had long since forgotten. We would actually listen to these cassettes back then religiously, simultaneously for study and clues for what to do next but also just out of amazement that we were suddenly playing in our own favorite band, doing a kind of music we had only dreamed somebody might do someday.”

The bookback CD edition includes 30 pages of new liner notes by band historian Pat Thomas and new interviews with Kendra Smith, engineer Paul Cutler and the album’s producer, Chris Desjardins — plus rare photos, gig posters and more.

Below, check out the full tracklists for the CD and vinyl editions, and hear two of the tracks off the expanded edition: the debut EP version of “That’s What You Always Say” and a live recording of “Some Kinda Itch.”

The Dream Syndicate, History Kinda Pales When It and You Are Aligned: The Days Of Wine and Roses (4CD edition)

Disc 1: The Days of Wine and Roses + Down There EP
1. “Tell Me When It’s Over”
2. “Definitely Clean”
3. “That’s What You Always Say”
4. “Then She Remembers”
5. “Halloween”
6. “When You Smile”
7. “Until Lately”
8. “Too Little, Too Late”
9. “The Days of Wine and Roses”
10. “Sure Thing” (Down There EP)
11. “That’s What You Always Say” (Down There EP)
12. “When You Smile” (Down There EP)
13. “Some Kinda Itch” (Down There EP)

Disc 2: Even More Hot Rocks (No Hits & Out of Phase Cookies)
1. “That’s What You Always Say” (15 Minutes / 7-Inch Single Version)
2. “Last Chance For You” (15 Minutes / 7-Inch Single Version)
3. “Too Little, Too Late” (Rehearsal Version, 1981)
4. “Definitely Clean” (Rehearsal Version, 1981)
5. “Is It Rolling, Bob?” (Rehearsal Version, 1982)
6. “A Reason” (Rehearsal Version, 1982)
7. “Like Mary” (Rehearsal Version, 1982)
8. “Outside the Dream Syndicate” (Rehearsal Version, 1982)
9. “Last Chance For You” (Rehearsal Version, 1982)
10. Unknown song with lyrics (Rehearsal Version, 1982)
11. “Some Kinda Itch” (Live at KPFK, 1982)
12. “Open Hour” (Live at KPFK, 1982)

Disc 3: Crackling Noises OK — Do Not Correct
1. “Until Lately” (Live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, CA, 1982)
2. “Sure Thing” (Live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, CA, 1982)
3. “Then She Remembers” (Live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, CA, 1982)
4. “It’s Gonna Be Alright” (Live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, CA, 1982)
5. “Halloween” (Live)
6. “That’s What You Always Say” (Live)
7. “Sure Thing” (Live)
8. “Definitely Clean” (Live)
9. “Too Little, Too Late” (Kendra vocal) (Live)
10. “When You Smile” (Live)
11. “Some Kinda Itch” (Live)
12. “That’s What You Always Say” (Rehearsal Version)
13. “Road Runner” (Rehearsal Version)
14. “Instrumental” (Rehearsal Version)

Disc 4: Live’r Than You’ll Ever Be
1. “Tell Me When It’s Over” (Live at the Country Club, Reseda CA, 1982)
2. “That’s What You Always Say” (Live at the Country Club, Reseda CA, 1982)
3. “Sure Thing” (Live at the Country Club, Reseda CA, 1982)
4. “Then She Remembers” (Live at the Country Club, Reseda CA, 1982)
5. “Halloween” (Live at the Country Club, Reseda CA, 1982)
6. “Definitely Clean” (Live at the Country Club, Reseda CA, 1982)
7. “When You Smile” (Live at the Country Club, Reseda CA, 1982)
8. “Days of Wine and Roses” (Live at the Country Club, Reseda CA, 1982)
9. “Halloween” (Backstage, Tucson, AZ, 1982)
10. “Definitely Clean” (Backstage, Tucson, AZ, 1982)
11. “That’s What You Always Say” (Backstage, Tucson, AZ, 1982)
12. “Folsom Prison Blues” (Backstage, Tucson, AZ, 1982)
13. “Until Lately” (Backstage, Tucson, AZ, 1982)
14. “Some Kinda Itch” (Backstage, Tucson, AZ, 1982)
15. “Piece of My Heart” (Backstage, Tucson, AZ, 1982)

The Dream Syndicate, The Days of Wine and Roses (2LP edition)

Side A
A1. “Tell Me When It’s Over”
A2. “Definitely Clean”
A3. “That’s What You Always Say”
A4. “Then She Remembers”
A5. “Halloween”

Side B
B1. “When You Smile”
B2. “Until Lately”
B3. “Too Little, Too Late”
B4. “The Days Of Wine And Roses”

Side C
C1. “Sure Thing” (Down There EP)
C2. “That’s What You Always Say” (Down There EP)

Side D
B1. “When You Smile” (Down There EP)
B2. “Some Kinda Itch” (Down There EP)

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS

• The Dream Syndicate to release new album in June, play “Days of Wine and Roses” on tour
• The Dream Syndicate previews ‘The Universe Inside’ with 20-minute album opener
• The Dream Syndicate returns with new album ‘These Times’ — hear single ‘Black Light’
• Kendra Smith to reunite with The Dream Syndicate onstage in California next week
• The Dream Syndicate debuts new song ‘Glide,’ announces December tour of U.S.
• Listen: The Dream Syndicate debuts 11-minute title track to ‘How Did I Find Myself Here?’
• Q&A: Steve Wynn on The Dream Syndicate’s first new album in nearly 30 years
• Dream Syndicate’s 1st new album in 29 years to feature Kendra Smith singing ‘perfect coda’