The Dream Syndicate, The Day Before Wine and Roses (CD)

Radio gigs are typically primitive recordings—this one is no exception, and it could probably have been mastered better. The Day Before Wine and Roses, recorded in 1982 and released properly in 1995, captures the Dream Syndicate in their peak form (right around the same time that Dennis Duck recorded Look to This with the Doo-Dooettes, strangely enough). There are excellent covers from Dylan, Donovan, and Neil Young, plus high-energy, full-on performances of some of the Dream Syndicate's early classics. Both the classic covers and the originals display the obvious influence of punk/new-wave—the Dream Syndicate merged their influences seamlessly. It's a great reissue, despite the arbitrary image chosen for the cover.

Snakefinger, Greener Postures (side A)

1980's Greener Postures is a bit less overwhelming than Snakefinger's debut Chewing Hides the Sound, but it's still a weird, cool record. His guitar playing continues to cross avant-strangeness with classic rock progressions, and the Residents' backing gives a surprisingly new-wave context to the album. The songwriting is a bit uneven, but the highlights like "The Man in the Dark Sedan" stand out, and other songs like "Jungle Princess" are surprising and cool. These songs also have some overt vocal melodies, and Snakefinger isn't quite a natural lead vocalist when he delivers them. The cover art uses memorable pinks and greens (before it was preppy). The album tries to sound bigger than it achieves, and ends up sounding a bit clumsy and odd (though not bad).

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, The Funeral Pudding (12" EP)

1994's The Funeral Pudding feels like an in-between EP for the band, but it's really long enough to be a full-length. This EP captures the Thinking Fellers' transition between the full-on splattery mess of Mother of All Saints and the song-heavy Strangers from the Universe. (Admonishing the Bishops, from roughly the same time, includes all songs.) The songs on The Funeral Pudding are a bit more "rock" and less melodic than those on Admonishing the Bishops or Strangers from the Universe, and some of their soundtrack instrumental side comes through too. The splatter is mostly rock-oriented improv, far less diverse and crazy than on Mother of All Saints. The Funeral Pudding ranges from raw to lo-fi in sound quality, and the cover paintings look cool.

David Kilgour, First Steps and False Alarms (side A)

The most primitive of David Kilgour's solo albums is this collection of lo-fi home recordings. Some of these songs ended up on his "proper" early solo albums, while others are only available here as sketches. The sound quality is raw and uneven, some tracks even have audible tape hiss (these sketches predate the prevalence of affordable digital systems). David's singing, guitar playing, and songwriting really come through, even in his sketches, and despite the primitivism, the sounds really flatter the music. The simple black-on-white silkscreen and hand-numbered edition of 1000 (did people really sell that many albums like this in 1995?!) reflect the record's era.

The Soft Boys, A Can of Bees (CD)

My CD of A Can of Bees, a 1990 pressing on Two Crabs, confuses me. A bit of Internet research tells me that there were several different sequences of the album on vinyl. The CD definitely does not resemble the sequence of my vinyl copy (also on Two Crabs, strangely), plus it's not a particularly good sounding master (the treble is really weak). 1979's A Can of Bees is more meandering and less focused than the Soft Boys' canonical Underwater Moonlight, from a year later, and all of the confusion with sequences does not help it achieve focus. With that said, the album contains some great songs, including the classic "Human Music", that display how powerful the band would quickly become. The silly cover art can only be purposeful.

Low, Canada (CD single)

Trust is something of a transitional Low record, with a distinct break in songwriting style but not yet the stylized production of their more recent albums. The "Canada" CD single is even further from the syntactically modern production techniques, as the two non-album tracks are even more organic in their mix style than most of Trust. "Shots & Ladders" is a highlight of Trust, and an easy one to miss as it's buried at the album's end. The sparser and less-produced alternate here is a nice reminder of the song's interesting construction. "Fearless" is of course a Pink Floyd classic, and as it's built around mellow acoustic guitar and vocals, it plays to Low's strengths perfectly as a choice in cover. Tom Herbers's cover photo is nice, and the personal style of the liner notes (printed on the CD) is a nice touch.

Califone, Roomsound (CD)

By 2001, Califone had been stripped down to Ben and Tim as core members, with few hints that the band would grow back again into a stable quartet. The remarkable coherence of Roomsound reflects their tight musical bond from so many years of collaboration. While it has neither the remarkable abstract percussive sections of Quicksand/Cradlesnakes nor the mature songwriting voice of Funeral Singers, Roomsound has a distinctive power and subtle but very memorable melodies. It features the ultra-present sound that has become a distinctive feature of Califone's albums, which has lasted through multiple changes in recording environments, and impressive hand-folded packaging.