Dream Syndicate - The Day's Before Wine and Roses

year: 82 - review: There are some radical reworkings: "Some Kinda Itch" is a slower, smokier number in this incarnation, the late-night setting perfectly matching its strung-out mood, while "John Coltrane Stereo Blues" appears under the name "Open Hour"" as a slightly more stripped-down jam. Other things don't change at all -- "The Days of Wine and Roses" itself, which understandably closes the set, is as blasting as one could want. The inclusion of the covers is explained away by Wynn thus: "If you're going to bootleg this, we don't want to have to worry about the royalties." Some choices are obvious -- Buffalo Springfield's "Mr. Soul" and Bob Dylan's "Outlaw Blues" -- but the revamp of Donovan's "Season of the Witch" is more unexpected but plenty exciting.

Susheela Raman - Music for Crocodiles

Genre
Indian Folk
Worldbeat


year: 06 - review: The overall loss of a more central ethnic sound is perhaps a bit disappointing to those who really enjoyed her previous albums (though there are some very strong influences yet, including a few entire songs), but there are still some very nice touches. The accompanying veena and tabla here and there provide interesting ornamentation and rhythms, and strong blues inflections give the album some additional depth all around.