Steve Wynn news

Two new Steve Wynn-related releases:
Smack Dab and the return after 20 years of
Danny and Dusty!


I've only given it a few listens, but the first Danny and Dusty album since Ronald Regan was prez has been a pretty good ride so far. The album is bookended with a couple of overt looks to the past: the boozy reverie of "The Good Old Days" and the wistfully autobiographical "That's What Brought Me Here." In between you get everything from the kind of proto alt-country that made "Lost Weekend" so enjoyable (i hear Ronnie Lane/Slim Chance references all over this) to the pure Paisley Underground magic of the title song, which would sit proudly on any of the early Dream Syndicate records. Stuart sounds amazingly together, Wynn, not surprisingly, is in fine form and they're again ably assisted by Chris Cacavas and Steven McCarthy, whose expertise on a variety of stringed instruments and keyboards elevates the proceedings every time he shows up. I think this album will be a "grower" for me -- i've got a few of the songs rattlin' around in my noggin' (the title song is definitely one of my favorite things of 2007 so far) and i've been itching to hear the whole thing ever since it arrived, always good signs. The first 5000 copies come with a bonus DVD -- a complete 1986 Danny and Dusty performance in LA that, at its tightest, is racous and fairly ramshackle. Speaking of boozy reverie! If you wanna see the prototype for the modern day, devil-may-care side-project "supergroup" thang ala Golden Smog, look no further than this. An obviously rare historical document and a rather enjoyable one at that.

I also ordered yet another Wynn side project at the same time: Smack Dab, which features Wynn, Linda Pitmon and Paco Loco, a Spanish producer/musician whose studio in Puerto de Santa Maria the album was recorded at. Some may recognize Paco's name from the last Golden Smog album -- that project was started at his studio before things moved to Ed Ackerson's Flowers studio in Mpls and his wife Muni sang on one of the songs. Smack Dab is a far more left field kinda thing than D&D -- lots of odd little creations and studio jaberwocky that may or may not have been conceived after long sessions consuming good rioja and other exotic confections. This stuff is all over the map; it's hard so far to get a handle on things. There are pretty little pop songs (one of the sung by Ms. Linda Pitmon), John Cale-ish downers, metallic thump, a healthy dose of Wynn in full stun-gun guitar mode, and some really wigged-out shit that sounds like the Gang of Four meets Pavement on acid. Or something like that. Some of the lyrics are as "adventerous" as the music: "mezcal tape loop on the motorway" or "truth or dare and seconal/white wine and that's not all!" or "sylvia walked like a leper/on steroids and diet pills/she was my neil young/and i was her stephen stills" or "my life is big enough/i complete me/quarantine" or "b-girl milkshake/surfer boy cheesecake/bit part, union pay/doubles as a PA." Some of this stuff reads like an unholy marriage between a bad language translating app and the William Burrouogh's cut-up method. There is one fairly "normal" offering, "My Cross to Bear," that would fit in on one of Wynn's recent albs, and there's also an amazingly straight reading of "Never Been to Spain." I imagine it must have been at least a little liberating for Steve to do a "no rules" kind of project. So often such things are indulgent bores but i'm finding myself liking much of this, some of it quite a bit.

This album reportedly won't have a domestic release, so WynnWeb is the easiest place to get it for now for us statesiders.

smack dab on myspace