VIA PRESS RELEASE | In 1982, The Dream Syndicate started their own record company, Down There Records, to release their self-titled 4-song 12-inch EP that included the first versions of “When You Smile” and “That’s What You Always Say.”
They went on to sign with Slash for Days Of Wine & Roses, followed by A&M for the Medicine Show album. After a long, protracted debate with the massive Universal Music Group, the band has earned the right to reissue Medicine Show as a 42-song 4-CD box featuring 29 unreleased recordings from that 1983–’84 era. For this special occasion, The Dream Syndicate is resurrecting their Down There label, which will be distributed by Fire Records.
The Dream Syndicate’s Medicine Show album has always been controversial, even before it was recorded. Indie-rock darlings become the first Paisley Underground band to sign to a major label, hire a mainstream rock producer, change bass players, and spend months recording it after banging out the previous album, Days of Wine and Roses in mere hours.
What this new box set reveals—is that as a live band—between Steve’s (then) new songs and his animated vocal performances, Karl’s expanded guitar playing (taking it to outer space and beyond), various new bassists (Dave, then Mark) holding it down (while pumping it up), and of course Dennis holding it rock steady—The Medicine Show era was the shit!
And let’s not forget the brief but unique inclusion of Tommy’s keyboards (we offer, for the first time ever, the complete WXRT radio broadcast from the reel-to-reel master tape; the original LP was truncated)—and we located some rehearsal and live tapes of Kendra—just before she exited.
It’s all part of the story—the early primitive versions of original songs, plenty of cover songs that the band mangled into new forms, finding themselves along the way. Thankfully, shows from CBGB’s, Zaders, Soap Creek, etc. reveal some incendiary magic. Aside from the live show audio, the album itself is now remastered (mastered from the original analog tapes) and sounds now as Steve recently declared, “as I remember hearing it while we mixed it.”
Like many other psychologically complex albums upon their release, it takes a while, sometimes a long while to let it marinate into the psyche of the listener. The Medicine Show has arrived—long overdue actually.
For those who have read Steve Wynn’s recent memoir—you know about the “breakdown” he suffered while recording this album. The load was heavy, his dreams beyond control; major label debut, intense record producer, novella songs, friction between band members. Yet, the band emerged with a maverick result.
We were saddled with an enormous task. Listening to dozens of hours of tapes, choosing what needed to be mastered, listening again to the mastered material—trying to make the whole thing blend. It was a mix of inspired frustration—moments that were artistically gorgeous and cathartic from the beauty of the music and discovering lost gems. Frankly, it leaves The Days of Wine & Roses in the dust—and we say that while still declaring that album one of the Top 20 records of the 1980s. This one is on the list as well—sandwiched between Double Nickels On The Dime and Zen Arcade.
To celebrate its release, The Dream Syndicate will, for the first time ever, take Medicine Show on the road, with live dates in the US in late 2025 and early 2026 across the UK and Europe.
