Album Review- The Dream Syndicate- Ultraviolet Battle Hymns and True Confessions

The Dream Syndicate have a rather fascinating story. Four albums in the 80s that solidify their reputation as one of the great American indie bands, though never quite breaking through like REM (to be honest, few did). Then a 20 year career for Steve Wynn which generally was well received. But nothing really prepared listeners for a second run of Dream Syndicate that has been surprisingly fulfilling. I got into the Dream Syndicate through a pretty obvious spot- the 1992 Rhino comp. That album called Tell Me When It’s Over is just about as close as one can get to perfect. It takes a bunch of the bands classic debut album and cherry picks from later records. The reunited Dream Syndicate is now four albums in and they all seem quite different. 2017’s How Did I Find Myself Here seemed drawn from the late 80s albums- with a focus on lyrics and smart songwriting. 2019’s These Times felt like a continuation but in retrospect, is also a bridge to 2020’s The Universe Inside. The Universe Inside felt like a big moment and a changed band. As with seemingly everything the band it has done, not everyone shared the same opinion- but at least this felt like the consensus that this was something special. This was a band bent on psychedelic jazz-influenced jamming. While “jam band” is a bad word in some circles, the album was pulling in from sources as disaparate as Coltrane, Crazy Horse and Hawkwind. The 21st Century iteration of the Dream Syndicate is so unpredictable from album to album that it is almost predictable that the follow up to The Universe Inside would be completely different. And it does, Ultraviolet Battle Hymns and True Confessions is a throwback to the band’s debut. That album had a heavy Velvet Underground influence - sparse instrumentation, over complicated lyrics, goth overtones and that sneaky subtle great guitar interaction - influential sounds that bubbled up most prominently in bands on the Alias Records and Flying Nun record labels in the late 80s and on a number of various major indie labels in that golden era of the 1990s. Dream Syndicate are now near the front and again at the end of that implied shades-wearing lineage that includes every one from Yo La Tengo to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club to Parquet Courts. It should be little shock that review of UBH&TC are once again all over the place, though most are highly complimentary. Personally, for me, I rather enjoy it. Like their debut disc, some songs are better but the whole collection hangs together quite well. I know comparing the two records is quite unfair, so I will simply say my experience of the record is that it is one that I can listen to in its entirety and want to do the same tomorrow. 2022 - Fire Records