Danny & Dusty wasn't actually a duo, but a supergroup of sorts comprised of players from groups
associated with L.A.'s paisley underground. Danny & Dusty consisted of Dan Stuart of Green on Red and the Dream Syndicate's Steve Wynn -- along with members of their bands -- plus Sid Griffin, Stephen McCarthy, and Tom Stevens from the Long Ryders. The gathering of friends recorded one album in February 1985 over the course of a single, notoriously booze-soaked weekend.
Appropriately, the effort was titled Lost Weekend. It would assume legendary status among the followers of the paisley underground, though certainly many of the players here are from more of a
roots rock, country-punk bent. The sleeve notes hail the effort as an amalgam of "friendship, fear, drunkenness, death, and elusive salvation," a fair enough assessment of the loose, boozy set. The LP consisted of seven Stuart/Wynn compositions, plus a cover of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," and the sound varied from country-pop to blazing barroom rock. In the mid-'80s, Danny & Dusty also played many shows, primarily around L.A. and with different lineups, before eventually disappearing.
DANNY AND DUSTY - THE LOST WEEKEND 1985
Now that time has passed, the dust has settled and aficiondos of Danny and Dusty's The Lost Weekend', have had time to turn reality into tall tales, anecdote and campfire legend, it is time to set the story
straight. "The Lost Weekend" was not actually recorded in a weekend. No, after the approximately 32 hours from sundown Friday to last call Saturday night, we decided to take all of Sunday off to nurse our hangovers and calmly bask in the glory of our frantic, wild session. A weekend? We didn't need no stinkin' weekend.
In February 1985 the Dream Syndicate, Green On Red and The Long Ryders were at the top of our
creative, critical and commercial games. We wore the confidence and cockiness of. musicians who knew that any trip to any newstand was guaranteed to result in more verification of our certainty that each person's particular band (and we each would gladly place the other combos in the runners-up spot) was the best in the world.
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| THE DREAM SYNDICATE |
So when Danny, Chris, Sid, Stephen, Tom, Dennis and myself converged on Control Centre Studios to turn the previous years "Bend in the Road/The Word Is Out", session into a complete LP, none of us doubted our ability to get the job done. The only question was who would pay for the beer (I think I did
but I'm open to factual revisionism). Several cases of Bud and a few well-timed pints 'of Jim Beam later, we had performed the tracks that you hear on this long-awaited CD. No instruments were over-dubbed and only a few vocals were added later. Since that time, all of us have had our own Bends in the Road. Some successes some reassessments, but I'm happy to say that all of us are to one extent or another, still making records and trying to unearth new mysteries. And when I hear the record that you are holding in your hands, I am taken back to a wonderful time of arrogance, wildness and most of all enduring friendship. It's all there again.
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| GREEN ON RED |
The Lost Weekend is an album by the American duo Danny & Dusty, released in 1985 by A&M
Records. Danny is Dan Stuart from the band Green on Red and Dusty is Steve Wynn from the band the Dream Syndicate. Their backing band featured members of Green on Red, the Dream Syndicate and the Long Ryders.
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| THE LONG RYDERS |
Danny & Dusty – The Lost Weekend
Label: Prima Records – SID006, A&M Records – SID006
Format: CD, Album, Reissue 1996
Country: Europe
Released: 1985
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Country Rock
TRACKS
01. The Word Is Out 3:57
02. Song For The Dreamers 5:05
03. Miracle Mile 4:20
04. Baby, We All Gotta Go Down 4:17
05. The King Of The Losers 6:10
06. Send Me A Postcard 2:55
07. Down To The Bone 6:20
08. Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Written-By – Bob Dylan) 5:41
BONUS TRACK
09. Bend In The Road 4:10
LINE - UP
Dan Stuart – lead vocals (Green On Red)
Steve Wynn – lead vocals, guitar (The Dream Syndicate)
Sid Griffin – guitar, dobro, vocals (The Long Ryders)
Stephen McCarthy – guitar, lap steel, vocals
Tom Stevens – bass guitar (The Long Ryders)
Chris Cacavas – piano (Green On Red)
Dennis Duck (Dennis Mehaffey) – drums, vocals (The Dream Syndicate)
MP3 @ 320 Size: 104 MB
Flac Size: 285 MB
DANNY AND DUSTY - CAST IRON SOUL 2007
Nostalgia is more often a curse than a blessing, and watching an old reprobate drag himself through a
fresh batch of debauchery in the hopes of impressing others is usually about as pathetic as entertainment gets. So while it was hard not to smile when word got out that Steve Wynn and Dan Stuart were pulling their Danny & Dusty act out of mothballs for a reunion album, somehow the prospect of booze-addled trash talking from two guys in their early fifties sounded awfully lame. And thankfully, Wynn and Stuart are smart enough to realize that; twenty-two years after the one-shot semi-masterpiece The Lost Weekend, their second Danny & Dusty album, Cast Iron Soul, is the work of guys who haven't lost their talent or their sass but know how to act their age at the same time. The
opening cut puts the cards on the table by asking "What was so damn great about being young and free/Wasting all those hours ignoring destiny" to close with the big question "Why does everybody want to talk about the good old days?" And though that's not quite the last we hear of "the good days" on Cast Iron Soul, Wynn and Stuart know that more than two decades have passed and they've got other things to talk about than L.A. in the '80s.
The troubadours cast a jaundiced but playful eye on a new generation in "Warren Oates," honor friends and lovers in "Thanksgiving Day" and the title tune, ponder the city that they now call home in "New York City Lullaby," and try to offer some sage advice in "Hold Your Mud." The performances are a good bit less chaotic than on The Lost Weekend, but both Stuart and Wynn are in arguably better voice than they were in 1985, and the band -- which includes fellow paisley underground veterans Steve
McCarthy and Chris Cacavas and L.A. refugees Johnny Hott and Bob Rupe -- gives the music a warm autumnal glow that suits these songs well while still kicking up the dust when the spirit moves them. If The Lost Weekend was the sound of two beer-soaked desperadoes trying to make like they were The Last Gang In Town, Cast Iron Soul plays like Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country, in which two scarred but capable gunslingers hit the trail again and demonstrate just how much they've learned over the years, both about their work and about themselves. Talk about a pleasant surprise.
Danny & Dusty – Cast Iron Soul
Label: Blue Rose Records (2) – BLU CD0417
Format: CD, Album
Country: Germany
Released: 2007
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Country Rock
TRACKS
01. The Good Old Days 3:09
02. Cast Iron Soul 3:21
03. Last Of The Only Ones 3:25
04. Warren Oates 3:52
05. Raise The Roof 4:18
06. Thanksgiving Day 4:03
07. New York City Lullaby 4:04
08. It's My Nature 3:54
09. Hold Your Mud 3:09
10. Let's Hide Away 4:20
11. JD's Blues 4:30
12. That's What Brought Me Here 2:51
LINE - UP
Bass Harmonica, Mixed By – Andy Taub
Bass, Guitar, Vocals – Bob Rupe
Drums, Percussion, Vocals, Photography By – Johnny Hott
Guitar, Bass, Piano, Percussion, Vocals, Producer, Arranged By, Conductor – JD Foster
Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Banjo, Piano, Electric Piano [Wurlitzer], Ukulele, Vocals – Stephen McCarty
Piano, Organ, Electric Piano [Wurlitzer], Guitar, Vocals – Chris Cacavas
Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Percussion, Electric Piano [Wurlitzer] - Steve Wynn
Vocals, Guitar, Written-By – Dan Stuart
MP3 @ 320 Size: 106 MB
Flac Size: 286 MB
The Dream Syndicate on Urban Aspirines HERE
Green On Red on Urban Aspirines HERE
The Long Ryders on Urban Aspirines HERE
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