When you first posted this, I thought "naah, this was just typical early-80s lo-fi post-punk with guitars over a drum machine, nothing especially Joy Division-ish about that," other than the recording techniques (if any) they were using.
But if you dig a little deeper, it turns out there is a connection. Apparently, 15 Minutes wasn't a real band — it was actually just Steve Wynn and two members of a SoCal new wave band called Alternate Learning, aka ALRN, who got together just to record that one single, probably to use as a demo. One of those ALRN members was the bass player, Carolyn O'Rourke, who also did the cover art for ALRN's only album, Painted Windows (1981):
The similarity to Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures (1979) cover is pretty obvious:
Carolyn O'Rourke ended up leaving ALRN and the music biz in general soon after, and never designed another album cover. But three other ALRN members (one of whom was their lead singer, the late Scott Miller), went on to form Game Theory, and later on, The Loud Family.
Great piece and amazing how everything seems to flow together. The ALRN cover is really good and there's a huge similarity with Unknown Pleasures. Carolyn should have stuck with the sleeve designs. I think that she had a flair for it.
Game Theory & The Loud Family! Two more great bands who never quite made it.
I recently introduced a friend of mine to The Dream Syndicate and he loves them. We were in the pub on Tuedsay discussing the RSL26 releases and he got
As did I and he was saying how he can't believe that Dream Syndiacte never became as big as say R.E.M.
I have to agree with him on that but I guess it's about luck, timing and having the right contacts (I have my own theories on this but won't bore you with them right now). Who knows but I'd always wondered this myself and interesting to hear someone new to the band say a similar thing
It’s not one of the greatest live albums of all time. It IS THE GREATEST LIVE ALBUM OF ALL TIME! I love this album for so many reasons.
The Dream Syndicate's Live at Raji's was recorded on January 31, 1988 at Raji's nightclub in Los Angeles around the time of the recording of their Ghost Stories (which is a rather underappreciated album IMO but that’s for another day)
I’ve seen Dream Syndicate live so many times that I’ve lost count (including a great gig January this year) and this album captures the bands first three albums and on the way to ending their stint together at this time and was the last album released before the band broke up
This album captures one of the greatest live bands at their peak. Raw, powerful, energetic and simply enjoying what they do best, entertaining their fans. I guess I love this album so much because I've seen the syndicate play live for the last 40 years and it's one of my greatest musical experiences.
The album itself has everything you wanted from Dream Syndicate at the time, including the quintessential live version of John Coltrane Stereo Blues. The whole alum is glorious from start to finish. A wonderful thing
I recently introduced a friend of mine to The Dream Syndicate and he loves them. We were in the pub on Tuedsay discussing the RSL26 releases and he got
As did I and he was saying how he can't believe that Dream Syndiacte never became as big as say R.E.M.
I have to agree with him on that but I guess it's about luck, timing and having the right contacts (I have my own theories on this but won't bore you with them right now). Who knows but I'd always wondered this myself and interesting to hear someone new to the band say a similar thing
I couldn’t agree more; there’s other live albums I cherish but this is one of the greatest!
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and he loves them. We were in the pub on Tuedsay discussing the RSL26 releases and he got
Moved: 05/02/2026 13:40 by Romanelli
