Rain Parade first shot to prominence as part of the Paisley Underground scene in California in the mid 80's. They have previously featured here and here as part of the 3X4 album where they and fellow Paisley Underground acts The Dream Syndicate, The Bangles and The Three O'Clock covered each others songs.
They were originally on the go from 1981-1986 and then 1988 prior to resuming touring in 2012.Despite their relative longevity they have only ever released three studio albums Emergency Third Rail Power Trip (1983), Crashing Dream (1985) and some 38 years later Last Rays of a Dying Sun this year on the Flat Iron label.
I saw Matt Puicci and Steven Roback of the band doing an acoustic set as support to The Dream Syndicate at the Hug and Pint in March and very good they were too.
I subsequently tracked down the album. It has been reasonably well received with a rating of 69/100 on the Metacritic aggregator, 3.5.5 on AllMusic and 3/5 on The Arts Desk.. It's only had a couple of listens so far but I like what I hear.
Classic Rock writes its gilded vocal harmonies and gently chiming guitars are uppermost as the band move through subtle variants of form and texture. That's good enough for me
Rain Parade have always been in my peripheral vision but can't say I've heard any of their stuff until now. Of your two tracks I prefer the first. When you did your your 3x4 post it was the Bangles track I liked best.
ReplyDeleteI loved Emergency Third Rail Power Trip (still do), and saw them put on a great show in a small club in Washington circa 1983 or 84. I didn't care as much for the follow-up. David Roback, the original guitarist, left the band after the first album and became better known for Opal and Mazzy Star; sadly he died in 2020.
ReplyDelete-Marc