The Rain Parade* – Emergency Third Rail Power Trip

Nort bad but really worse (thin sounding, weak) than my UK 1984 original LP record, the latte being alive and punchy. https://www.discogs.sie.com/release/544198-The-Rain-Parade-Emergency-Third-Rail-Power-Trip

What an amazing pressing great sound and quite vinyl a classic album

RAIN PARADE REVIEW

The Rain Parade’s “Emergency Third Rail Power Trip” is such an absurd title that it sticks to your brain the way a marshmallow sticks to your teeth.
This album soars into the stratosphere and stays there for the duration. The music is comfortable, atmospheric and unpredictable enough to hold my interest. They were one of the pioneers of the genre known as Paisley Underground, a mix of bands who loved psychedelic rock but had also just lived through the best years of early Punk and New Wave.

Listening to this brilliant album on vinyl for the first time was about as close as I could get to hearing it again for the first time.

“Talking In My Sleep” kicks off Side 1, a dreamy jangle with a gentle melody suited for an overcast afternoon. Expressive fuzzy lead guitar throws spikes and sparks over a punchy bass groove.
“I thought I couldn’t speak / And I wanted to go home.”

This is a near perfect psychedelic song. It has a “Notorious Byrd Brothers” vibe.
“This Can’t Be Today” is another banger with a bouncy rolling bass line, reverb-soaked vocals, keyboard drones and flute sounds that finds it way into the atmosphere of the musical landscape. Yes, we get more fuzz guitar and magical mystery Farfisa organs that swirl up from the ground over a steady groove. This music takes me to a good place.

“The trees are so tall today
This is all a dream
Make it go away
I only want to sleep
This can’t be today"

“I Look Around” stays in that hazy Notorious Byrd Brothers ball park, this time with backwards guitars in the outfield. It’s a mellow song grounded in a menacing intensity that comes from spiky guitars and earthy bass.
“One Hour and A Half Ago” takes us into solo Syd Barrett territory and could almost be a Dukes of Stratosphear song, though this predates that project.
The enjoyable melodies are intertwined with lead guitars that attack like daggers one minute and suddenly spread like spiderwebs the next.
“What She’s Done To Your Mind” has an early R.E.M. feel with, you guessed it, a jangly compressed 12-string-guitar.

“Look at Merri” has a cool creepy piano intro for this minor key tune that hops across a grassy knoll with the smoothness of a soul groove and a hint of surf just for good measure.
“Saturday’s Asylum” reminds us that this would not be a psychedelic record without references to insanity. Another timeless tune that sounds like it could be from the late ‘60s or the early ‘90s. It picks up to a double-time jam before it ends abruptly.
“Kaleidoscope” is another song here to remind us what genre of music we are listening to.

“What I thought was there is now dissolving.”

Now that sounds like something you’d see in a literal rain parade.

The album ends with “Look Both Ways,” the peppiest song here that has the energy of the early Rolling Stones. According to the linter notes the band started off as more straightforward Stones-type beat band and evolved into more dreamy territory to find their true sound.

RAIN PARADE BONUS DISC REVIEW

At first, the bonus disc seems like it is for super fans only. Side 1 felt like homework, it’s mostly 4-track demos of the albums songs, so they just kinda sound more lo-fi. But the more l listen to Side 2, the more I like it.
I’d recommend not listening to the bonus disc on the same day as the proper album. They said the color is transparent yellow, but I’d call it Mountain Dew.

“Speedway” is a raunchy surf tune that shows where their heads were at… in the big waves. It adds depth to the band’s capabilities and might’ve been a nice change of pace on the album.
The Bangles recorded this song under the title “Bitchen Summer.”

Side 2 makes me wonder why these songs were never recorded in a proper studio, because they are very good. Things happen, I guess.
“No Good Trying” is a live Syd Barrett cover. It really does sound like Syd’s Pink Floyd playing this song at a club in Europe in 1967, as the liner notes suggest.

“Unexpected” is a lo-fi live recording, and it’s about as Velvet Underground as this band will ever sound. Not much of their other material goes in this direction. The bonus material shows the full potential of this group’s sonic range and broader influences.
“Time Machine” is a short demo of a song where the tape got recorded over…. Oops, but hey, who hasn’t done that at least once? This song sounds like early Pink Floyd or Tomorrow. Too bad there’s not a better recording, but ya know, things happen.

“What You’ve Done” is another demo the reminds me of early Clientele recordings like “It’s Art Dad.” I’m guessing The Clientele was somewhat influenced by The Rain Parade.

In spite of the lo-fidelity, the bonus disc IS worth a listen. The magic of the band is there, I just wish they had made more proper recordings. It’s so crazy how a modern iphone can make a better sounding band recording these days, but you know, things were pretty hard back in 1982. Apparently the band began to disintegrate after their first tour ing this album. Oh well, stuff happens. But on a high note, they did release more material after this. What’s cool about these bands is we know so little about them all we’re left with is the music.

I would highly recommend “Emergency Third Rail Power Trip” to anyone who likes ‘60s psych music. It feels right at home. I love this music. I say, take my money.

Here's a video review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHujDNfe358

According to RP Facebook page, they are releasing another pressing in Black Vinyl during their Euro Summer tour 2024!

Very disappointed to discover that the spindle hole was nearly twice as large as it needed to be. Seems like every other RSD a poor pressing comes my way.

Great to now have the definitive version of this record - like a kaleidoscope in time (do today's kids even know what a kaleidoscope was? I guess social media and computer games are more interesting).

I bought the original US pressing as an import in November 1983, having heard the two 4-track songs on the contemporary LA, and great, Warfrat Tales comp, and having read the write-ups of the band in Bucketfull of Brains magazine #6 and #7 in May and October 1983. I the pressing was loud, but good - the needle jumped on my old record player, which was annoying. I played the record 5 times in a row, it sounded that good and that fresh at the time.

The following year, the UK gatefold press appeared on the Zippo label with the Look Both Ways track tacked on after Kaleidoscope, which still seems a bit out-of-place to me. At the time I preferred the version without the extra track, but this pressing didn't jump on my record player, so that was some improvement, and the sleeve art was better.

I sold both those versions many years ago at record fairs, but missed hearing the record, so bought a secondhand Euro pressing which was single sleeve with Look Both Ways. The sound seemed a bit lifeless on that one, but I still have it.

Anyway, this double vinyl, 2024 remastered version (much brighter sound than the old Euro pressing), with informative sleeve notes, finally gets everything right.

Back in 1983, the only 1960s UK psych LPs I knew were the various Beatles and the Tomorrow LP - all of which were patchy in places, plus the 1976 homage-to-the-sixties Todd Rundgren LP Faithful - I saw him at Knebworth '79 - almost as good as Led Zep, and his 1970s music had a bit of a 1960s feel in places with the guitar and melodies. I was looking for more sounds like this, but couldn't find anything at the time. The Church (the Aussie band), with their first 2 LPs from 1982, and especially The Blurred Crusade, was the first contemporary, sixties-influenced/sounding band I enjoyed hearing. I thought there must be more out there like that. I also liked the Barracudas at the time, but they were not psychedelic.

By the end of 1983, the three volumes of Chocolate Soup for Diabetics and the two volumes of Perfumed Garden had appeared - all of which were 100% great and brilliant and still yet to be bettered in of sonic impact, plus assorted comps by the likes of the Creation and the Misunderstood, Nuggets, Pebbles, Psychedelic Unknowns, and a whole slew of imported bootleg comps of rare 7" tracks from the latter half of the 1960s - all of which were eagerly devoured by me. I became a record nut because of this music!

The Rain Parade LP was the first contemporary 1980s take on psychedelic sounds that I'd heard, that sounded strongly influenced by those 1960s sounds I loved (more so than The Church, who were more of a power-pop guitar band), neatly by-ing six years of same-sounding punk bands, that also didn't have any traces of 1970s bloat, booze and dope to it, and again, I don't think Emergency Third Rail Power Trip has been bettered in the subsequent 40 years - full of classic tracks. Unique.

I hope that the equally great Explosions In The Glass Palace mini-LP may get similar treatment one day, but the 2022 RSD version didn't add any bonus tracks, so I guess not.

Pressing wise, for a decidedly lofi recording, this is as solid as it gets. Good instrumental separation (Fluance RT-85 Ortofon 2M Blue cart, Jamo Floorstanders Polk Woofer) Cool hypnotic spiral effect as the colored vinyl spins. Loud. Heavy gatefold. Very pleased overall.

well done and well worth it for any Rain Parade fan to fill out some early alternative versions -- do have to question the addition of a new album closer in Look Both Ways. a fine rocker in its own right but doesn't gel with the original tone of the album. Kaleidoscope was the perfect finisher -- no need to change that up. EDIT... (i see Look Both Ways did appear on some early versions of the album -- still don't think it's as effective as leaving well enough alone at Kaleidoscope.)

Black vinyl reissue coming soon - will be available for the Rain Parade June 2024 Europe/UK tour!

This is a nice package of a classic album that has aged really well. The pressing sounds great and the bonus disc is a great addition. That gatefold cover is also high quality.