Rain Parade - Beyond the Sunset

by Andrew Carver

published: 25 / 4 / 2010

Label: Lemon Recordings
Format: CD

Appealing reissue of 1984 live album for psychedelic-influenced California-based act and members of the Paisley Undergound scene, Rain Parade

Review

Rain Parade is one of the 1980s California acts lumped together as The Paisley Underground alongside bands such as the Bangles, the Dream Syndicate and the Three O'Clock. Its debut record, ‘Emergency Third Rail Power Trip’, is regarded as one of the genre’s high points thanks to its hazy psychedelic update of bands like the Byrds. Founding member Dave Roback may be better known as the founder of Mazzy Star. Following the release of their cracking debut (and the departure of Roback), Rain Parade issued an EP, the highly regarded ‘Explosion in the Glass Palace’, before signing with major label Island. Around this time the band went off on tour with the Dream Syndicate in Japan and, in the tradition of bands touring Japan, recorded a live album. The 10 tracks that would become ‘Beyond the Sunset’ were laid down at Shibuya Hall in in December 1984. The sound is quite good for a live album of the period, with only some faint applause and the band’s “Arigato!” at the end of some songs giving away its origins. The band gets off to a relatively raucous start with the fuzzy blurt and phased guitar licks of ‘Nightshade’ before returning to the dreamy state that typified the band with the drifting ‘Prisoners’. Singer Matt Piucci is also in good form both vocally and on guitar. The set list draws ‘Blue’, ‘Prisoners’ and ‘No Easy Way Down’ from ‘Explosion’, while ‘This Can’t Be Today’ and ‘1 Hour 1/1 Ago’ (kicked off with a profoundly unnecessary drum solo but ending with a nifty guitar workout) comes from ‘Emergency’ while ‘Don’t Feel Bad’ later emerged on their major label offering, ‘Crashing Dream’. The best performance (and most enthusiastic response) belongs to a cover of Television’s ‘Ain’t That Nothing’, and the band ends their set with a storming cover of Green On Red’s ‘Cheap Wine’ (Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn and Duck Dunn make a guest appearance for the finale). Rain Parade fans will want the set both for the robust performance and the presence of ‘Night Shade’ and ‘Eyes Close’, neither of which made it to the studio. Non-fans might want to see if they can track down a copy of the band’s posthumous live album, ‘Perfume River’, recorded a month before the ‘Beyond’ set in New York which features a somewhat more generous set list, but ‘Beyond the Sunset’ is a decent introduction - just bear in mind that their debut and EP are their best efforts.

Track Listing:-

1 Night Shade
2 Prisoners
3 This Can't Be Today
4 Blue
5 Eyes Closed
6 Ain't That Nothing
7 Don't Feel Bad
8 1&½ Hours Ago
9 No Easy Way Down
10 Cheap Wine