Of all the original wave of Paisley Underground bands (a term they didn’t call themselves back then, but have embraced now), the Rain Parade was one of the least known but most respected. The L.A. psych rockers didn’t hit the same level as their pals – never quite breaking away from the confines of their imposed genre like the Dream Syndicate and the Three O’Clock, never hitting the mainstream like the Bangles. As such their work has fallen in and out of print like a recidivist addict finding and losing religion. Fortunately, we’re in an upswing of activity, with the band having reunited a decade or so ago, gigging and releasing music (including last year’s Last Rays of a Dying Sun) amid a swelling interest in their era.
So now’s the time to go back to the beginning and resurrect the band’s debut album in a deluxe edition. Originally issued in 1983, Emergency Third Rail Power Trip is simply one of the essential texts of American psychedelic rock. While in many ways the most faithful of the original gang to the aural psych ideal, the Parade also dragged that sound into the then-modern era in all of its trippy glory. With prescient vision, the quintet marries wavy sixties melodies to lush eighties textures, throwing folk rock jangle, acid rock thunder, and dreamy sunshine pop in a blender set to “puree.” Pouring that luscious frosting on a substantial songwriting cake, the Rain Parade bakes delicious bites like “I Look Around,” Saturday’s Asylum,” “What She’s Done To Your Mind,” “This Can’t Be Today,” “Kaleidoscope,” “1 Hr ½ Ago,’ and “Talking in My Sleep,” setting the standard for the psych rock revivalists that followed. You can hear audible signposts for Ride, the Bevis Frond, the Coffee Sergeants, the Black Angels, and more of today’s beloved acid casualties. Emergency Third Rail Power Trip is a classic record, mic dropped.
The deluxe edition includes the same bonus tracks that appeared on the Record Store Day vinyl version released earlier this year – a bevy of live cuts (“Saturday’s Asylum,” “Unexpected,” “No Good Trying”), demos (“What She’s Done To Your Mind,” “I Look Around,” “Look Merri”), and unreleased songs (“Paper Girl,” “First of September,” “Speedway”). The fidelity is rarely hi here, but the strength of the tunes and the already solid grasp on the vision makes them worth hearing for aficionados. Fans old and new should hit up the interwebs for the new digital single: a remix of the delightful “Surprise Surprise” (from the group’s new EP Last Stop On the Underground) and acid-drenched new tune “Bee and His Buzz,” destined to be a new RP classic.
