Reviews
Artist:Rain Album: Tomorrow Never Comes: the NYC Sessions 1967-1968
Label: Grapefruit
Tracks: 16
Website: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/
This latest from Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint brings us a first-ever release of a lost psychedelic-pop album; this one never made it past the acetate stage, for reasons which remain unexplained even in David Wells' typically authoritative booklet essay. Rain was an anglo-American trio that basically arose out of NYC-based outfit The Lost Souls and comprised guitarist John Cannon, bassist Tom Caccetta and drummer Warren "Bugs" Pemberton (originally a band-mate of Jackie Lomax in well-regarded Merseyside group The Undertakers). In late 1966/early 1967, helpfully-named interim four-piece Lomax Alliance enjoyed a brief spell of heady profile that came to an end when Lomax quit, prompting an immediate renaming. Rain was the name chosen, after the Beatles B-side which was a band favourite and - as you'll hear on their lone LP - something of an inspiration sound- and zeitgeist-wise. However, with hindsight, the quite anonymous band name chosen may have backfired in running against the era's trend for eye-catching sobriquets and thus may have indirectly (and somewhat unfairly to my mind) conferred an air of unmemorability, even unoriginality on the band's music, and at least partly contributing to their obscurity and lack of commercial success (for all that their name - in whatever manifestation from Lomax Alliance to Rain to The Gypsy Wizards! - featured on many iconic gig posters in the States, whence the band had relocated).
Rain's music married Revolver-era Beatles with the nascent West Coast sound, and coherently and competently too, in that while not reaching dizzy heights of invention or originality it still had much to commend it. The band's LP, recorded in late-'67/early-'68) never saw the light of day, which was surprising given the band's profile on contemporary gig posters in the States (if released, it would surely have had a healthy gig sales potential). The album was recorded in Manhattan by ex-Undertaker Chris Huston (who had been responsible for engineering the Young Rascals' summer hit Groovin'). It showcased the band's punchy, cohesive sound, heavily guitar-led (freak/garage-style) with a strongly defined bass line, on a set of ten original songs (three reworked from the aborted Lomax Alliance LP) that would have scored creditably against their competitors in the racks. Well, maybe the more seasoned of listeners would've deducted a mark or two for an occasional tendency to over-employ flanging and/or speeded-tape effects (Something Is Happening, Sapphire Skies), but Rain at their best would prove most persuasive, as on the headlong supercharge of You, You, You and the thrusting No Deposit, No Return; Sundrops with its breezy sunshine-pop harmonies; the Quick One-era Who vibe of tracks like Didn't Lie and You Can't Hide Your Love. Whereas even the more blatant, distinctly "now where've I heard that before?" feel of the Byrdsy, jangly Ticket To Ride soundalike So Unhappy is perfectly forgivable in context.
This Grapefruit release of Rain's only album is topped up with six bonus cuts which are all that survives of a projected followup album recorded in late 1968/early 1969 by the band who had by then renamed themselves The Gypsy Wizards! These cuts are valuable in that they chart a progression from the signature Rain guitar-based sound, moving away from the concise late-Beatles-inspired pop-psych and more into the vein of more loosely-contoured "underground-prog rock" with a greater palette of sounds (introducing keyboard, flute and softer shadings) and styles - some of which were more successful than others. A mixed bag, sure, but good to have this insight into what the band was developing. Whether this would've morphed into a more cohesive creature is anyone's guess, for the band members moved apart soon after the latter abortive recording (Tom and Chris both moving over into the production side of the business).
It's so good to have the chance to discover this genuinely-all-but-forgotten LP from the classic psych-pop era, and even more treasurable for Cherry Red's house-standard presentation, which I can't imagine bettered - except perhaps by the inclusion of the transitional pre-Rain 45s by One and The Lomax Alliance.
David Kidman
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Tomorrow Never Comes
Fatea Showcase Sessions
The Fatea Showcase Sessions are a series of downloads featuring acts that we've really enjoyed and think that more people should get the chance to hear.
Pirate is the current session and features 16 fantastic artists check out the website to find out more about them and download your copy
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