Although the Paisley Underground was a somewhat nebulous concept, there’s little doubt these days that The Rain Parade’s debut album, Emergency Third Rail Power Trip was the quintessential album of this short lived phenomenon. Released in 1983, the album was an astounding update of the psychedelic sounds of bands such as The Byrds along with several acts who had appeared on the seminal 60s collection, Nuggets.
Helmed by Matt Piucci and brothers, Dave and Steven Roback, the band leaned heavily into their psychedelic forebears, swimming very much against the tide after punk had all but cancelled out the sixties and challenging the shiny new wave pop which was then commanding the charts.
Originally only available as a limited Record Store day release, this deluxe reissue contains the original album remastered (and sounding fresh as a daisy) along with a second disc of demos and live recordings selected by Piucci and Steven Roback. There’s a definite adrenaline rush that hits you as the original album spirals out with the opening song, Talking In My Sleep, replete with chiming guitars, bulbous bass and Eastern scales which immediately induce a 60s’ lysergic daydream, a dream amplified when the following song This Can’t Be Today weighs in with more than a nod to the English variant of psychedelic music. There’s Alex Chilton like desperation on Carolyn’s Song and Look At Merri still sounds as if it were recorded by The Velvet Underground had they hailed from the west coast.
It goes without saying really that, if you haven’t got this album then it’s a must buy, simply for its sacred grooves and the groove which emanates from it. The carrot here is the extra disc which adds 13 songs to the package, a mix of demos and live tracks, six of them ultimately appearing on the album. It opens with a version of What She’s Done To Your Mind, released, as a single which is much less ethereal than the album version and which clings to the sound of The Byrds circa Younger Than Yesterday. The demos are, as expected, tentative and pretty much unadorned but an exciting insight into their journey while 4 track versions of This Can’t Be Today, I Look Around and Look Both Ways are a step towards the final versions to be heard on the completed album but with a raw energy in them. Six songs, (including Saturday’s Asylum, First Of September and Paper Girl), recorded live, might be lacking in hi fidelity but, cranked up loud, allow that the band were a power on stage. Speedway is a turbo charged instrumental with nods to garage band surf music while they stumble quite wonderfully through their version of Syd Barrett’s No Good Trying.
Overall, this expanded version of an already classic album is well worth a listen and it’s great that it’s no longer confined to those who choose to queue up for a rarity. It’s available as a double vinyl album and a two disc CD set
