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Reviews

Rain Parade — Crashing Dream
(Bandcamp Label 51, 1985/2025, 2CD / 2LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2025-06-15

Crashing Dream Cover art

One of the consistent threads of music that we’ve covered over the years here at Expose is psychedelic rock, the style that started in the mid-60s with The Beatles, The Pretty Things, Jimi Hendrix, and others, then continued through the decades, and is still with us today in such bands such as Sendelica, Green Pajamas, and so on. One aspect of psychedelic music that we’ve not covered a lot is the 80s Southern California revival generally dubbed the Paisley Underground. The scene was centered around the bands The Three O’Clock, The Bangles, and Rain Parade. As is the case with many such labels, “Paisley Underground” was a phrase that evoked varying reactions to the people within the scene. In any case, it highlights the fact that at the time there were many musicians who were fascinated with the sounds of the original psychedelic bands and brought elements of it into their own music, in stark contrast to the punkish sounds then current in most cities. Outside of Southern California, there were many other bands taking a similar path, like The Teardrop Explodes, Game Theory, The Chills, and so on. At hand we have a reissue of Rain Parade’s second full-length studio album, originally released in 1985. Crashing Dream was their move to a major label, as Emergency Third Rail Power Trip (1983) was on an independent label. On its release, it was greeted with mixed reviews, and I remember thinking at the time that I felt it was not as good as their debut. But that was a long time ago, so it’s worth revisiting the music and giving it a fresh ear. I’m coming down on the conclusion that this is a good, but not great, album. The songs are well-written and feature a variety of tempos and moods, from jangly acoustic to swirling electric psych, but some of the performances are a little flat, more polite than energetic. Part of this might be due to the 80s production, which is still somewhat in evidence even with this new remaster. Still, I find it quite an enjoyable listen, and I think most fans of psychedelic rock would agree. This deluxe edition is packed with 16 bonus tracks, and it’s unfortunate that two live tracks are placed within the run of the original album tracks. I suppose that’s in order to accommodate the LP side lengths, but for plain listening, it does interrupt the flow. On the second LP of this new set, one side features six demos and the other side has four live tracks and two more demos. Of the demos, only three are for songs that ended up on the album, and only two of the live tracks are from the album, so we get quite a few new songs. There are some titles in common with the live album Beyond the Sunset, though I don’t know if they’re the same performances. (There was a 1991 compilation called Demolition of demos, rarities, and live recordings that features these and more, but it’s long out of print.) To sum up, Crashing Dream Deluxe is an excellent option for those who don’t have the original album or have it but would appreciate upgraded sound. The bonus tracks are a tantalizing glimpse at how much material the band had but never recorded in a studio. Note that Rain Parade’s debut album has also been given the deluxe treatment — check out the Bandcamp link below.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases, 1985 recordings

Related artist(s): Rain Parade

More info
http://rainparadelabel51.bandcamp.com/album/crashing-dream-deluxe

 

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