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The Psych Ward–Emergency Third Rail Power Trip by Rain Parade

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  • Jason LeValley
  • April 7, 2023
  • 8:35 am

The Psych Ward–Emergency Third Rail Power Trip by Rain Parade

I admit. I didn’t hear it at first. Now I wonder how I could have missed it.

Many years ago I’d heard about the Paisley Underground — a collective of LA-based “neo-psychedelic” bands that included The Bangles, a group that had a string of enjoyable, but not psychedelic, jangle-pop hits in the 80s. Another of these Paisley Underground bands was The Rain Parade, who had released a highly acclaimed debut album called Emergency Third Rail Power Trip in 1983. I bought the CD, which includes the five-song follow-up EP called Explosions in the Glass Palace (1984) and sounds so sonically similar that it could have been part of the first record, and that’s probably why the label put the two together on one disc. The album was said to be psychedelic, so I eagerly popped it into my CD player, but it wasn’t quite what I expected. It sounded kind of… jangly, shoegazey, and dream poppy, the latter of which is not surprising given that David Roback, the co-founder of Rain Parade, would go on to form the ultra-successful dream pop act Mazzy Star.

In any event, the album didn’t do anything for me, so I put it on a shelf and left it there. Every once in a while I’d take it out for a spin and, although I may have liked it better with repeated listens, I still wasn’t enthusiastic about it.

Black and white photo of crowds at a bicycle race with green, red, and yellow hot air balloons floating overhead.

However, one shroomy afternoon years later, I put it in my changer again and suddenly…voila! It hit me. Emergency Third Rail Power Trip is a psychedelic record after all! It has a depth I didn’t realize initially—Byrds-like layered guitars Revolver-esque guitar solos, cool effects, droning vocals, and even a dash of sitar. It captures the essence of 60s psych rock pretty damn well.

With its consistent sound, the album doesn’t necessarily have tracks that stand above the others. There’s no obvious single on this record. Having said that, “This Can’t Be Today” is my favorite track. With its airy keyboards, dreamy feel, surreal lyrics, and spacey “ahhhs”, this song brings it all together, and the last minute is highly reminiscent of The Beatles’ “It’s All Too Much”.

How did I not hear the psych element before when it’s so damn obvious to me now? I’m not sure. I think 80s psych just takes some getting used to and, honestly I probably just wasn’t high enough.

 

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