Emergency Third Rail Power Trip

The Rain Parade’s members were reticent to be pigeonholed with the “paisley underground” tag (a phrase coined by their contemporaries, the Three O’Clock), though they were easily the brightest stars of the subgenre. Their 1983 debut album Emergency Third Rail Power Trip is steeped in a closely studied ‘60s Byrdsian jangle where 12-string Rickenbackers swirl into subdued psychedelia reminiscent of Oar-era Skip Spence under a light drizzle of maracas and tambourines. “Talking In My Sleep” opens with singer David Roback inflecting with a subdued cool under backwards sounding guitar solos and lazy vocal harmonies. “I Look Around” puts Buffalo Springfield-inspired rhythms with Syd Barrett flavored mysticism into a supercollider to birth a song ahead of its time — it sounds like it could have been recorded in the ‘60s, though most bands didn’t nail this kind of recreation until the ‘90s. Fans of Arthur Lee are sure to swoon over the Love-tinged “1 Hour 1/2 Ago,” while the demure and sleepy “Blue” hints at the tranquil tones that Roback would later bring to Opal and then Mazzy Star.