Rainy Day Saints
Diamond Star Highway
Get Hip : 2006
 Remember the early & mid-1980s? Those stinkin' greed-is-good, flock-of-hair-metal crap years? Whether you do or not, there was a wave that supposedly peaked & broke, that wave of 1960s-inspired neo-garage/psych/folk-rock bands, few of which are around today (survivors include Fleshtones, Cynics, Billy Childish & his various combos). So some assumed the whole 60s thang was tapped out and in the Historical Dustbin next to the early 80s mod & ska bands…but nobody bothered to tell Ohio's Rainy Day Saints, or maybe they don't give a hunk o' excrement. These Saints play like the primo rockin' years of the 60s and early 70s never ended without sounding by-the-numbers or over-the-top "retro-grade." For instance, in their hands, the Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer" becomes a tantalizingly deliberate, lubricity-oozing, slow-blues-drenched mini-epic that Pink Floyd might've done before they got hit by that crumbly wall. "I Don't Follow" is Shake Some Action-era Flamin' Groovies if they weren't so hung-up on looking the part – SURGING Byrds-glazed jangle, plus some cool Ritchie Blackmore (circa first 2 Deep Purple discs) guitar moves, and to put the icing on the gravy, some nice Byrds-y diaphanous harmonies. "Mirror Mystery" is crunchy/crunching power-pop the way Mon usta make, provided yr mom hung out with the Plimsouls and the Creation. There's also elements of early 70s glitter-rock boogie riff-a-rama a la Mott the Hoople & Sweet. Breathtakingly originality? Not exactly, but this IS a rare item for an old fart like me: a rock (or rock & roll, if you must) with such tasty hooks, variety of tempo, and a cool-cat (yet un-smug) approach that I can play it 2wice all-the-way-thru in one sitting. Ain't too many indie-rock platters I can say that about, not these days.
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