Five Day Rain - Good Year: The Five Day Rain Anthology 

While there are a lot of obscure bands out there with box sets devoted to their careers, there aren’t many who never even managed to release anything during the band’s lifetime.  Not only does that apply to Five Day Rain, they were also active for less than a year and barely played live.  Before we get to the music here’s a bit of a rundown of the story behind the band and the music found on these two discs.  Five Day Rain initially formed in October 1969 as a three-piece who went by the name Iron Prophet and was comprised of Rick Sharpe (guitar, vocals), Clive Shepherd (bass, vocals) and Dick Hawkes (drums) before becoming a four-piece in early 1970 when former Scots of St James/ Fleur de Lys member Graham Maitland joined on guitar.  Not long after that they hooked up with Brian Carroll and Damon Lyon-Shaw, who worked at IBC studio in London and arranged for the band to record there anytime the studio wasn’t being used.  During these recording sessions the band consisted of Sharpe, Shepherd and Maitland with drummer Kim Haworth replacing Hawkes for the recordings.  In the summer of 1970 they had a small run of white label vinyl promos pressed with hopes of using them for label interest.  While looking for a deal they continued playing live as Iron Prophet and also continued recording new material.  After awhile they felt that the new recordings were stronger than the ones on the original promos and had another white label test pressing done with a new track listing.  In December 1970 the band’s local newspaper reported that Iron Prophet, who had recently changed their name to Five Day Rain, would have their first album released in early January, but he had no more information like record label or release date.  By the time early January rolled around not only was there no record release, but the band had broken up.  Later in 1971, Maitland, Shepherd, Sharpe and Gareth Roberts (who had been filling in for Hawke) changed their name to Studd Pump and released a single.  Unfortunately the single didn’t sell well and they split up after playing a few shows, but that's not the end of the story. In 1977 Sharpe re-recorded a couple of their tracks, “Reasons Why” and “Fallout” with Neil Carter although they were never released until now.  After the band had no longer recorded at IBC, Carroll and Lyon-Shaw continued working on demos there.  In 1978 on the President label, they released Time Is Right from the fictitious band One Way Ticket and to fill out the album they used remixed versions of “Reason Why”, “Fallout and “Lay Me Down” without the permission of anyone in the band (rumor is the album sold very little and was most likely a tax loss scam).  Fast forward to the early 90’s when a couple of the white label test pressings turned up and sold for four figures on the collector’s market, which was then followed by a CD release in 1993 on Background Records that used the tracks from the second test pressing, but excluded a track and edited a couple of the songs.  In 2005 Sharpe licensed the songs to the Italian label Night Wings for a limited CD and album release and he also included four Five Day Rain backing tracks he had on acetate that he took into the studio and added vocals, harmonica and guitar (the original vocal versions were recently found and both versions appear in this collection with the exception of “Dartboard”, which was an instrumental).  Now on to the music.  

Since most collector’s are most familiar with the 1993 release on Background Records, as opposed to the original promos, that’s where this collection starts with the excluded track included.  Things kick off with that excluded track, which is a cover of Dylan’s “Too Much Of Nothing”, a really strong psychedelic tune full of swirling organ and some accordion that’s not so unlike the version that had recently been released by Spooky Tooth.  Next up is “Leave It At That”, a tune that meshes a bit of psychedelia and prog with lots of organ fills and punctuated throughout with blasts of guitar (this is the first of the two tracks remixed from the original recording).  They move in a somewhat mellower direction with “Good Year”, a tune that mixes a little folk and prog and at times is a little reminiscent of The Moody Blues, and “Reason Why”, a really catchy, bluesy cut with some ragged piano, harmonica and distorted vocals.  “Fallout” is a solid, straight-ahead, piano-driven rock tune with some outstanding guitar work at the end, which was actually played by IBC engineer John Holbrook.  Next up are a couple of psychedelic rockers in “Marie’s A Woman” (the other remixed song), an extremely infectious tune, full of fuzzed out guitars and organ, and “Don’t Be Misled”, which is more piano driven with a bit of a slinky groove and is at times a little mellower.  While the next cut “Sea Song” is a fairly generic mellow pop tune the band then completely shifts gears with the instrumental “Rough Cut Marmalade”.  Sounding almost like an improvised jam session full of guitar solos, spaced out mellotron and moog and jazzy drumming, this track really allows everyone to show their prowess and is definitely unlike anything else they recorded.  Closing out the album is “Lay Me Down”, a simple little minute and seventeen second ballad that is mainly just vocals and piano that really showcases their strong vocal harmonies. Also included at the end of the first disc are three bonus tracks consisting of the original 1970 mixes of “Leave It At That” and “Marie’s A Woman”, both of which are not too different from the remixed versions, and an edited version of “Too Much Of Nothing”, that is a little brighter and a little more upbeat than the original.

Kicking off disc two are the five cuts from the initial promo pressing that were dropped to make room for the new songs when they had the second promos pressed.  First up is “Wanna Make Love To You”, a bluesy rocker with heavy, fuzzed out guitars and harmonica.  “So Don’t Worry” is a hard-edged, bluesy rocker driven by some great, ragged honky tonk piano along with some outstanding drum work and guitar solos.  “Dartboard" is an interesting instrumental with fuzzed out guitar and a lot of effects, while “Miss Elizabeth” is a heavy, bluesy, psychedelic rocker drenched in organ. The fifth track is an alternate version of “Lay Me Down” that is pretty close to the later version.  Next is a previously unreleased rock oriented take on Bobby Hebb’s “Sunny”, that was  taken from an acetate that was recorded in 1970 and is followed by an edited version of “Rough Cut Marmalade".  Ironically when the band finally did release a single in March 1971, under their later name Studd Pump, the songs were definitely weaker than what they had recorded before and really didn't have any of the bite of their earlier stuff.  “Spare The Children” is a so-so tune that shows a glimmer of glam and “Floatin’” is a pretty good song with a swampy bluesy groove a la CCR.  Faring much better are Rick Sharpe’s two previously unreleased remakes from 1977 and the four Five Day Rain backing tracks that he took into the studio in 2005 and added vocals, harmonica and guitar.  The remakes are “Reason Why”, which has a similar feel to the original, but this time around the vocals aren’t distorted and it has a fresher, more current sound to it, while with “Fall Out” he takes the song to a whole new level giving it an aggressive, almost punk vibe.  The backing tracks include the straight-ahead, heavy rock instrumental “Antonia”, which showcases some stellar guitar work, an interesting take on “So Don’t Worry” that has the spirit of the original, but has a bolder production with the vocals more in the front, “The Boy”, a heavy track strongly reminiscent of Black Sabbath, even down to the Ozzy like vocal phrasing and “Wanna Make Love”, which is largely close to the original version with a little more of a Southern Rock flavor to the guitar work at times.   Closing out disc two are the three tracks from the album from the fictitious One Way Ticket.  These tracks don’t vary much from the originals, but are nice to have to make the collection complete.  Also included with this set is a very comprehensive twenty-four page book that goes into great detail to cover the short lived history of the band and also includes plenty of pictures and memorabilia. Good Year is a great collection that thankfully makes these songs available to everyone.  

(Grapefruit)