Not quite the best - but a good overview
John Abbott | San Francisco, CA | 09/23/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Chris Rainbow never quite made it into the charts during the 1970s, though he got quite a bit of radio play, especially from the creative UK DJ Kenny Everett. There were three original albums: Home of the Brave (1975), Looking Over My Shoulder (1977) and White Trails (1978). Like the work of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys (his primary influence) many of these songs celebrate places, feeling good, or the search for some ideal (like "the perfect wave" or "following the white trails of planes" or "Bluebird"). But what really makes them stand out is the melodic strength and (most of all) complex vocal harmonic arrangements that stand comparison with Brian Wilson himself. Rainbow identified the important elements of Wilson's style, such as the "never ending" cyclical fade-outs on such tracks at "Till I Die" from Surf's Up, and then built on them.This Japanese best-of release doesn't quite have the best, but it's a good selection. The first album, represented here by "Tarzana Reseda," was produced by the production team of Malcolm Cecil and Bob Margouleff and didn't quite achieve the classic Chris Rainbow sound. That comes to the fore in such middle-period tracks as "Song of The Earth", the Brian Wilson tribute "Dear Brian" and especially "Bluebird," with great saxophone and bass playing by Pete Zorn. The very early singles made under the name Hopestreet, and the later singles "Streetwise" and "Body Music" are disappointing. Those really after the best should turn to the double CD anthology covering the years 1974-1981. That includes standout tracks stronger than anything here, such as the uncharacteristically bleak "Glasgow Boy" and a re-mastered version of "On My Way" which now sounds spectacular. There's also "Show us the Sun" which fades out to the sound of waves crashing onto the beach - just the sort of track the Beach Boys should have been making in the late 1970s but, on the whole, weren't."
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1