From one of the few rock acts recording for
Enoch Light's Project 3 label during the late '60s --
the Free Design were the most notable -- the self-titled record by
Rain held high promise for fans of Baroque pop. The group, led by
Cobb Bussinger and
Michael Kennedy, featured the same heavenly harmonies as
the Zombies and
Left Banke, with each member of the quartet contributing. Ultimately, however,
Rain seemed to sabotage their promising sound with too many contemporary modes of sound and production, most of them anachronistic to their basic setup.
Bussinger's organ was the perfect complement to the vocals, but
Michael Kennedy's guitar figures -- by turns bluesy and blowsy or distorted -- did the band no favors. The band also had very few good songs, despite interesting structures and good playing. Overall,
Rain sounds much like
the Zombies might have if they had continued on into the early '70s without the success of "Time of the Season," adding their harmonies to drawn-out, free-form material less focused on the song than on the jam. The occasional flourish notwithstanding,
Rain is a frustrating listen.