Save for a Rainy Day

by Jan & Dean

Overview

Unlike their friend Brian Wilson, who had previously guided the Beach Boys from surf band to cutting-edge pop/rock outfit without totally abandoning the band's signature sound, Jan & Dean didn't really have the capacity or songwriting chops to make the transition to serious and sophisticated pop. Nevertheless, when the architect of the duo, Jan Berry, was incapacitated in early 1966 by a terrible car accident that ultimately left him brain-damaged, Dean Torrence took up the business and musical reins of the band and made a nearly convincing one-shot stab at progressive pop with Save for a Rainy Day. In a sense, the album is still more commercial acquiescence than legitimate artistic statement, yet it is perhaps the most interesting musical stretch in the duo's catalog -- although it is a Jan & Dean album in name only rather than in practice, as Berry understandably does not appear on the album in any capacity. The album is conceptual, in the loosest sense of the word, in that each song is about or refers to rain and is held together like a song cycle by thunderstorm sound effects. In addition, most of the tracks were also created by Joe Osborne and Larry Knetchel, as well as another of Torrence's friends and neighbors, James Burton. As opposed to an opulent studio creation, however, most of Save for a Rainy Day was stitched together in Osborne's garage. Jan & Dean's version of Gary Zekley's "Yellow Balloon" uses the very same backing track that Zekley made for the group Yellow Balloon, and is nearly as good as that version, while "Lullaby in the Rain" is a heartbreakingly pensive hymn. On the other hand, the music occasionally dips into uncomfortably sappy sentiment and easy listening sounds. Nevertheless, the album really is a lovely Californian artifact and worthy blue afternoon listen. [The Sundazed reissue nearly doubles the length of the original album with bonus cuts, most of them instrumental tracks and stereo versions of the album songs, and includes typically definitive liner notes, although the authors have a tendency to wax excessively rhapsodic about the music inside.] ~ Stanton Swihart

Product Details

Release Date:	06/11/1996
Label:	Sundazed
UPC:	0090771502216

Tracks

1. Yellow Balloon
2. Here Comes the Rain
3. Lullably in the Rain
4. Taste of Rain
5. Yellow Balloon
6. Here Comes the Rain
7. Pocket Full of Rainbows
8. When Sunny Gets Blue
9. Like a Summer Rain
10. Raindrops
11. Rain on the Roof
12. Cryin' in the Rain
13. Taste of Rain
14. Save For a Rainy Day Theme
15. Yellow Balloon
16. Taste of Rain
17. Rain Clouds Long Gone
18. When Sunny Gets Blue
19. Pocket Full of Rainbows
20. Rain on the Roof
21. Yellow Balloon
22. Taste of Rain
23. Save For a Rainy Day Theme

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Jan & Dean   Primary Artist
Mickey Jones   Drums
James Burton   Guitar
Larry Knechtel   Piano,Mellotron,Glockenspiel
Joe Osborn   Guitar (Bass)
Dean Torrence   Vocals
Jan Berry   Vocals

Technical Credits

Marvin Fisher   Composer
Carole King   Composer
Jack Segal   Composer
John Sebastian   Composer
Howard Greenfield   Composer
Jay Lee   Composer
Gary Zekley   Composer
Dick St. John   Composer
Kip Smith   Mixing,Mastering
Bob Irwin   Mixing,Producer,Mastering
Ben Weisman   Composer
Dee Clark   Composer
Fred Wise   Composer