Lookin' for a Pot of Gold: The Sunshine Pop of Chris Rainbow

Some artist's music is made to be listened to in their proper context, preferably within the albums they issued. And some artist's music...is not. You can probably guess on which side I fall in my appreciation of Chris Rainbow. Rainbow, né Christopher James Harley, ostensibly chose his moniker to avoid confusion with Steve Harley, but his stage name also served as a statement of purpose. Sunshine pop is probably what best describes a good part of Rainbow's output, a sun-kissed tribute to the music of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. So much so, that some of his songs - and not just the cheekily titled "Dear Brian" sound like Beach Boys outtakes from the 70s. See "Ring Ring" for example, which sounds like it could and should come from a late 70s Beach Boys album. Not bad for a guy born and raised in a city that couldn't be more different from the West Coast and Southern California - he's from ugly-ass Glasgow. After his solo career sumarized here Rainbow kept busy joining a number of prog and prog-minded artists during the first half of the Eighties (The Alan Parsons Project, Camel, Jon Anderson), then concentrated on a career as a producer under his real surname, mainly for pompous Scot rockers Runrig. 

However, on the three albums he brought out between 1975 and 1979 there is also a ton of filler, listless soft rock that disappears into background music, unless it starts to actively annoy the listener. So, Pot of Gold is essentially my attempt to make one real good listen out of three very checkered albums. Because if the compilations I propose here at One Buck Records have one goal, its that: Like many of you, dear readers, I have way too much music laying around, in CD cases and on hard drives. So I'd rather listen to one compilation of good material than wading through the chaff on two or three (or more) original albums. 

The main focus of Pot of Gold is, as you may have gathered, on Rainbow's pop confections rather than the bland soft rock, though a couple of selections on this 18-track compilation walk the rather thin line between both. For a better listening experience, some of the songs (namely tracks 1,4,7,10, 14 and 15) that were running long have also been edited. As is, you get 70 minutes of goodness that, taken together, do feel like a long-lost double album from the Beach Boys circa 1976 or so, minus the terrible oldie covers/remakes. It certainly beats the stuffing out of something like the Boys' 15 Big Ones or M.I.U. album or - careful, them's fighting words for some - Love You.  

So, folks, these songs breathe summer, and wouldn't you know it, it is summer (and really hot around these parts lately). So, get a cool drink and enjoy some cool summer music with Mr. Rainbow...