VARIOUS ARTISTS - BOB STANLEY & PETE WIGGS PRESENT OCCASIONAL RAIN

Double vinyl LP pressing. 2020 collection. It's the day after the '60s. You turn on the radio and there is news about John leaving the Beatles - or will Paul be the first to jump? There is insecurity and uncertainty. The rain filters into the post-psychedelic, pre-progressive sound; in times of upheaval, you always notice bad weather. Occasional Rain is the sequel to Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs' highly successful English Weather collection. This is the sound of young bands experimenting in a period of flux, feeling for a new direction, exploring jazz and folk - as many songs are led by mellotron, piano and flute as they are by guitar. Lyrically, there are two themes that crop up regularly: the search for a home that isn't there anymore - the certainties of the optimistic '60s, the physical reality of terraced streets - and the rain. For the former, there's Cressida's gentle, keening 'Home And Where I Long To Be', while Duncan Browne's shape-shifting 'Ragged Rain Life' feels like a decent summary of Britain in both 1970 and 2020. Occasional Rain puts the era's bigger names (Traffic, Yes, Moody Blues) and the lesser known (Mandy More, Shape Of The Rain, Tonton Macoute) side by side. Like it's predecessor English Weather, it evokes the turn of the new decade, a beautiful state of fuzzy confusion, and the feel of a wet Saturday afternoon at the dawn of the '70s spent flicking through the racks, wondering whether to buy the new Tull album or maybe take a chance on that Christine Harwood album in the bargain bin (go on, you won't regret it).

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