Search - Rain :: Live: Christmas Night

Santa wasn't ready for this!

Robert Cossaboon | The happy land of Walworth, NY | 09/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is a brief moment when you first put this completely obscure CD in, and that first song kicks in, that you'll be totally in the dark as to which way the song/band style will head. Rest assured, though, when that first guitar solo kicks in, everything will fall into place and you will have realized that you've just purchased one of the most unknown, kick-butt Cds ever released. Grasping for definition, the power-format of Cream wouldn't be far off, but the songs move and groove too fluidly to let themselves get mired down in heavy blues--nay, a nip of the Grateful Dead would be in order as well, especially on "Boogie With Me Mama" and "Movin` On", which also recalls the Let It Bleed era Stones. Then there's that great opening line just before the heavy guitar blitz from the second song, "Billy Goat": `Well I walked down the road/the road got muddy/I stubbed my toe/my toe got bloody/and everybody gonna holler Billy Goat!' Need more? Half the songs are loooong-over seven minutes, so getting your money's worth won't be an issue (which it often is with Radioactive Cds) on this one. In all, this is an amazing piece of music from a band that had no identity neither before nor after this performance-but for that moment, the day was theirs."