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RAINY DAY MUSIC
(AMERICAN/LOST HIGHWAY)
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Listening to Rainy Day Music is like spending an hour with a minor compilation of hits from the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Minneapolis-bred pop-folk band’s seventh album in 18 years provides, if nothing else, the comfort of familiarity. The modestly appealing semi–title song, " Save It for a Rainy Day, " echoes one-hit wonders from Scott McKenzie’s " San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair) " to B.W. Stevenson’s " My Maria. " Lesser tracks like " All the Right Reasons, " " Eyes of Sarahjane, " and " Madman " sound like amiable revisions of the harmony-heavy Crosby, Stills & Nash songbook. Like CSN, the Jayhawks are down to a trio, though not of equals: singer/guitarist/co-founder Gary Louris, now the primary songwriter, leads bassist Marc Perlman and drummer Tim O’Reagan. Matthew Sweet gave Louris a hand in writing " Stumbling Through the Dark, " a melancholic take on the lovely harmonics of the Mamas and the Papas and the Byrds. With their admirers still believing that the Jayhawks have never received their due, a cover of " California Dreamin’ " might be in order for the next go-round.
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