Jan & Dean - Save for a Rainy Day

When Jan Berry lived out the lyrics to "Deadman's Curve" in 1966 and wound up in a coma, his partner, Dean Torrence, kept the duo's name alive. Helped out by friends from Phil Spector's "Wrecking Crew," Dean cut this sparkling little mini-masterpiece, shiny as the raindrops beading up on the top of a Grand Prix. Album Description

an Odds & Sods Cover CD, at best...

As I read others' comments as well as the liner notes, there REALLY seems to me to be a disconnect with reality, regarding this CD. I'm not going to quibble about the sound quality, even though a lot of great musicians play on this, I didn't expect Dean to produce records as well as Jan. BUT, rather than be confused by comparisons to Brian Wilson's masterpiece "Smile" (which we will get to in a second), potential buyers should be made aware that you will get, what, I think I count 9 songs. Since to make up these 23, you get 4, count them 4 "Yellow Balloons" (including an instrumental version), 4 "Taste of Rain," and 3 "Her Comes the Rain," 2 "Pocketful of Rainbows," etc., are those raving about this CD really playing it all the way through? Does not seem possible to me. Who wants to hear the same songs, which are hardly of a "Heroes and Villains/Surf's Up" level quality if you know what I mean, but again, we'll get to that in a second, popping up again and again every 3 or 4 cuts? (and separated by trifles such as Dean's cover of "Raindrops" yes, the dippy Dee Clark tune), and "When Sunny Gets Blue"? (yes, Dean sings it every bit as mediocre as you imagine). I just don't see it.

You know, one thing you could always say about Jan and Dean is that they were SMART and very funny. So, let's stop the charade here, and call a spade a spade, let's level, let's tell the truth: it is NOT smart to compare your rag-tag assemblage of cover tunes to what Brian Wilson accomplished with "Smile." It's STUPID. REALLY stupid. Let's review: on "Smile," Brian Wilson wrote songs beginning with "Heroes and Villains" about the sort of folks who came to this country--our American history, then proceeding from the pilgrims' first landing on Plymouth Rock, towards the plains for "Cabinessence" ('Who Ran the Iron Horse'), the disaster of the Chicago fire "Ms. O'Leary's Cow"--Brian won a Grammy for that song. Dean?; and onward West through the frontier to California for "Surf's Up" and "Wonderful" and "Wind Chimes" and ending in "Blue Hawaii" and "Good Vibrations." You might be aware that Brian currently performs this set, he wrote those songs, did you know? WROTE THEM, in the best classical music concert halls around the world. By contrast, Dean does not earn a single song-writing credit for "Save for a Rainy Day," but he DOES associate cover songs from others that are about the topic of "rain." Now I ask you, is that REALLY the same thing? Dean's "Smile."

Tell you what: I want to accomplish my own "Smile." I will call it "Boats" or "American Boats" in honor of the Olympics. I will gather together "Sloop John B." by the Boys, about 3 times maybe, including an instrumental version with special 'wave' sounds; then I will add the Hughes Corporations, "Don't Rock the Boat," followed by the theme from "Titanic," and leading into "In the Navy" by the Village People. Finish with a sad one, since I'm influenced by Steinbeck, how about "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald"? What a creative masterpiece I made. Just like "Smile." My own "Grapes of Wrath."

Funny (in a bad way), to read Dean's own words in the liner notes, in which he credits himself with having a better sense of humor than Jan, AND in being more creative. We'll let the first conceit go--although noting that this set is not in anyway funny; but one wonders about the latter self-compliment. "Creative"? He didn't write songs. Did you ever see him play a non-percusive instrument? Was it skateboard technique? I mean, because he found a bunch a songs that others wrote about the rain, that makes him 'creative'?? Gosh, I mean, I love Jan and Dean, and I LIKE Dean...

But, I'm reminded of a "Mike and Dean" cover album from the 80's was it? for Radio Shack. Do you remember THOSE liner notes? They went something along the lines of 'One is disappointed when playing back these old original tunes to find that in the context of the modern world, they lack the power that memory promised.' I remember rock critic Greg Shaw joking, "can you imagine ANYONE thinking, 'gosh, 'Da Doo Run Run' is SUCH a wimpy song. If only Dean Torrence and Mike Love could do a modern cover of it? make it more powerful' ...SOOOOO stupid. and remember, Dean also accompanied Mike on "Mike and Dean" concerts back then. We all know Mike is a bleep hole. A legendary one. So many examples: how about on one hand calling "Pet Sounds" "Brian's ego music" and then later claiming the album was 'his idea.' How about filing a lawsuit against Brian in 2005 (which was thrown out as being without merit) because Brian's solo release of "Smile" was injuring the reputation of Mike Love. You don't get much more jerky than that. Dean was supposed to be a more congenial guy. Right? Maybe more similar than we thought...

"Save for a Rainy Day" is Dean's "Smile." Get a grip.
p.s. I believe Dean deserves one more joke at his expense, so here goes. Everyone go grab a friend and we will play a fun game called "understatement." Are you ready? Okay, this is only going to work if you try your best not to smile at the corners of your mouth like Chevy Chase. You must do all you can to remain completely somber, like Jerry Seinfeld when he was trying to convince the Chinese woman that George had a better sense of humor than he. Okay. The first person says, "you know, the Beatles...they were a pretty good group." and the second person nods, then responds, "you know that song 'Pocketful of Rainbows'...Elvis Presley sings it just a little better than Dean Torrence." August 13, 2008

Where do I begin?

For J&D fans, "Save For A Rainy Day" is the Holy Grail. As with "Pop Symphony," I long hopelessly scoured used record stores for these releases. The best I could do was a pretty good copy of "Command Performance," which I happily paid a fortune for.

Whoever invented CD's is the Edison of our time. It has allowed treasures like "Save For A Rainy Day" to be rereleased in what is clearly a better format. The bonus tracks included on many of these rereleases are like a personal gift.

"Save For A Rainy Day" was as wonderful as I imagined. Sure, Dean is not the greatest lead vocalist in pop history, but you can literally hear the effort and passion on each track.

There are some complaints about the quality of the sound, but it simply can't be helped. It was recorded in 2-track mono in Joe Osborne's garage, not 48-track stereo in the Capitol studios.

Just friggin' buy it! May 24, 2007

A nice album to listen to while its raining outside...

One of the first, and finest, lo-fi albums ever made. Don't look for anything life changing in this release, just some nice sounding pop music and slightly odd rain-themed sounds and songs. A pleasant oddity. April 12, 2005

A good first album

This album was Dean Torrence's first solo album after Jan's accident. The album is hampered by Dean's "bubble gum" type music and simple lyrics. Also, Dean is not a strong singer on this album. However, it is a good first album effort.
If you can get a copy, please contrast this album with Jan Berry's first post-accident album (a bootleg) "Carnival of Sound". (Dean only sings background on a couple of songs, at most). I was surprised how good "Carnival of Sound" is when compared to "Save for a Rainy Day". This album was mostly done by musicians and friends of Jan, almost completely without Dean. For the first time, Jan had limited direct personal input into an album (due to his accident). In this case, Jan did not (could not) sing on the album and did very little writting for the album. Mostly, he contributed to the album concept and direction, arrangement, and production. February 17, 2005

We used to play in Joe's garage

This is the first Jan & Dean album recorded after Jan Berry's horrific car crash. Previous Jan & Dean albums had been produced by Jan, so with Jan layed up in the hospital, Dean Torrence produced this album. He actually ended up making a minor masterpiece. But to backtrack a little, the album actually started when Dean heard a demo of the song "Yellow Balloon". Dean loved the song, and he decided to make it the next Jan & Dean single. Then he decided to record a whole album based around "Yellow Balloon", with all the songs having a "rain" theme. He even went so far as to include rain sound effects between all the songs. There were ten songs on the original album; five originals and five covers. The CD version features the complete original album in mono, plus 13 bonus tracks of stereo versions, alternate takes and backing tracks. Recommended for fans of the California sound. March 11, 2004

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