Randy Jackson's China Rain "Bed Of Nails (1993 Japan Reissue, Zero Corporation, XRCN-1037)"

Randy Jackson (born February 28, 1955) is an American rock musician from New Orleans, Louisiana, best known for his role as frontman for the band Zebra. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. In addition to his career with Zebra, he is a Long Island Music Hall of Fame inductee, a Louisiana Music Hall of Fame inductee, and has toured with Jefferson Airplane and tributes to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and The Doors.

Randy Jackson’s China Rain, a project that featured songs co-written with Mark Slaughter and Jack Ponti was released in 1991 in North America, Europe and Japan.

Bed Of Nails is the first album by Randy Jackson's China Rain, released July 28th, 1993.

Tracklist:

1. You're Only Lonely Today = ユーアー・オンリー・ロンリー・トゥデイ 5:35
2. Bang On The Wall = バング・オン・ザ・ウォール 4:28
3. Psychedelic Sex Reaction = サイケデリック・セックス・リアクション 4:58
4. Last Forever = ラスト・フォエヴァー 3:48
5. Light Of My Love = ライト・オブ・マイ・ラヴ 3:19
6. Bed Of Nails = ベッド・オブ・ネイルス 3:36
7. Before It's Too Late = ビフォア・イッツ・トゥー・レイト 5:08
8. I Loved You Lied = アイ・ラヴド・ユー・リード 4:32
9. Valerine = ヴァレリーン 5:35
10. Love Calls = ラヴ・コールズ 4:15

Best known for his work with Zebra, Randy Jackson was the voice and guitar behind that seminal 80's band. China Rain isn't that far off from where Zebra left off with "3.V", although this leans a bit closer to what was going on with pop metal at the time. "Bed of Nails" starts off with a song that is very much in the Zebra mode, mixing Zeppelin with melodic and progressive tendencies. This song is actually one of my favorite songs on the CD and contains some good guitar playing and a fat chorus. While the remainder of the CD has a similar vibe, some of the material here is a bit more pop metal oriented, glossed up with keyboards. What can you expect with song titles like "Psychedelic Sex Reaction"? Obviously Randy was attempting to ride that 80's melodic, pop metal train while it was still king, which it still was in '91. Randy even brings in a few well known musicians to help him write on this CD including Dave "Snake" Sabo (Skid Row) and Mark Slaughter (Slaughter/Vinnie Vincent). "Before It's Too Late", which was co-written by Slaughter, is another of the albums standout tracks. In this song, Randy even uses some of those falsetto vocals which was his signature in Zebra. Despite the move to a slicker, pop metal sound there is still enough meat in this album to satisfy Randy's fans, even if it's not quite up to par with Randy's former band.