Wax Museum, Vol. 1

by Greg Adams Wax Museum was the follow-up to the successful oldies revivalism of Jay and the Americans' previous album, Sands of Time, and was also the group's last charting album. "Walkin' in the Rain," an excellent cover of a 1964 Ronnettes hit, made the Top 20, but the album produced no further singles and didn't quite reach the album Top 100. The band later complained that they recorded only reference vocals for the album and United Artists released it before they could set down the finished tracks. The performances are a little weak in spots, but not glaringly so. The inclusion of Ian & Sylvia's "You Were on My Mind" is inconsistent with the theme of the album and sounds a little odd sequenced immediately before "Johnny B. Goode," but the band seems equally capable of handling folk-pop material. Wax Museum fails to attain the heights of Sands of Time, but has several worthwhile moments in addition to "Walkin' in the Rain."