PFR (Pray for Rain) is a band who burned bright out of the gate, and then faded out fast. The main body of their work, aka their first 4 albums, came in the years spanning 1992-1996 with a comeback album after reuniting briefly in 2001, only to fade away again. In many respects this was a band I was destined to fall for…world class harmonies, sticky melodies, and fantastic guitar work…Taking the best aspects of The Beatles, ELO, Badfinger, and Jellyfish I was hooked from the start.
Although I’ve described them as underrated before, perhaps a better description is under appreciated. They had a loyal and small following (to my knowledge anyway) but I never understood why they weren’t bigger. Maybe they were a classic example of a band before it’s time. Usually, for me that means a longevity that outlives their active years as an artist, and that is certainly the case for me here. In fact, I cannot think of a single song among the 62 that they recorded that I didn’t at least like. No bad songs. Ya’ll, that’s hard to do…even dctalk had a few “stinkers” early on. So, after revisiting a blog post of my top 20 songs I had to read-listen to their work and figured I was a third finished, why not go the distance and rank the rest of their songs? So here it is…without further commentary and with a slight shifting around in the top 20 I had previously posted…every PFR song ranked!
62. “Didn’t He” – Pray For Rain (1992)
61. “Dying Man” – Goldie’s Last Day (1993)
60. “By Myself” – Goldie’s Last Day (1993)
59. “I Don’t Understand” – Pray For Rain (1992)
58. “Kingdom Smile” – Them (1996)
57. “Mercy Man” – Goldie’s Last Day (1993)
56. “My Time” – Pray For Rain (1992)
55. “Satisfied” – Goldie’s Last Day (1993)
54. “Language of the Soul” – Disappear (2001)
53. “Stay” – Pray For Rain (1992)
52. “Them” – Them (1996)
51. “Line of Love” – Them (1996)
50. “Prayer For Breslan” – The Bookhouse Recordings (2004)
49. “Ordinary Day” – Them (1996)
48. “Daddy Never Cried” – Them (1996)
47. “In The Middle” – The Bookhouse Recordings (2004)
46. “It’s You Jesus” – Great Lengths (1994)
45. “Spinnin’ Round” – Goldie’s Last Day (1993)
44. “Forest” – Them (1996)
43. “Shine” – Goldie’s Last Day (1993)
42. “Home” – Bookhouse recordings (2004)
41. “Garden” – Them (1996)
40. “Trials Turned To Gold” – Great Lengths (1994)
39. “Fare Thee Well” – The Late Great PFR (1998)
38. “The Grace Of God” – Great Lengths (1994)
37. “Even A Whisper” – Disappear (2001)
36. “You” – Disappear (2001)
35. “See The Sun” – Great Lengths (1994)
34. “Closer” – Disappear (2001)
33. “All Ready” – Disappear (2001)
32. “Merry Go Round” – Great Lengths (1994)
31. “Name” – The Late Great PFR (1998)
30. “You Lord” – Pray For Rain (1992)
29. “Tried To Tell Her” – Them (1996)
28. “Face to Face” – Them (1996)
27. “Say” – Them (1996)
26. “Kingdom Come” – Roaring Lambs Compilation (2000)
25. “Last Breath” – Great Lengths (1994)
24. “Blind Man, Deaf Boy” – Great Lengths (1994)
23. “Living Thing” – Jeff Lynne Cover (2001)
24. “We Can Work It Out” – Beatles Cover with Phil Keaggy
21. “Me” – Disappear (2001)
20. “Falling” – Disappear (2001)
19. “Wonder Why” – Great Lengths (1994)
18. “Fight” – Them (1996)
17. “Goldie’s Last Day” – Goldie’s Last Day (1993)
16. “Pray For Rain” – Pray For Rain (1992)
15. “Wait For The Sun” – Goldie’s Last Day (1993)
14. “On And On” – Pray For Rain (1992)
13. “Do You Want To Know Love” – Pray For Rain (1992)
12. “Amsterdam” – Disappear (2001)
11. “Walk Away From Love” – Goldie’s Last Day (1993)
10. “The Love I Know” – Great Lengths (1994)
9. “Missing Love” – Disappear (2001)
8. “Gone” – Disappear (2001)
7. “That Kind Of Love” – Goldie’s Last Day (1993)
6. “Forever” – The Late Great PFR (1998)
5. “Great Lengths” – Great Lengths (1994)
4. “Life Goes On” – Great Lengths (1994)
3. “Pour Me Out” – Them (1996)
2. “Let Go” – Pray For Rain (1992)
1. “Anything” – Them (1996)
There it is! What about you…how would you rank their top 10? Top 20? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Also, here’s a link of the top 20 I had made previous to this blog and will update later if you wanna reminisce!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3vJ0ZMubhGbwQVasiBpXTZ?si=rQKLEOnWS-O-g7uvwfAApg
Happy listening!
joshbalogh 
Wow, you nailed the list! I’ve been a PFR fan since “Pray For Rain” was released and I was fortunate to see them live a couple times. What impressed me was how well they could replicate their sound live. Also, I only recently became aware of Jellyfish and you are absolutely right that their sound is quite similar. Great post. Scott
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Thanks Scott! Love the band.
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PfR is one of the best bands I have listened to. I got hooked on them in 2000 when a classmate told me about them, and I purchased the ‘Late Great PfR’ album. I knew the songs ‘The Love I Know’, ‘Pray for Rain’, and ‘Forever’ from the radio, but this one introduced me to ones that I thought were better and had better guitar solos, like ‘Walk Away from Love’, ‘Name’, and ‘Pour me Out’. After getting the greatest hits album, I purchased all of their other ones, and got even more hooked on thier stuff. I wasn’t lucky enough to see them play live, but I did get to see Joel Hanson a few years ago, and he was great, talking with me, taking a picture with me, and signing a picture after a show he played for Sara Groves at.
It’s good to see other PfR fans out there, and for the most part, I think the list is spot on.
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Excellent! Yes, PFR is one of my all-time favorites 90s or otherwise.
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Just found your blog and I love it. But how oh how could you do Wonder Why like that?
But this list is amazing really. Thank you so much. Subscribing.
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Thanks for reading! Ya know…PFR didn’t make bad songs…I think I just like “Wonder Why” better in the context of the album. It’s a great song regardless!
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