Real Men Wear Paisley--The Three O'Clock--Sixteen Tambourines/Baroque Hoedown

From Paisley Underground to Paisley Park

The Three O'Clock were one of the godfathers of the West Coast neo-psychedelic movement known as the Paisley Underground, which included groups such as The Bangles, Dream Syndicate, The Rain Parade, Green On Red, and The Long Ryders. It was a loosely based movement which developed as a reaction to the West Coast Punk movement. The Three O'Clock produced a number of great 60's throwback pop albums, and they are probably best known for the hazey exhilaration of their song Jet Fighter, which I heard regularly on my college radio station in the 1980's. In my opinion, though derivative, their very best albums compare favorably with the music that inspired them. When I was younger, I often wished that my favorite bands had put out more albums than they did, and that they would be just like the ones I liked.  On occasion surprises appear out of the vaults sometimes, but unfortunately, the best we usually can do is to find a band that creates music in a kindred style with a high level of quality, as was the case of the songwriting duo of Michael Quercio and Louis Gutierrez. The Cd I am reviewing includes both their ep Baroque Hoedown and first lp Sixteen Tambourines.

Originally the band was known as the Salvation Army (they recorded a punkier garage album under that name), which the charitable organization took exception to. They then changed their name to Three O'Clock.
But I first became acquainted with the Three O'Clock when I bought their Baroque Hoedown ep in a Strawberries in Worcester, Mass. On a whim. Didn't know anything about them at the time. I liked the cover, liked the album title. And I loved the music immediately. Kind of dark moody psychedelic garage music, with some cool covers. The vinyl I bought was a French import on the Lolita label, which included three songs unfortunately not included on the combination Cd. They did a bang-up version of the Byrds' Feel A Whole Lot Better, and there was an spacey original called In Love In Too.

They also had a great version of Pink Floyd's Sinister Surf Rocking Lucifer Sam. One of my friends played the original for me at college and made me guess who it was. I was stumped, because I was not familiar with the Syd Barrett led Floyd from Piper At The Gates of Dawn. I knew about Dark Side of The Moon and the concept album "The Wall". I had the pleasure of viewing a "Wall Show"  in the gym of my local high school, with a cardboard wall being built as the tribute band performed. Another nearby high school purportedly had as their Prom theme Another Brick in The Wall. Ah, 80's romance.....

I don't know why these songs were not included, but the remaining music from the Cd is pretty great. The hard driving Cantaloupe Girlfriend starts the ep with Danny Benair's propulsive drums, and it is my favorite song on the ep. I Go Wild is the terrific Byrdsy second number. The band really can channel the sixties, with arrangements impeccable throughout, while still expressing their own individuality. Their fierce organ driven rendition of the Easybeats' Sorry is also ace, as is the driving pop of Marjorie Tells Me. The original ep ended with the druggy Alice in Wonderlandish As Real As Real, with singer Michael Quercio's distorted vocals. The cd appends a decent unreleased track, Around The World, which sounds like an old Monkees song.

Sixteen Ben Vereens???

The full length followup, Sixteen Tambourines ups the ante with more accomplished songwriting and production values. The arrangements are much more ornate, and there is a noticeable Sgt. Pepper/mid-period Beatles influence on the songs. The album begins with the aforementioned Jet Fighter, with its infectious opening riff and anti-military military lyrics. This is another instance where all the songs are decent to great, with much more musical variety than the prior ep. Mike Mariano's inventive keyboard parts flesh out the tunes and provide melodic counterpoint to Gutierrez's guitar work. Stupid Einstein, a pastoral acoustic tune, is another surreal hook-filled delight. Fall To The Ground is a piano featured track reminiscent of When I'm 64. A Day in Erotica fuses an 80's synthesizer chorus with Day in The Life/Strawberry Fields-like studio experimentation. Tomorrow is another Lennon-McCartney piano workout while My Own Time is a spot on Bee Gee's cover. And immediately following that, On My Own sounds like their attempt to write a Bee Gee's song (pre-disco). When Lightning Strikes is a horn powered advisory song with a conga line beat. The album ends with more laconic trance like pop, Seeing Is Believing.

I had the good fortune of seeing the Three O'Clock at a club in Northampton Mass at the time of release of their Arrive Without Travelling Album. Considering the complicated arrangements of many of their songs they were very good live. I do remember a choice line, when Quercio was introducing his next song. "This next song is from our last album, Sixteen Tambourines. I wanted to call it Sixteen Ben Vereens". That's one of the funniest and oddest lines I've ever heard in a concert. The other thing I remember was the raffle they had. One of my friends won their album. Then they raffled off a watch, and I had no interest in checking the ticket stuffed down in my pocket. Turned out no one else had the winning number. Finally I checked my ticket and to my surprise I wound up going on stage sheepishly to receive my prize. A yellow banana scented Swatch.

After the Arrive Album they put out another so-so album Ever After. They eventually caught the ear of Prince and ultimately were signed to his Paisley Park label. They actually had an influence on his music in the 1980's (Rasberry Beret) and  he even wrote the song Neon Telephone for them which appeared on their final album Vermillion. Quercio later went on to perform in the worthy Permanent Green Light and Jupiter Affect. But as far as the Three O'Clock goes, the very best albums by them are their earliest ones, including the Arrive Without Traveling album. So if you are a big fan of melodious sixties pop and psychedelia, this particular combination Cd is a necessary pickup.