eli@uw-june (Eli Messinger) (11/09/83)
Okay, I'll finally stop reviewing the Three O'Clock's "Baroque Hoedown" EP (which you should have all purchased by now), and start in on their newly released album, "Sixteen Tambourines." (Once again on Frontier Records). As with the first EP this one was produced by Earle Mankey. Amazingly he guides the Three O'Clock through a variety of styles, and consistently makes Michael Quercio's chipmunk voice fit in. "Sixteen Tambourines" shows the Three O'Clock to be growing. They seem wary of being typecast as just-another-L.A.-sixties-revival band. Although the over- riding tone of this album >is< sixties pop, it is not nearly as psychedelic as the first EP, or as acid-induced as the Salvation Army album. Their new pop sensibility seems more like a cross between "Penny Lane" vintage Beatles and wistful baroque rock ala the Left Banke. A few of the cuts have horns on them (saxes and trumpets), which work sur- prisingly well behind Quercio's vocals. One of the songs starts off sounding so much like Culture Club that you expect Boy-Michael to chime in at any minute. Instead the cut finds it's own sound and takes off in another dir- ection. Lyrically not nearly as potent as Green On Red (still at the top of my list for 1983), but melodically more hummable. An incredible followup to an incred- ible EP. ... uw-june!eli Ps. Coming soon: The new LP from The Rain Parade (again, excellent!)