The Three O’Clock: “Sixteen Tambourines” (1983/2023) CD Review

It has been forty years since the release of Sixteen Tambourines, the first full-length album by The Three O’ Clock, one of the groups collectively known as the Paisley Underground (a term apparently coined by The Three O’ Clock’s Michael Quercio). Can you believe four decades have passed since this album came out? Crazy. The album has now been remastered and re-issued. The remastering was done by Bill Inglot and Dave Schulz. Most of the tracks were written by Michael Quercio and Louis Gutierrez. This new re-issue contains no bonus tracks, but does have a new album cover and sounds great. The new cover is a double-sided front, and so the track list is not included on the case, only on the disc itself. The band is made up of Louis Gutierrez on guitar and vocals, Michael Quercio on bass and vocals, Mike Mariano on keyboards and vocals, and Danny Benair on drums and percussion. Joining them on this release are Gary Bonie on trumpet, Barry Adam Saperstein on trombone, Michael Barbara on saxophone, Richard Dodd on cello, Sarah Dodd on violin, and Will Glenn on violin and viola.

The album opens with “Jet Fighter,” which was also released as a single. A steady beat is established at the beginning. I love this song’s opening lines: “Jet fighter man/That’s what I am/‘Cause tanks go too slow.” There is a cheerful vibe to this song, particularly on the chorus, even if he feels “so low.” And that is true of basically all this music. “And on the day when duty calls/I don’t think I’ll go/Airplanes fly and yet I feel so low.” This song was also included on the 2013 compilation The Hidden World Revealed. “Jet Fighter” is followed by “Stupid Einstein,” which was also included on The Hidden World Revealed. There is a great joy to the sound, and to the song’s rhythm, which is somewhere between pop and punk. What a great bass line! And the guitar work certainly owes something to the 1960s folk rock bands. “Can’t lose what was hard to find/Keep pictures safe to remind.”

“And So We Run” starts off slowly, easing in. “We are young/We have no fear.” Then the drums push the song into its main section. “We’ve begun/To think as we want to/And we’ve begun/To do as we want to/And we’ve begun.” Again, there is something so positive about this song’s sound and its lyrics. Its appeal has not lessened at all in the forty years since the album’s original release. “We have gone away/Did you know?” Ah yes, but they’ve come back, haven’t they? Then the work on keys and the vocal approach at the beginning tell us “Fall To The Ground” is a more serious song. “In her hands she held beauty/But now it’s dead and gone/She was treated so badly/That she can’t care at all.” But halfway through the track that part on keys seems to indicate that things might be all right. And we think that even if we fall to the ground, we’ll manage. Yes, we need this music now.

“A Day In Erotica” has an intriguing opening, particularly the way the vocals are layered. I love that vocal work. Soon the song kicks in to become a rather fun pop song, but returns at times to that opening section. The song shows an interesting mix of psychedelic and pop influences, and features some good guitar work. Halfway through, it opens up into some strange carnival land. Listen to this with headphones, and the sound will travel from one ear to the other, right through your brain, where I suppose the carnival is occurring. The song’s next section has a harder edge, which is fantastic. This song was also included on The Hidden World Revealed. It is followed by another interesting song, “Tomorrow.” There is something sweet about the feel of this one. “Oh, you’ll discover a sound, a street, a town/We could hang around/But will it be tomorrow?” It is a song that seems to look both to the past and the future. And the line “But memories aren’t real today” stands out. It’s a line that helps me immerse myself in the world and time of this song. “Remember a time when you were near/And things were clear/But will they be tomorrow?”

“In My Own Time” is the album’s only cover, and it’s a fun one, a groovy rock song written by Barry Gibb and Robin Gibb. This is a song from the Bee Gees before disco completely changed their sound, when they were clearly influenced by The Beatles’ Revolver. Interestingly, Klaus Voorman, who designed the cover for Revolver, also did the cover for this Bee Gees record, Bee Gees’ 1st. The Three O’ Clock owes part of its sound to 1960s bands, and here these guys go directly to the source, and so it is no surprise that they do a fantastic job with the song. Check out that fantastic work on guitar. And there is also some wonderful stuff from the horn section. That’s followed by “On My Own,” which features another cheerful pop vibe with some catchy elements, plus nice work from the string section. “Discussing the reasons why I must go/Let’s think of the fun and not the sorrow.” At the end there is a sweet “Ooh la la ooh” vocal section.

“When Lightning Starts” is another fun one. The drums at the beginning announce it as such, and the horns come in quickly to back that proclamation. Here we get some disco elements, in that beat. This is one of the album’s best tracks, in part because of its delicious bass line. There is just a whole lot of joy to its sound. This song was included on that compilation. I could listen to this track all day. The album then concludes with “Seeing Is Believing.” There is a gentle and pretty vibe to this one, particularly in the vocal approach. It also features another strong bass line and some really nice work on keyboards. “Shapes in your eyes are all I can see/Seem to mean so much to me/Halfway there/Sent flying through the air/How your eyes can tear through me.”

CD Track List

1. Jet Fighter
2. Stupid Einstein
3. And So We Run
4. Fall To The Ground
5. A Day In Erotica
6. Tomorrow
7. In My Own Time
8. On My Own
9. When Lightning Starts
10. Seeing Is Believing

This special re-issue of Sixteen Tambourines was released on October 20, 2023 on Yep Roc Records. It is available on both CD and vinyl (the record is on transparent green vinyl, so of course I want to get a copy of it).