18 Comments
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Nikhil Rajagopalan's avatar

"Befour Three..."

Won't lie, I had a chuckle.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Lol. Me too. That's my kinda humor.

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Nikhil Rajagopalan's avatar

May I interest you in a "Tooth hurty" dental appointment?

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

lol.

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Brad Kyle's avatar

Pretty cool band and track, Kevin! I'm trying to figure out how they escaped my radar (my lone aviation reference....you're welcome!). My first reaction to "Jet Fighter" was that it had a vaguely Sparks-ian sound, with Quercio's vocals sounding like Russell Mael (now HIS is a stratospheric falsetto!!), the organ figures sounding Ron Mael-ish, and the occasional martial-like drum breaks are straight outta "A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing"-era Sparks.

Then, I noticed Earle Mankey produced! Well, there ya go! Mankey, (guitarist on Sparks' first 2 albums) has an impossibly cool production resume (while coming nowhere close to Todd Rundgren's prodigious production list, it could be argued Earle's is cooler)! Plus, he's worked with the Beach Boys!

And, doing a quick peek into Quercio uncovers a fascinating lad worth, IMO, a deeper dig. Another observation: As clumsy as they have been in band names (c'mon, "Salvation Army"? What stopped them from naming themselves "St. Jude Children's Research Hospital"?!?), they seem to excel in graphic design, with brilliantly evocative and realized jacket art for what I'm guessing is the single sleeve for "Jet Fighter." Holy 1968, Batman!

Thanks again, Kevin, for turning the spotlight onto a band I think I like, that I had no idea existed, and am excited to peek more into their output!🎼🎶🎵🎸😁👍

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

You bet! There's definitely more to Quercio's story that I think could be worth sharing.

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Brad Kyle's avatar

I just found and followed him (and the band) on Twitter. We'll see if he returns the follow and/or, I'll see if he's interested in a little Q&A!

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Steve Goldberg's avatar

The Three O’Clock were my favorite of the paisley bands of the 80s. Thanks for reminding me to return to them again! I saw them a couple times back in the day though my memories of the time are quite fuzzy....

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Danny Benair's avatar

My band

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

Hi Danny! Welcome! I’d love to hear your thoughts on the song, the band, or anything else you want to share.

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Danny Benair's avatar

Song was written in one day!

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tmonnnn's avatar

I always liked the anti-war sentiment:

“Protect the land that fills my hand with nothing to show

Airplanes flying yet I feel so low

And on the day when duty calls I don’t think I’ll go

Airplanes flying yet I feel so low”

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tmonnnn's avatar

Everyone would be puffing on cloves in the clubs when The Three was playing

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

That takes me back! I wonder anyone still smokes those?

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tmonnnn's avatar

You can still buy them in cigar shops but nobody smokes them in the Los Angeles clubs anymore (the ones with outdoor smoking patios)!

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Challenge 69's avatar

On first listen to 'Jet Fighter' I wondered where the girl lead singer had disappeared to on the band photo. Interesting voice.

Took a listen to a few other tracks from 'Sixteen Tambourines' as well, but I'm afraid I couldn't find anything which reached 'critical altitude' for me!

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Arjan Tupan's avatar

The Paisley Underground sub-scene. Never heard of it. Always discovering 'new' things here in your newsletter, Kevin. Amazing.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

I'm glad you found something new to enjoy. That's why I'm here! :)

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