Welcome to The Second Disc’s Fourth Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! Though this is a slow time of year for news, it’s the perfect time to look at the year in review. As with every year’s awards, our goals are simple: to recognize as many of the year’s most essential reissues and catalogue titles as possible, and to celebrate those labels, producers and artists who make these releases possible in what many might deem an increasingly-challenging retail landscape. These labels have bucked the trends to prove that there’s still a demand for…
Review: The Three O’Clock, “The Hidden World Revealed”
Could it be time, once again, for The Three O’Clock? The California group took its place alongside the likes of The Bangles and Dream Syndicate as part of the “Paisley Underground” movement of eighties rockers who looked to the sixties’ psychedelic pop and folk-rock scenes for inspiration. In fact, the band’s bassist/lead vocalist Michael Quercio is said to have even coined that evocative name. Between 1982 and 1988, The Three O’Clock recorded one LP for Frontier Records, two for I.R.S., and one for Prince’s Paisley Park label. The group broke up following…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 25
The Beatles, Help! (Blu-Ray Disc) (Capitol/Apple) The Fab Four’s second film gets the hi-def disc treatment. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Three O’Clock, The Hidden World Revealed (Omnivore) Early works by power-pop legends The Three O’Clock shine on this new compilation, featuring cuts from their early works on Frontier Records and 10 unreleased tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Omnivore) Released on limited colored vinyl for Record Store Day this year, the soundtrack to this new Big Star documentary features 21 unreleased outtakes and new mixes…
Return of The Paisley Underground: Omnivore Anthologizes the Early Three O’Clock
Power-pop legends The Three O’Clock stunned even their most devoted fans by announcing their first live dates in decades this year, including a stop at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. To sweeten the deal even more, the fine folks at Omnivore have prepped a brand-new compilation covering their earliest years on Frontier Records – half of which is entirely unreleased. Singer/songwriter/bassist Michael Quercio had a funny, catchy term to describe what L.A. bands like his were doing in the early ’80s: “The Paisley Underground.” Combining the sonic aesthetics of punk…
