AA. VV.
3 x 4

3 x 4 = 12, and up to here I am following, in this case it's about mathematics applied to music.

I still remember that when an unfortunate soul tried in vain to teach me the traditional basics of music theory, the notes on the staff and all those other abstruse notions, this story of mathematics and its relationship with music seemed to be something important, but very little fun, at least for me, and so I learned to play the guitar on my own.

Maybe it's because you also need to know how to teach things, and if you know how to teach them, you always do it in a natural and fun way, no matter how annoying the subject of the teaching may be.

Now, at a rough guess, I would say that the creators of the disc present here would have been good teachers.

So, in order of appearance, there are the Three O'Clock, the Bangles, the Dream Syndicate, and the Rain Parade trying to explain today what the Paisley Underground was about forty years ago, each one redoing in their own way some songs by others: for instance, the Three O'Clock redo «Getting out of Hand» by the Bangles who redo «That's What You Always Say» by the Dream Syndicate who redo «You Are My Friend» by the Rain Parade who close the circle and redo «As Real As Real» by the Three O'Clock; and then the circle reopens two more times, reaching the fateful twelve songs, twelve mutual tributes among glorious survivors of a season impossible to forget.

Having said that the "survivors" are in splendid form, each does their part, with conviction and passion, as if to say this «3 x 4» is not a useless and somewhat pathetic reunion, like many others, nor a "nostalgia operation" for its own sake: there is little nostalgia within these grooves, instead, there are four groups that made great music in the early '80s and who still today, even though they are busy with other pursuits, when they pick up their instruments make it clear what it means to make music intended to last through the years; so the "next big thing" can step aside for a moment, because the originals are back, even if only for a single round of guitars.

Each does their part, some even more, like the Bangles at a stratospheric level grappling with «That's What You Always Say», one of my favorites by the Dream Syndicate, originally all nerves and stripped to the bone, here transformed into something completely different but equally splendid, less nerves and more pulp and the harmonious choruses and vocal backgrounds of these ex-girls magnificently grown; more or less the same treatment is given to «Talking in My Sleep» by the Rain Parade, which flies high, high, like the hot-air balloons on the cover of their first album; up to the apotheosis of «Jet Fighter» which at the time, if not written by the Three O'Clock, I don't see who else could have done it if not the Bangles, joyous frenzy at the limit of yéyé.

And what to say about the Dream Syndicate and how they render «Hero Takes a Fall»?

And about the Three O'Clock grappling with the Rain Parade?

And about the Rain Parade grappling with the songs of the other three?

I will stop here, hoping that everyone who reads this will want to discover the rest on their own.

For those who were around in those times, this is a record to have and display proudly next to «Rainy Day», even if only to amicably incinerate the first person who dares to say that the days of wine and roses are over.