Tell Me, Where Does Your Mind Grow?

Okay, this is just the Three O'Clock in 1983

Before the Three O'Clock there was the Salvation Army. Essentially they were the same band, though. The group, which featured Michael Quercio(at times going by "Ricky Start") and Gregg (later known as Louis) Gutierrez formed in Carson and was forced to change their name by the actual religious/charity organization... but not before being signed to the Minutemen's New Allience label and releasing the "Happen Happened/Mind Gardens" single and a self-titled album (which had, excempting the titles, the same album art). The releases made some waves as the liner notes quote eventual Three O'Clock drummer Danny Benair recounting hearing "Mind Gardens" on Rodney on the ROQ while still a member of the Weirdos. It should be noted that the band was signed by New Allience in November 1981, when Quercio was a mere 18 years old.

The sound is wuite different from the band they originially formed into being more in tune with a garage/punk sound than the jangly new-wave psych at which The Three O'Clock would excel. The songwriting is all Quercio's despite Gutierrez' presence in the group - however those already familiar with the last two Three O'Clock records should make no assumptions as this has nothing in common with their clean, 80s sound. Though I am a fan of both Quercio eras, he had yet to come into himself at this point lyrically. The lyrics resemple more psychedelic rambling than the darly whimsical ambiguity of his later work. Despite this, the most exemplary tracks "She Turns to Flowers" and "Happen Happened" stand out as some of the finest. This collection which contains all of the band's work under the Salvation Army moniker is prime example of the early Paisley Underground sound. And why shouldn't it? This was around the time that Quercio coined that term in the first place.


Befour Three O'Clock - Happen Happened (1992)