''Sixteen Tambourines'' is the first

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

the Three O'Clock The Three O'Clock is an American alternative rock group associated with the Los Angeles 1980s Paisley Underground scene. Lead singer and bassist Michael Quercio is credited with coining the term "Paisley Underground" to describe a subset of the ...

, released in 1983.

Critical reception

Critical reaction to ''Sixteen Tambourines'' has been polarized, with the album being hailed as "incredible" in some quarters, but dismissed as "precious" or "twee" in others. ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' described the album as "absolutely charming and remarkably memorable," as well as being "an incredible full-length collection of chiming, memorable power pop tunes played and sung as if each track were likely to get played on every radio station coast-to-coast," singling out producer Earle Mankey's work as "slick and inventive." In a contemporary review for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'',

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave ''Sixteen Tambourines'' a "C+" and said hearing such "precious falsettos" and "baroquely tuneful" music "might (I said might) have been fun" in the 1960s, "but in 1983 it's likely to make a grown man puke". A blogger for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' later called the album "pretty awful", complaining that The Three O'Clock "always hinted at something incredible, and then ruined it all with an anaemic keyboard line or singer Michael Quericio's weedy vocals. If you were to sum them up in one word, it would be twee." Reviewing the album's paired release with the 1982 EP ''Baroque Hoedown'',

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

critic Sean Westergaard gave it four and a half out of five stars and recommended the release as "a good way to check out this important band from the

paisley underground Paisley Underground is a musical genre that originated in California. It was particularly popular in Los Angeles, reaching a peak in the mid-1980s. Paisley Underground bands incorporated psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and guitar interplay, owin ...

Track listing

All song written by Louis Gutierrez and Michael Quercio, except where noted. Side A #"Jet Fighter" – 3:22 (Mariano, Gutierrez and Quercio) #"Stupid Einstein" – 2:17 #"And So We Run" – 2:40 #"Fall to the Ground" – 2:27 #"A Day in Erotica" – 4:20 Side B #"Tomorrow" – 3:41 #"In My Own Time" – 2:03 (

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popul ...

Robin Gibb Robin Hugh Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) was a British singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his o ...

) #"On My Own" – 2:48 #"When Lightning Starts" – 3:31 #"Seeing Is Believing" – 4:27

Personnel

*Danny Benair – drums *Louis Gutierrez – guitar, vocals, percussion *Mike Mariano – keyboards, vocals, percussion *Michael Quercio – vocals, bass guitar, percussion *Earle Mankey – producer

References

{{Authority control 1983 albums The Three O'Clock albums