The early ’80s Los Angeles music scene that came to be known as the Paisley Underground was never a genre so much as a loose-knit group of friends who were passionate about music and formed bands. More than three decades later, members of this coterie organized a project to pay homage to each other.
While tribute records are nothing new, 3x4 offers a glimpse into the refracted history of how friends were affected by their peers. The Bangles achieved Top 40 success and the first single from their debut album, “Hero Takes a Fall,” was a poison-pen letter aimed at what a jerk The Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn had become. Wynn and company cover the tune here. “If a perfect, three-minute pop song had to be my comeuppance, my punishment, well then, I got off easy,” he said.
When David Roback left Rain Parade and Kendra Smith left The Dream Syndicate, their collaboration eventually lead to Mazzy Star. But the bands they exited didn’t pack it in, they simply evolved. On 3x4 The Dream Syndicate’s take on Rain Parade’s “You Are My Friend” eschews the gauzed psychedelia of the original for droll nonchalance. The Bangles’ take on “Jet Fighter” by The Three O’Clock trades the sugar-buzz keyboards of the original for guitars. Not bad for a class reunion.
