3/3 – “Sanbun No San ” – [Shadoks]

Max Level   8/22/2007   12-inch, A Library

Japanese power trio 3/3 made this gritty blues-flavored rock album around 1975. I keep hearing that this band is considered to have had a large influence on Japanese punk and no-wave and psyche-rock; maybe so, but as much as I like this record, it doesn’t strike me as being particularly groundbreaking; much of it, for example, recalls Jimi Hendrix, which I’m not at all saying is a bad thing. The boys do crank the energy level up in a few places to a nearly Damned-like thrash, and yes they were probably ahead of the curve on that one; in 1975, punk rock hadn’t seriously broken out yet, but listening to this record you might think it had. The final song is laid-back, relatively speaking, with a gentle guitar intro. A muddy recorded sound on this release but screw that; this record rocks and is a total gas to listen to. Reissue edition of 300 copies. Originally released on LP in an extremely limited edition of 15 copies.