Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3
…Tick…Tick…Tick (Down There)
Steve Wynn is now 46 years old, but don’t peg him as middle aged. …Tick…Tick…Tick is the third installment in what the former Californian, now New Yorker dubs his “Desert Trilogy” (all were recorded in Tucson), and it’s a near perfect capper proving that although the clock is running, Wynn has no intention of being elderly. His mix of enlightened wordplay with a sound that alternates between Crazy Horse crunch, Velvet Underground drone, and his own singular brand of psychedelic-guitar lunacy is at its peak. Forever referred to as one of the leaders of the Eighties pop scene known as the Paisley Underground, Wynn has grown into something else entirely. Since 2000, the Miracle 3 – Jason Victor on guitar, Dave DeCastro on bass, and drummer Linda Pitmon – has played an important part in creating a sound that’s immediate, and it’s here in all its moody, yet unrelenting, glory. With 11 tracks of rock goodness, it’s difficult to point to highlights, but the Bo Diddley-on-acid “Killing Me,” pure pop hooks of “Bruises,” and melancholy “The Deep End” are three prime slices of what Wynn and the 3 are capable of. (Wednesday, March 15, 1am @ Caribbean Lights)
This article appears in March 10 • 2006.