Customer Reviews

3-Way

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'll start with praise: Lilys are incapable of a bad album, and 3-Way helps support this claim. 3-Way, like its LP predecessor, Better Can't Make Your Life Better, and like so many 1960s pop records, is an absolute smorgasbord of happy, ambitious sound, all clearly defined and heard within songs. Think about amazing songs like the Beatles "Got to Get You Into My Life" and you have an idea. EVERY instrument sounds so close to the speaker, like a kiss in the ear almost. Tambourines, horns, vintage-amp guitar snarl, percussive pops, finger snaps, and handclaps never sound mixed below one another, and somehow never fall into "wall of sound" mush. You can put on any Lilys song and be able to follow any instrument's progression from start to finish. And that's a good thing. A really good thing, one that doesn't happen much these days for reasons that completely elude me. 3-Way is wonderfully weird, too. The opening song, "Dimes Make Dollars" (amen! how bout pennies?) sounds most like their past album: a fuzzy "Satisfaction"-sounding guitar making a Monkees run, lots of percussive pee-zazz, an organ line bouncing like a ball over song lyrics on a television screen. Right, totally fun. Socs Hip is like seven minutes long and chock full of musical twists. Leo Ryan (Our Pharoah's Slave), also like seven minutes, is just perfect. I can promise you that you will never hear another band write a song that goes from like the Monkees to Barry White to the Zombies to Philly soul and disco strings all so fluidly. So Heasley continues to prove that he is an absolute evil genius, and an unabashed fan of all kinds of music. However, all that fawning said, I don't like this album near as much as "Better Can't Make Your Life Better." Not even close. On THAT album, Lilys pulled off an amazing feat: it sounded like Mozart took a crack at writing songs like "Daydream Believer" and "She's Not There" and actually pulled it off. The songs had the most remarkable percussive propulsion, completely joyous and complex harmonies and guitar lines, and they CLIMBED as much as they turned. Plus they were just catchy as hell. Better Can't Make Your Life Better is one of the best pop albums ever, in a class with "Revolver" and "Pet Sounds" and "Oracle and Odessy," among other sixties giants, and if you laugh at that comment now, meet me in like twenty years when revisionist dopes catch up to Kurt Heasley, who too often gets blasted as being too far behind. Life is ironic like that, though. Anyhow, 3-Way has too many turns and not enough climbs. It is far more abstract, cold, and distant than "Better Can't Make Your Life Better," and reminiscent of the change Brian Wilson underwent when he hooked up with Van Dyke Parks, which is not a HORRIBLE thing, but I like Pet Sounds better than Smile, if you get what I'm saying. It's stuffy and obtuse and too British sounding. Those Brits are wound too tight and need to unclench their buttockseseses once in a while. Listening to 3-Way, I almost feel like I should put one of those unifocal glasses and squeeze it on an eye while drinking tea in a straight-backed chair. I don't want that from Lilys. I want to drink sodee pops and watch my three-year-old jump on the bed. That was what Better Can't Make Your Life Better delivered. 3-Way is still a Lilys record, and still completely enjoyable. Their emphasis on sound will always make them fun. I recommend this album, but go get Better Can't Make Your Life Better first.

Another brilliant work by Kurt Heasley! This album takes weeks and maybe months to fully digest with its unexpected turns and dazzling orchestrations. Not as "riff" heavy as 'Better Can't Make Your Life Better' but if you like 60's Brit Pop and don't mind imaginative lyrics then this disc is for you. To me, definitely worth its weight in gold!

...you will like this. If you don't, you probably won't. The organ is amazing and you will feel like you landed in London, circa 1967. I like it--it's fun and makes me wish I could pop on my white gogo boots and fringe vest and frug frug frug my problems away.

A truly amazing album from start to finish. Sixties influenced fuzzy mod pop updated with very clever and adventurous songwriting and lyrical brilliance. A must have for all fans of new and vintage garage, mod,psych, and brit-pop.

Lilys THE THREE WAY, took me a listen or two to fall in love with. That was only because the SERVICES... EP kicked serious pop ***. I didn't think Heasley, et al, could top those hooks. But they did, and then some. And comparing them to the Kinks, as easy as that may be, is seriously short-sighted. I'm sorry but Heasley creates more hook-ridden, riff-rippin', pure-pop glory than Ray Davies ever dreamed (and yes, I love the Kinks as much as the next guy). And besides, who hasn't borrowed something from the previous generation or two? Heasley isn't simply a rip-off artist, but may in fact be a genius of appropriation. (p.s. Has anybody heard the SELECTED EP yet? I can't wait to get it!)

this record was my introduction to the wonderful world of Lilys; while "Better..." certainly has more glorious moments, this record is consistently breathtaking in its composition, exhilerating in its performance, and just plain fun to listen to. yes, there are elements of 60's brit-pop, but here it's taken to a whole new level, creating something wholly original and vibrant. in an age of drum machines and samples, this is proof that rock is still very much alive and kicking.

The lead singer of the Lilys reminds me a little of early Ray Davies.

Now the Lily's, unlike Davies' and his Kinks, have no ambitions at being Noel Coward. But their well written, full bodied jangle pop does remind you of the rockier side of sixties British invasion music.

Like most genre headings, jangle pop is loaded in its under-descriptive labeling. The Three Way does make fantastic use of sharp guitars and clean textures. But the tracks here, some containing extremely subtle string arrangements in fantastic refinement, have fresh cadences- a result of songwriting that never falls on stock ideas.

Entertaining and light, but packed with substance. Go off to the races and do a Three Way.

I love this album. I got it as a promo when it came out, and it was probably my most-listened-to album of that year. I saw them play a small venue a couple years later and was disappointed that they didn't play even one song off this album.

As a follow up to Better Can't Make Your Life Better - it seems like everyone, myself included, expected huge things from Kurt and Co. Unfortunately, they got an album that was a strong as its predecessors but quickly fell to the wayside as Sire refused to market it. A lost gem of an indie rock album, its worth a try for those who were into the Apples in Stereo and Asteroid #4 sixties pop of the nineties. Some of the better songs on the album include - Leo Ryan (our pharoah's slave) and Dimes make Dollars. While not as inspiring as its predecessor - it runs longer and takes its time. A pleasant listen that likes to give more than receive - its worth checking out before you buy that Beachwood Sparks album you've been thinking about buying.

I admit to an initial moment of disappointment with this disc, which is not as astonishing as "Better Can't Make Your Life Better". And yet, it's still great to have - the riffs out of nowhere, the rapid shifts in tempo and mood, etc. I take back all the bad things I've said about Hartford...