3RDEGREE - "Narrow-Caster"

The North American band 3RDegree was founded in 1990 by Robert James Pashman (bass, keyboards, backing vocals) and Robert Durham (drummer); soon joined by Pat Kliesch (guitars). In 1995, lead singer George Dobbs joined the trio just before the release of the first album “Human Interest Story” (1996). Without finding a fan base, the band dissolved in 1997. By the end of 2005, the three founding members decided to reunite and record again. They were able to reintegrate George Dobbs to the band, and in 2007 they performed a show at "NJ Proghouse" that was released on DVD and double CD (“The Reunion Concerts”). In 2008 they finished their second self-produced studio album - “Narrow-Caster”. Seven songs of this CD were written for an unreleased album that would follow “Human Interest History”. The remaining three songs are new. I have heard to “Narrow-Caster” many times (with much pleasure, I should say), and yet I was unable to cast 3RDegree‘s chameleonic sound into a predefined style. Although labeled by many as a Progressive band, personally I don’t agree with that. Many typical traits of Progressive are absent (e.g. symphonic, baroque, psychedelic, folk, medieval, exotic rhythms). The band itself cites an extensive list of influences, including some non-progressive bands ("Rush", "Tears For Fears", "Soundgarden", "King's X", "Stevie Wonder", "Level 42", "Genesis", "Led Zeppelin", "Yes", "Pink Floyd", "Kate Bush", "Alice In Chains", "Todd Rundgren", "Gentle Giant", "Asia", "Kevin Gilbert", "Prefab Sprout, Spymob"). The musicians mix those influences inside their cauldron, adding mainly elements of Hard Rock, Blues, Jazz, Fusion, Pop - and even Progressive - to produce groovy, lively and energetic compositions that are highly mutable and unpredictable. The sonority follow the musical trend of the end of the 70’s to beginning of the 80’s, when other bands were trying to make their sound more digestible to new audiences (e.g. "Led Zeppelin" with “In Through the Out Door”; "Gentle Giant" with “The Missing Piece”; "Steely Dan" with “Aja”; "Genesis" with “Duke”; "Yes" with “90125” and "Marillion" with “Fugazi”). But does that compromise the band performance? On the contrary, 3RDegree is able to perform highly sophisticated compositions that keep the listener in constant state of surprise. Robert J. Pashman leads with his powerful bass lines, in a constant well rehearsed dialogue with the ever unexpected guitars of Pat Kliesch. The excellent vocals of Mr. Dobbs (he really knows what he is doing) go from rocky and harsh to soft and pop, depending on the song’s mood – meanwhile he is well supported by the wonderful harmonic backing vocals of his band mates. Behind the torrent, Robert Durham keeps everything united, anchoring with drums the complex melodic harmonies performed by the bass-guitar-keyboards instrumental trio. For my taste, the best songs are: the opening track “Apophenia“ (with unexpected alternation of heavy and subtle parts); “Live With This Forever“ (with extraordinary vocals of Mr. Dobbs – check in their web site); “Cautionary Tale“ (with beautiful harmony vocals and guitar solos) and “Free For All“ (almost heavy metal, with aggressive bass and vocals). In second place, but not diminished before the others, are: “It Works“ (jazzy) and “The Proverbial Banana Peel“ (a hard rock with ironic lyrics). The audiences that appreciate softer songs will find the ballads “Narrow-Caster“ (bitter), “Young Once“ (with some progressive keyboards) and “Scenery“ (made of acoustic guitar and harmony vocals) very pleasant to the listening. The album finishes with “The Last Gasp“ – the most progressive track of all – with voyaging and confidential tones, and a brief symphonic session from the middle to the end. With this new release, 3RDegree achieves successfully its aim: to create music that is challenging to play and at the same time is memorable and singable. Although being a thousand times better than many rock bands of the mainstream, 3RDegree continues to knock from door to door, in search of an audience – and all they are asking for is to people stop for a moment and pay attention to their music. If radio stations start to play them, their audience will automatically show up.  Recommended for all open-minded music fans. Band members and collaborators involved in 3rdegree are Robert James Pashman – Bass, Keyboards and Vocals, George Dobbs – Vocals, Keyboards, Robert Durham – Drums, Percussion, Pat Kliesch – Guitars, Vocals, Veronica Puleo – additional backing vocals on “The Last Gasp”, Dan D’Elia – Drums on “Narrow-Caster” and “The Last Gasp”...    (Comments by Marcelo Trotta)

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