V-3 – Hit Dead Center With My Disease LP

As I was reviewing V3’s cycle of works from early 1986 to the end of Roxanne Newman’s’ tenure in late 1991, I became increasingly flabbergasted at the band. At the time I just wasn’t paying attention to the writing and production. I was focused on trying to keep the balance between our love of exploration and our focus on creating what I would call weirdo pop. In hind sight I see where I greatly underestimated our advance way of making music. What ended up on the 3 releases of that era was only the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully with this release a glimpse into the inner workings of that era can be evaluated. Basically V3 can be divided into two parts: with Roxanne and without Roxanne. After Rudy and I left the band Jim chose to slowly move away from V3 and focus more on his solo work. While Leland Cain and Sam Brown brilliantly held up the Flag of the old material, the creative experimentation and exploration was gone. Once Jimbo acquiesced to the need for sales he was faced with a choice. He had to either become an artistic renegade, or become the major label organ grinder’s monkey tipping its hat for spare coin. Even though Jim and I could write pop till the cows came home that was not our strict passion. Roxanne on the other hand focused more on the substance and meaning of her occult training; which shined like refracted light through the prism of her love for Jim. I’ve always said that she never got credit for her achievement. Just listen to her guitar work on Prime Mister Keys or Forever Low Man. Keep in mind that she had no training in playing guitar at that point. Or, add to this her songwriting skill that can be seen in songs like The Mystic or I Heard It, It Calls Me and you’ll soon grasp her highly refined skill-set. She had the whole package. She could play, write and sing. Plus, she was sexy eye candy for the boys. Hopefully this peek will provide fans and critics alike a re-evaluation of the early V3 phenomena. Truly, Rudy, Roxanne, me and Jim were a rare blend of artistic equals the world will be hard pressed to duplicate, let alone supersede.

Nudge Squidfish 2021