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3PM played a funky, heavy yet breezy fusion with ease. They easily wailed out covers of Return To Forever songs and their dual guitar attack was immense! Bassist Jerry Peek went on to play in the Steve Morse Band* after 3PM folded. Their demise was a very sad day for local Raleigh-Durham and Chapel Hill fusion lovers. I was fortunate enough to get a fully autographed vinyl copy of their out-of-print LP, Better Late Than Never. As distant echo of their greatness I offer these mp3 files of my fav cuts from their only release from 1981. Fusion-philes, enjoy! *Update in 11/11/04 from 3PM drummer!!, Doug Morgan: "Site continues to be a good source of keeping up with the music! On the 3pm site, I wish [you] would go to the official Steve Morse site and check his Bio. It will show you that it was myself and Jerry who were recruited to form the original Steve Morse Band. That bit of info is left out of the 3pm bio on your site and I feel it merits recognition. If you could add that change it would be most appreciated. ... Many thanks, Douglas Morgan" Guitarist Bernie Petteway is known for his work with Triangle area Jazz-Fusion group 3PM and has performed in settings as wide-ranging as with David Palmer of Jethro Tull, to the Dixie Dregs, Pat Benetar, The BeeGees, Tito Puente, and the St. Louis and North Carolina Symphonies. John Wheliss is a guitar teacher in Raleigh, NC USA. Download "Banana Daquiri" mp3 file. (FULL SONG!)
Download "A River of Ears" mp3 file. (TEASER!)
Download "Better Late Than Never" mp3 file. (TEASER!)
Download "Blues Epilog" mp3 file. (TEASER!)
If any of 3PM or the defunct Ostinato record label has a problem with these song samples being online please contact EER-MUSIC.com and we will pull them el pronto! But for now, they are here as the ONLY internet tribute to 3PM, courtesy of EER-MUSIC.com fusion.
This page created in honor of 3PM on November 5, 2001.
NEW INFO!!! RARE 3PM and post-3PM
November 5, 2002
live recordings exist!!John W. Patterson mini-review of rare live fusion: Well I have finished listening to the last of disk 5 of John Wheliss and crew, (ex-3PM axe-man), material of his live 3PM and two Over The Top gigs in Raleigh, NC -- and this power fusion is truly excellent material, full of killer axe, fluid and funky bass, and decent polyrhythmic drums. Most songs are band's originals with a few fusion rock cover tunes that are truly unique fusion versions in themselves. Wheliss has early Holdsworth down perfectly! All bass playing is top-notch! Sound quality is quite impressive for taped recordings, w/good volume levels, and fine separation of each instrument's sonorities. There is some tape hiss noticed in quieter moments but not too bad overall. Having such rare and unreleased historic fusion on this set of gigs is so superb that the hiss is almost an aural aromatic trace of a "nostaglic" thing -- in perserving these nearly two-decades old, hot fusion jams! These CD-Rs are better than many of the live recordings folks send me. Sounds like the audience was very, very small, maybe 10-20 people max so crowd noise is essentially non-existent. (As usual great local and unknown, under- appreciated, jazz fusion bands always draw the thinnest crowds.) I remember seeing 3PM live many times, (wished I smuggled in a taping device now), and the typical crowd was 30 to 40 folks. Very little time is wasted between songs overall but song intros and comic quips by axe-man Wheliss are a fun-listen, making the listener "feel right there" and part of a friendly, close-knit, fusion fan gathering). Final analysis: 3PM and Over the Top live (intimately small-club) recordings are A-minus sound quality, 90% killer crunch w/ 10% laid-back but tight grooves, 100% unreleased, historic, ultra-rare and 110% essential fusion for collectors.
Soundclips of these rare live fusion gems:
(lowered bit rate mp3 files)Bernie Petteway w/3PM "Martian Fandango Part 1" excerpt, 1981
Wheliss w/Over the Top "A Friend in Cairo" excerpt, 1985
Wheliss w/Over the Top "Vericose Brain" excerpt, 1986
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