Why is this man laughing?

[Ted O. Jackson]

> Mark observes:
>
> >Well, at the Houston show last month, Eric (while holding back
> laughter) said they would have a new album coming out sometime "in the
> future".
>
> (sigh)
>
>
> Yeah, kinda sad.  I'm guessing that the band has now had an album's
> worth of new material for at least the past 2 years, but presumably
> are still searching for that elusive record deal.  You'd think at this
> point they'd just release it themselves - do they really expect to make
> any money off of it by having someone else release it for them, if by
> the time it's released no-one knows who BOC is?
>
> John

I guess there are two ways of looking at it.  Maybe it's good that
Eric can at least keep up the pretense of humor over no new BOC
album.  Better that than dwelling in melancholy.  On the other hand,
one can also see it as a sardonic joke, that he's laughing at us for
keeping our hopes up for so long.  Not a very pleasant prospect.

Maybe they don't release the material they've saved up [which looks
to amount to a slim album unless they plan on filling it out with
some jamming or possibly throwing in an old castoff like 'Wings of
Mercury'] because they fear [quite legitimately, I'm afraid] that it
may meet with the same reception as 'Club Ninja' [for the same
reasons, I'm also afraid].  I've said it again and again:  they need
to forget the possibility of radio airplay.  The few BOC songs that
made it as popular hits, did so in spite of themselves.  Rather than
lukewarm tunes that pander to radio-land, the BOC would be better off
in releasing some real bone-crushing heavy stuff.  Roll the dice and
take their chances on fan loyalty from the old guard.  There's still
enough of us out there, and they might even rope in a few young
metalheads.  Forget my usual pessimism--BOC is still a formidable
force to be reckoned with.  The playing skills and the art of
presentation still exist.  BOC needs some truly dynamic songwriting.
If they can't do it themselves anymore without Albert's input [I
always seem to evoke Coleridge's imagery here] then find it
elsewhere.  There are probably a few songwriters out there who would
GIVE them a song or two [probably the only way EB would take a song
anyway!] just to see them back on their feet.   The ironic thing is,
if todays young headbangers could be transported bgack to the 70s to
a BOC concert, they'd be instant lifelong converts.  Dudes, be true
to your heritage.  Give US what we want, forsake the radio/MTV
wasteland.  Play it, and they will come...
theo