BOC: Guitarists and Spectres

[dench]

While I was sitting at home over the weekend listening to BOC a couple of
things struck me, which I thought I should share with everyone.  Sorry if
it's nothing new.

The first thing is that vexatious question about the relative abilities of
the guitarists within BOC.  When I first got into the band, some 20 years
ago, I thought that Buck was the lead guitarist, with Eric doing some
nifty playing and Allen only playing rhythm guitar.  However, once I had
seen them live I realised this wasn't necessarily the case.

If anyone wants to hear the relative playing abilities of Dharma, Bloom
and Lanier, I would recommend listening to The Red And Black on
Extraterrestrial Live.  Buck is in the centre, Allen is in the left
channel and Eric is on the right.  There is nothing surprising about what
Buck does, and Eric's licks are modest, but much better than those of many
rhythm guitarists, but the great thing for me is the lead work by Allen,
particularly at the end of the song.  His guitar playing is brilliant - I
wonder if he plays more lead guitar on BOC material than we may realise?
I note from the Goldmine article that he was 'pushed' into playing
keyboards, and was initially a guitarist.  He is clearly a great
guitarist, and I for one would like to hear more of his playing!

My second thought was about Spectres.  I can clearly remember its release
in the UK in 1977.  I note that it is now regarded by many as 'commercial'
and a bit of a disappointment (not my view), but it was a different story
at the time.  The album was critically acclaimed and Melody Maker actually
took the unprecedented step of reviewing each song!  And all this at a
time when punk had knocked rock off its pedestal.  BOC were so acclaimed,
I believe, partly because of their connection with Patti Smith, who was
much loved by the media at this time.  AOF had, of course, featured a
significant input from Patti, so maybe this made BOC seem cooler to the
music press than many of their contemporaries (I'm not saying they aren't
cool, but I think we all know about the music press!).

My final thought is about the song Searching For Celine.  I notice that
the FAQ indicates that the song is actually about, or inspired by the
French author Celine.  I find this hard to accept, if only because the
song refers to Celine as a woman.  It would be pleasing to accept that the
song is about one of the more haunted French writers of this century, but
I don't believe it can be.  Any thoughts?

That's all - sorry to have gone on at such length, but I'll be interested
to hear people's responses, and apologies if they're not new thoughts!

Martin