Club Ninja

[Carl E. Anderson]

>     Now don't get me wrong, I love the old songs, but I do think
> Club Ninja and IMAGINOS are much better than - say - the first
> two or three albums of the band (with the exception, maybe,
> of such songs as "Last days of May", "Wings wetted down",
> "Flaming telepaths" and a few others which remain among
> my all-time favorite songs). I mean look at your
> personal favorite albums, I'm sure most of you will probably
> say it's Cultosaurus Erectus or Fire of Unknown Origin - which
> is the point I'm trying to make.

        Ah, I must disagree in part, at least.  I'm one of the many
_CN_ bashers, and must say I find it fairly disapointing.  OK, I
have my heretical and admittedly perverse liking for "Beat 'Em Up"
(perhaps a horrified fascination ;) and "Perfect Water" is an OK
Buck pop-song ... But where (are the spiders? ack! no! sorry ;) is
the eerie thunder, the sneering menace that was the BOC hallmark?

        Ah, there it is!  On _Imaginos_ ... ;)  Well, we all know the
story on _that_ one ... ;)

        My second favorite album has got to be _Secret Treaties_,
older brother of _Imaginos_, for mostly the same reasons.  Sinister
weirdness, killer riffs--I can forgive the somewhat dodgy sound.
I'd probably follow that with _BOC_ (the 1st) for similar reasons,
though the gross sound often make me shy away from it.

        I tend to like individual songs off most of the other albums
more than the albums as wholes.  Perhaps half an album or so will
blow me away, and the other half I can take or leave (relative to the
material I like, anyway--I'll suffer even "Let's Go" over any Michael
Jackson song no matter what Andy thinks! ;)

> To me, BOC just keeps getting better with time
> and I'm really waiting very eagerly for the next studio album,
> IMAGINOS having been the "masterpiece" it has been...........

        Well, as has been said, _Imaginos_ was something of an anomaly,
though a fortunate one.
        However, I'm also one of the wackos who liked the "Bad Channels"
songs, silly lyrics and all.  The new material they have is really not
too bad--not every song can be "Astronomy"!  I think _if_ BOC gets its
act together (so to speak) and actually records an album of new material
_and_ actually gets it released (always a hurdle) ...
        ... well, I'd be fairly surprised if it wasn't better than
_RBN_ and _CN_.

        People can laugh at "I Want to See You in Black" all you want,
but I maintain that there have been a lot worse BOC songs in the past
(yes, even in the "classic days") and it _can't_ be sillier sounding
than "Let's Go", surely?

Cheers,
Carl