BOC: Various

[John A Swartz]

I would love to jump into some of the various BOC threads going on right
now, but I'm starting a new project and have just about no time to do
so (barely had time to read all my mail, never mind respond), so I'll
just say, that for the most part, I agree with Carl

A few other misc. points:

1.  To the one who asked about posting the FAQ on rec.music.boc -- you can
post the FAQ there, just as long as you put the whole thing there (which
includes the copyright/disclaimer info at the end).  The FAQ should not be
distributed in pieces (unless all the pieces are distributed, and you make
it clear that all the pieces should be treated as a complete unit).  But,
as I've always said, I did the FAQ not just for BOC-L, but for ALL BOC
fans, and I would love it if the AOL folks (including the band) as well
as the r.m.boc folks would use it, refer to it, and provide me feedback
on it.

2.  I may be out of line when I say this, but I don't think it's fair for
us over here to characterize the BOC fans on AOL, or even the bandmembers
over there -- most of what we on BOC-L hear about the AOL folks is probably
not the complete picture, and we tend to rehash statements (like Eric's)
made over there that were probably made ONE TIME (we make it sound like
the band constantly bashes BOC-L).  My belief is that some of us may have
taken some statements out of context, perhaps colored them with our own
pro-BOC-L attitudes, and distorted reality.  Let's get back to talking
about the MUSIC, o.k.?

3.  Everytime the Club Ninja bashing starts, I find it amusing that many
will say that the only like one or 2 songs on the album -- but when you
look at what everybody likes on the album in total, you get just about
every song on the album!  So, the real problem with Club Ninja, IMHO, other
than the production being too "light", is that it does not have a solid
set of songs that is universally liked by almost all BOC fans.

4.  Someone mentioned that they thought Al probably gets more "respect"
than Eric because he's more open to criticism (the BOC-L vs. AOL thing
again) -- My belief is that Al may get more respect not necessarily for
that reason, but for the following:  Without even mentioning Imaginos,
Albert has released 2 (soon to be 3) Brain Surgeons albums over the course
of about 3 years (not to mention producing them, as well as producing albums
for several other artists over the last 10-15 years), while Eric and the
rest of BOC have failed to release a new album (I don't count Imaginos
or the Bad Channels stuff) of new material in the last 10 years.  And even
if we go back a few more years, hey - most would agree that "Revolution
by Night" and "Club Ninja" don't hold a candle to "Eponymous" and
"Trepanation".

5.  Someone also mentioned the pro-Al/Deb attitude on BOC-L.  That's
certainly true from MY perspective (but I usually am pretty pro-BOC as
well, so perhaps I'm a bad example), and I do suspect that *part* of that
is due to Al/Deb's presence here - but not completely (I've certainly
seen several of us, including tBS fans, have some differences of opinion
than Al and Deb).  But, I do believe that alot of the pro-Al/Deb attitude
here is because of the point I made above -- they have produced, and have
produced well.  I think most of us here who have checked out their music
have said good things about it -- there has been some criticism in part
(like Steve Swann's "problems" with Eponymous ;-) ), but I think that
criticism has been fairly small because most of us really like the Brain
Surgeons' music -- and non-BOC-L reviews of the Brain Surgeons' stuff
would back those opinions up.  So, with tBS putting out plenty of new
music, and plenty of GOOD new music, there's not much reason to not be
pro-Al/Deb.  Also, some of us have met them in person, and found them to
be pretty cool people.

Well, I've used up more time than I was allowed to write this, so I'd
better sign off now.

John