BOC, tBS: Girl and the real lowdown on IMAGINOS

[StevenTice]

Here's the lowdown on Imaginos and how the new version of Girl compares to the
original.

Thanks to the generosity of Mr. Albert Bouchard, I have a copy of Imaginos as
he had recorded it.  This is the song order on that tape:

1. I am the One You Warned Me Of
2. Imaginos
3. Gil Blanco County
4. Del Rio's Song
5. Blue Oyster Cult
6. Les Invisibles
7. The Girl That Love Made Blind
8. Frankenstein
9. In the Presence of Another World
10. Blue Oyster Cult Reprise
11. Astronomy
12. Magna of Illusion
13. Magna Reprise

Albert sings lead vocals on all of these.  In his letter to me, he notes that
Tommy Mandel plays the organ on the album (although he wasn't credited on the
actual disc).  In addition, the following musicians played on the following
tracks:

Don Roeser: acoustic guitar on Gil Blanco County
Robbie Kreiger: lead guitar on Magna, Girl, and Blue Oyster Cult
Allen Lanier: Synth on Blue Oyster Cult
Joe Bouchard, Jeff Kawalik, Corky Stasiak, Helen Wheels, Glen Bell: background
vocals
Peggy Atkins, Casper McCloud: ending of Frankenstein vocals

Albert also tossed a few other gems onto the tape, including The Devil's
Hangnail, which features some of the nastiest Patti Smith lyrics for a BOC
song....the music was later rearranged and used for The Vigil.  I must say,
the acoustic guitar on both Gil Blanco and Devil's Hangnail is fantastic...I
gained a renewed respect for Donald Roeser after listening to those tracks.
The Vigil as recorded for Mirrors greatly simplified the original guitar parts
from The Devil's Hangnail.  Albert also included his demo for Half Life Time
on that tape, which was a song intended for one of the later acts of the
Imaginos story...and another amazing Bouchard composition, with some great
Pearlman lyrics (a few of which turned up on When the War Comes).

Now, as for Girl...well, I must admit to being a bit disappointed by the Brain
Surgeons version.  It is vastly different from the original Imaginos version
of the song.  The Imaginos version is a slow, waltz-like piece, with
synthesizers and beautiful piano lines.  The Brain Surgeons version is almost
twice as fast, completely re-orchestrated, and (most amazing to me of all)
totally eliminates the 3/4 (or 6/8) time signature and forces the song into a
quick 4/4.  You're all familiar with Greensleeves, right?  Well, imagine
taking that song, forcing it into 4/4, and playing it twice as fast as normal,
and you'll get some idea of the difference between the Imaginos version of
Girl and the new version.  Now, the new version is certainly interesting in
its own right, but, given that very few people have heard the fantastic
original version of the song, I would rather it had hewed more closely to the
original arrangement.  Heck, both Career of Evil and Baby Ice Dog (with nifty
new arrangements) were still very close to the originals.  The Brain Surgeons
version of Girl is just so tremendously different from the original that it's
hard even to compare.  Actually, if you listen to Imaginos Overture, you'll
hear a bit of the original Girl (in triple meter) at the peak point near the
end of that instrumental.  It is such an enormously powerful and beautiful
love song (a Sandy Pearlman love song!), that I was disappointed to see it
altered in this fashion.  Even the Christmas chorus at the end was simplified
and truncated...the original features lush and complex vocals during that
section as the song fades away.  The original Girl in many ways sounds like
nothing else on Imaginos...but it also sounds very little like the new version
of the song.

Hopefully, when Imaginos is re-released--and Pearlman expressed to me the hope
that when the comic book finally is published that might give them the impetus
to do so--they will add the remaining tunes onto the disc, because both Gil
Blanco County and Girl are fantastic (Albert's version of Gil Blanco County is
incredibly atmospheric and moody).

We'll have to keep our fingers crossed! :-)

Steven Tice
Calliope Comics

P.S.  Oh, lest anyone think I was displeased with Malpractise...apart from my
disappointment over Girl, I LOVED it!  I could hardly have been happier with
the other tracks.

P.P.S.  In case anyone is wondering, BOC Reprise is an instrumental version of
the end section of that song...sort of like a dance mix.  And Magna Reprise is
an a cappella recapitulation of the first couple of verses of that song, with
a very quiet acoustic guitar accompaniment.