BOC: Various thoughts of the day

[John A Swartz]

Well, I usually don't like to comment on multiple threads in the same
post (I think it gets tough for people to respond, and of course the
headers soon become off-topic).  But, since I've been away for a few
days, don't have time to post a whole bunch of seperate responses (which
alot of folks might not want to read anyway), and since it's my birthday
and I'm gonna do whatever the f**k I want . . .  ;-)

Andy says:

>But if there's one reason I'm "negative" about BOC, it's _Cult Classic_ - I
admit I was a bit dubious about it as I bought it, but I was hoping for
best-ever versions of classic tunes, revitalised and reinterpreted for the
nineties.

This may be the single biggest reason for BOC-L's "negative" attitude
toward BOC these days, even if some of you don't realize it.  I think that
the tone on BOC-L was much more positive prior to this release.  Back in
1993 and early '94, BOC was doing 3 or 4 "new songs" live, and promising
a "new album" that would include these and others soon.  Of course the date
kept getting pushed back, and what we got was NOT the new stuff, but a
re-hash (and in most cases, in most folks opinions, a bad re-hash) of
past BOC tunes.  True, CC has it's good points (e.g. studio version of
"Buck's Boogie"), but overall the performances seem somewhat stale (perhaps
they didn't take enough time off the road to record?), and not terribly
well-mixed (unfamiliarity with digital recording technology?).  I hadn't
thought this before, but I think alot of us BOC-L "old timers" became
most (pick your adjective - cynical, critical, negative, pissed-off, etc.)
around that time.

Adrian jokes:

>"Eric Bloom rolled up to the mic in his wheel chair and belted out the
standard opener "Stairway to the Stars..."

>From one of Eric's old raps during "7 Screaming Diz-busters":  "I can see
myself 50 years from today.  I'll be in the old rock-n-roll stars home.
I'll be sitting right next to Jeff Beck and Elton John.  We'll be in jet-
powered wheelchairs.  Doin' drag-races and wheelies down the hall - and
grabbin' all the nurses - heh heh heh heh.  But one day, maybe that dude
in the sharkskin suit's gonna come up to me and say 'Hey boy - you're
95 years old.  I've come to take you away...'"


There's been a fair amount of mumbling about wishing that the original
line-up will get together again.  We can all dream, but I HOPE everyone
here fully understands that 1) it isn't likely to happen, and 2) both
Al and BOC are happier for it.  Albert has stated here several times
that he has no intention or desire to re-join a band that he left
OVER 15 YEARS AGO (Imaginos work and his 2-week "fill-in" work in 1985
not withstanding).  I'm not as sure as to how Joe feels, but certainly
he has been out of BOC for over 10 years now, and is doing his own thing.
Seeing that he's not actively involved in a band, perhaps he has less
desire to do that sort of thing, and prefers the teaching work he's
been doing (along with his other projects - like brewing beer?).  I
don't know how Al and 3OC feel about our discussions - maybe Al feels
a bit flattered that we say that BOC ain't the same without him, but I
would think he gets tired of answering questions of "why did he leave?"
and "is he ever coming back?" and would much rather talk about tBS.  As
far as 3OC goes, they can't be too excited to be spending time talking
about a guy who hasn't been in the band for 15 years . . .

Jack (who doen't add his $0.02 here too often, but should feel free to)
says:

>Me, I'll just continue enjoying the music I already have,
continue my praise for band members, both present and past, and of
course, always hope for new material:)

This is my "philosophy" too -- only problem is, it seems (and perhaps
more so on BOC-L, although I haven't been on AOL long enough to assess
this) that people get tired of talking about that.  What I mean is, you
"typically" see new folks talking about how great the band is, their
favorite concert experiences, wanting to ask folks what their favorit
album is, etc., and after awhile, you either post less, or you spend
more time complaining about the things you don't like.  Not to pick on
anyone, but Theo has been fairly vocal here recently about his issues
with the band these days -- you should have heard this guy when he first
joined BOC-L!  He was always talking (or replying) very upbeat, recounting
his fond memories, talking excitely about BOC, etc.  He seems a little
more "restrained" in that regard these days (note: Theo - no offense is
meant by this observation of mine, and I'm not saying that your are a
worse person than you used to be or anything like that - and while I
only know you through your BOC-L posts, I hope I haven't been too
inaccurate in what I've said here).  Of course, maybe us "old timers"
have corrupted him to our way of thinking...if so, you could be next
Jack!  ;-)

Manuel sez:

>Hey Theo;  How about the Astronomy CD Single?  Been looking for that one
for years...

I think there may be a few people looking for this.  Anyone who finds a
copy ought to pick it up and post to BOC-L if you wish to sell it (you
might be able to make yourself a minor profit on the deal).  I haven't
seen one for a few years now - I saw one in a Boston-area store, posted
info here, and Carl swooped down and picked it up before most of you
probably even read the post.

Andy also said:

>But if and when, I'll definitely be buying the new album, and I'll do my best
>to "listen without prejudice".

I think this will be true of most BOC fans here.  Most of us won't believe
it until we see it perhaps, but I suspect that we'll all buy it when it
comes out (of course, assuming it's not another compilation!).  I'm
betting that some of us will think it's the greatest thing since *Box of
Hammers*, some of us will think it's little improvement over *Club
Ninja* - but most of us will be happy to have it regardless.  It will be
discussed EXTENSIVELY here on BOC-L -- we'll pick it apart track by track,
maybe even note by note.  We will like some of the tunes, dis-like others,
and probably not come to alot of universal conclusions on it (other than,
"It's about time!").  When that album does come out - everyone on BOC-L
can probably expect your e-mail load to double.  Hawkwind-only fans will
no doubt scream at us when we forget to use the filter headings... ;-)

Dan (while drinking heavily by his own admission) writes:

>WHY CAN'T ERIC (or Buck... or Allen or...) EVEN TRY TO BE MEMBERS OF BOC-L.
What could possibly happen? Nobody will harm them in anyway (...hell the
worst thing ever will happen a person is that he'll be killed... and that is
a very hard thing to do with the net as the only tool... and I don't believe
that anyone on this list will even try to harm anyone of 3OC).
Are they cowards or what???

Maybe, but I think the answer is the following:  Eric and Buck are quite
happy with their on-line community of fans on AOL, and aren't particularly
interested (and perhaps don't have the time) to expand.  Maybe they've
heard bad things about BOC-L in the past - but maybe they don't want to
be innundated with an extra 20-50+ e-mails a day that they don't have the
time or desire to go through.  Other than Eric's interest in some of the
Moorcock stuff, they probably have no interest in Hawkwind.  So, I don't
think it's fear - I think they just choose to stay where they are.

>If they don't dare to confrontate fans of all kind... are they then really
worthy to have any fans at all?

Ah Dan, too much alchohol for you...;-)  Why should they feel that they
should participate on every on-line BOC forum there is?  They've probably
got enough to do with recording, touring, family life, etc.  Don't take
it personally that those things conflict with them joining BOC-L...

>I am not very found of these discussions when we are discussing why BOC did
that and why they didn't do that and so on... when there is a resonable way
for Bloom&co
 to speak up and tell us the way it's.

Quite frankly, even if BOC was on BOC-L, we might not get the answers we
seek.  Eric and Buck are not exactly extremely forthcoming on AOL as to
what's going on.  Those of us also on AOL report to BOC-L what they say
as far as future plans - you don't hear much because not that much is
always said.  So, you shouldn't feel that you're more "in the dark" than
AOL's BOC fans as to what the band is up to.

Carl says:

(in response to one of my posts)
>       I could have clipped some of that except it all hits it right on
the head for me!

Well, sometimes I get lucky... ;-)\

>I'm not an "old timer" by any definition,

Carl, I'd qualify you as a "BOC-L old timer"...

>but *I*want*new*BOC* and I'm gonna whinge when I don't get it! :)

See?  We ARE all fans -- we are all bitchin' because WE WANT OUR BOC!!

>I even liked the Bad Channels tracks
which generally take a lot of abuse here!

I like 'em too -- not the best lyrics, but they are pretty heavy.  I
hope the new album will continue this.  My suspicion is that it will
show "flashes" of this heaviness (tunes like "See You in Black" and
"Power Underneath Despair") but due to the prevalence of tunes that
Buck has written (and sings) that is expected to be on the album, I
suspect that it will overall not be as heavy as those 2 Bad Channels
tracks (which, btw, I believe will NOT be on the new album).

>        So, yeah, I _am_ critical of the band--not because I hate them
or something, but because as a fan I (rightly or wrongly) expect support
from the band in terms of new releases in return for my support seeing
them live and buying their albums.

And I HOPE that points like this will not be lost on the band -- as I
posted a week or so ago, BOC's fan base continues to dwindle, and alot
of their shows probably consist of a significant portion of "die-hard"
fans -- BOC MUST think more of catering to these fans, because if they
go, I seriously doubt BOC can even hang on as a nostalgia act.  They
must give their long-time fans more of a reason to support them than
simply doing the same setlist ad infinitum...

Jazza muses:

>        The way Buck talks about `the band' reminds me of something that
floated through BOC-L last year, that Buck wanted to hang it all up and
stick to Buck stuff, but EB kept persuading him out of it. In which case,
we do owe Eric _some_ thanks! But I think half the problem with 3OC is
that Buck's not really happy with it, and Eric has nothing else to do.

My guess is that both Eric and Buck (and probably the rest of the band)
realize that BOC is still their best bet for making a living, and I do
think that they enjoy doing it.  I think Buck's frustrations stem from
wanting to do more of his own stuff which doesn't necessarily fit the
BOC vein, but for whatever reasons he can't do as Al did and do an
independent release of his own stuff.  Perhaps Eric's fairly-recent
vocal problems have been somewhat beneficial to Buck in the sense that
he's carried the band more live over the past 6 months or so than at
any point in their career (note: I'm not trying to suggest any personal
tensions between Buck and Eric), and I do know that he has probably
written at least half the material that will be on the new album.  So,
Buck may be happier in BOC today than he had been in the past.

>      What Allen thinks of all of it I would love to know, because you
never hear diddly about/from him...

Funny, 'cuz I've got a few interviews with him in magazines from the 70s.
He certainly had his opinions and beliefs to share - but he seems to
have become a completely silent member of the band these days.  There
were hints that Allen was writing tunes awhile back, but I've heard no
definite mention of Allen writing anything for the new album.

>        It strikes me that if (dream) tBS and BOC ever played a gig
together, or Al did a guest drums appearance or something (like Lemmy did
occasionally for HW on bass), the conflict zone would not be Al vs. DR,
but Deb vs. EB...

LOL - yep, while I think Buck and Al could be onstage together again
someday, I can't picture Eric and Deb every sharing a stage (except
maybe for a boxing match or something) ;-)

Mike suggests:

>The only reason that I can think of for not changing a set is that the
band do not want to rehearse; either because there are personality or
logistical problems, or that they simply cannot be bothered.

I'm sure that this is a factor...

>If this new
album really does come out, I will be disappointed if the touring set does
not include at least four numbers from it.

They'd be stupid to NOT do a few numbers from it - can't convince fans at
the shows to pick up their new album if you don't at least let them
hear a few of the new tunes.  I expect Eric to hype the album when it's
out (I still recall seeing them in '94 and at least 4 times he said, "O.K.
we're gonna do another number now from our *Cult Classics* album...").
Since the band has done 7 of the new tunes at shows (not all at once, but
in '92 they were doing up to 4 new tunes at a show), so they are certainly
capable of doing them live.  They've been doing 1 or 2 new ones over the
past year or 2.  I'm guessing that they'll do 3.

And finally, Adrian wishes:

>May all BOC-l subscribers be in the hall on the night when these bands
are in the same place and jam together as musicians and friends.

Would be a glorious day indeed.  Tell me when and where, and me and my
bass will be there. (with a six-pack or 2 of Anchor Steam?) :-)


O.K., I've got to get SOME work done today...;-)

John