BOC: Re: Various thoughts of the day

[Matthew Braun]

John A Swartz <jswartz at MBUNIX.MITRE.ORG> writes:
>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.

Actually John, they've been playing the new songs and promising a new album
since I saw them in December of '91--FIVE YEARS AGO now.  (I still have
some postings I made in late '91 and '92, promising new songs.)  True, "The
Horsemen Arrive" and "Demon's Kiss" turned up on "Bad Channels", but the
others ("Harvest Moon", "The Power Underneath Despair", "Still Burnin'" and
"The Cold Grey Light of Dawn") have been been promised to appear on a new
album since '91/'92.

>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 [when Cult Classic was issued].
Yep.  Speaking as another "BOC-L Curmudgeon"(tm) you have hit all of the
major points for why "we yam what we yam, and that's all that we yam".

I guess part of the negative attitude (for me) comes from the fact that
I've been handed the "New Album Coming Soon" line for five years now.
While I'm as adamant in my belief that no artist should be a slave to their
fans, I do expect them (if they are an "active" band) to put forth a
good-faith effort to produce _and_release_ new material, or have a good
reason for not doing so.  I find their "first-class-or-not-at-all" attitude
extremely frustrating.  I feel like the band has let me as a fan down me
down by not finding SOME way to get the material out, and deceived because
they keep making this promise and keep failing to deliver on it.

I've heard the songs listed above.  They're good.  I like them.  I'll be
the first person in line to buy the album which has 'em ON THE DAY IT COMES
OUT.  But I ain't holding my breath waiting for it.  People seem to think
that whatever willingness we show in support of the group to be countered
by the "we'll believe it when we buy it" sentiment, and lack of belief of
Buck and Eric when they promise it "soon" for the umpteenth time in how
many years.

I'm as willing as the next person to be hopeful and optimistic about the
future of BOC--but I refuse to get taken for a ride EVERY time.

Excellent article, John.

Ted Alger <talger at PIPELINE.COM> said that he was disappointed that BOC-L
wasn't yet another bustling center of fawning idolatry for BOC.  I'm glad
BOC-L is not.  (Though it *would* be Swann's fault if it was.)  We're far
more interesting this way. :-)

                                        m@

+-mbraun at urbana.mcd.mot.com-+--Experiments that failed too many times -----BOC+
|   Matt Braun -- Motorola, |    Transformations that were too hard to find   |
|  Urbana, IL Design Centre | Poison's in my bloodstream, poison's in my pride|
+Cellular subscriber sector?+--- I'm after rebellion, I'll settle for lies----+
                                [and that's what we've gotten. :^>]