BOC: early live

[Ted Jackson jr. EL84]

 From:          Chris Baker <Nebosuke at AOL.COM>

>
>
> Certainly the available live documents we have of the band up to the time of
> OYF show a band that would become far more polished and technically
> proficient.  There's been a lot of permutations of the band over the years --
> there were a lot even during Albert's tenure -- but to me they had the
> possible misfortune of kicking off with their best 3 albums, and doing live
> shows that were such undiluted screaming mayhem that the energy level could
> not be ratcheted up any higher. And they were touring at a pace that makes it
> remarkable that the whole thing did not fly apart early, or become nothing
> more than a series of rote gestures like the offerings of a lot of their
> contemporaries.

Couldn't agree more.  I've long maintained that the first 3 were
their best records [and the best records in rock history. Period!]
and really, at the time it came out, I was disappointed by
OYF...though I've come to appreciate it a lot more the last few
years.  Those 3 records had such an 'atmosphere' about them that it
was impossible to re-create them onstage.  I was too young at the
time to realize how hard it is to pull something like that off, and
also too naive to realize that you don't have to do so in order to
create a great concert.  That's what was so strange:  I was
absolutely mystified by the concert experience itself, yet when the
album came out, OYF...left me unfulfilled.  You literally had to be
there to experience the crowd going apeshit over this band.  And at
that time, there were no more rabid fans in rock than BOC fans.
Where have they all gone, and who receives this enthusiasm now, I
wonder...

>
> Re OYF:  I have an old magazine interview where Donald Roeser is quoted as
> saying he thought the record would have been better as a single LP.  Always
> wondered if he thought half of it was poor.  Myself, I don't like Cities,

Don't agree here.  I really like this version of Cities...

> Before the Kiss, Red and the Black, Buck's Boogie...thought most of 'em were

Agreed here, esp. BtK(aR).  Not badly played, but too fast, and BD's
vocals are so rushed.  Buck's Boogie disappointed me as I'd heard
them do it so much better on several occasions.  Still think the best
version is on CC, which is too bad, esp. considering the way BD raves
up on the song live nowadays.  Maybe someday a live version of the
song will surface that will do it justice...

> too fast...thought Born to be Wild was fun the first dozen times I saw it,
> but always seemed better as a concept than in execution...most of the rest of

True.  This was the last song of the night at the time, and the
mayhem it wrought was an appropriate ending for the show, though in
reality it's just a cover tune.  Still, it would be cool to see them
throw it back in the setlist from time to time...


theo