BOC: Frederick MD's concert

[John A Swartz]

> AL should stick to the keys, IMHO.  He
sometimes does a pretty awful acoustic blues thing as a preamble to
In Thee.  Adds nothing to the show.

Buck is doing a little bluesy solo prior to "The Reaper" these days
too.  While I think it's nice to see the respective members' talents,
I think I agree with theo on this - some of this stuff really adds
little to the BOC show - it sort of seems out of place with the songs
that follow it.  And, as has been discussed here, perhaps the bass and
drum solos in Godzilla should either 1) be shortened, 2) be moved so
they aren't both in the same song, or 3) be eliminated.  Personally, I
think each bandmember should get some soloing time, but it should be
fairly brief, and preferably spread out throught the show, and integrated
with the songs played -- BOC has always been a BAND, not just a collection
of 5 individuals (which is why some still dream of the original lineup
reforming - get over it folks, it ain't gonna happen) - this is why the
5 guitars was so cool - yeah, it was sort of a "solo" spot, but it
featured the whole band.

> really enjoying himself as he prowled the stage.  With his short
> haircut, Eric could have walked right by me.

Yeah, but he's now had this haircut for over 3 years...

>Danny's a great showman, for sure.  Does anyone know if he
contributes anything to the new record, a la Joe B?  Does he co-write
with EB or Buck?

My understanding, based on an interview w/Danny, is that yes he does
write tunes.  However, I believe most, if not all, of the songs scheduled
to be on Ezekiel's Wheel were basically written before Danny joined BOC.
I suspect that at this time Danny has done little collaboration with the
rest of the band.  But, aside from being a great showman, it is obvious
to me that Danny is a good musician -- he does NOT simply re-hash Joe
Bouchard's bass lines while playing in BOC, he expands upon them with
his own style.  Sure, he has to play within the basic framework of the
songs as they were originally conceived, but he does definitely imprint
his own signature on the BOC classics.  In some sense, no one can ever
replace what Joe Bouchard did on the bass for BOC, but Danny has proved
to be more than a stand-in, IMHO.

John