Review of HF

[John A Swartz]

Dave:

Pretty good review - I could quibble with some of your comments, but of
course the point of BOC-L is to discuss this.  Of course, while I may
be part "critical music fan", the "unabashed fanboy" side keeps coming
out when I listen to Heaven Forbid.  Of course, after some 50 spins in
the player, maybe I'm not as enthusiastic as I was on March 24th - hmm...
NOPE!  Still love this album, and give it a 10 out of 10, despite the
fact that I probably agree with some of your comments.  Here's a few
of my reactions to your review:

>I was immediately struck by the apparent
division between the poppier numbers, sung by Buck, and the heavier ones,
sung by Eric.

I noticed this less than you did - partly because at least the Buck-sung
songs vary pretty widely across the musical spectrum.  Stylistically,
"Harvest Moon" is totally different from "Real World", which is totally
different from "Damaged", which is totally different from "Live for Me"...
The Eric-sung numbers, on the other hand, seem much more related musically.

>That said, there are a few numbers which, although they might be solid
enough for most bands, don't quite represent the cut-above that we've come
to expect from BOC. I'm thinking here of "Power Underneath Despair",
"Hammer Back" and "Live for Me".

Fan's individual favorites (or choice for the album's "bottom feeders")
range from fan to fan.  Many fans think "Live for Me" should be the next
single, while many seem to dismiss "Still Burnin'", for example.

>The first two of these are enjoyable
enough heavy metal numbers, with "Hammer Back" being particularly catchy"

Yeah, I think "Hammer Back" would make a great addition to the live set.

>but they seem to lack two things: first, they don't have the lyrical
*strangeness* that we've come to associate with BOC

Part of this is probably John Shirley's lyrics, but perhaps the way BOC
arranged them didn't help either.  Never the less, the lyrical area is
where everyone seems to compare HF with BOC's back catalog (despite your
own attempts to not do so by not posting a review after only a few
listens, yet you, like many, have fallen into the trap of comparing them
anyway).  But, this is BOC in the 90s, not the 70s, and while Pearlman
and Meltzer leave big lyrical shoes to fill, I think John Shirley's
lyrics fit the bill for the most part, and give a nice modern feel to the
overall sound -- besides, the repetitiveness of the lyrics is helpful
for us "old farts" that can't remeber as much...  ;-)

>and second, the
music itself lacks the inventiveness that we've come to love in songs such
as "Monsters" and "Shadow of California" (to choose two songs more or less
at random)

But you randomly chose 2 songs from the "Bouchard catalog"...  Personally,
I found many inventive musical moments on the CD (the odd time signature
usage of SYIB and PUD, the "transmaniacon" break in HM, the speed-riffs
in Damaged), but maybe not to the same level or frequency as the past -
then again, the back catalog is so etched in our brains...

>Similarly, "Live for Me" wouldn't have sounded out of place on
Buck's solo album, or on MTV, but is really musically rather too MOR for a
BOC album.

If you think a song like "Burnin' for You" is also too MOR for a BOC album,
then maybe I can agree with your statement.  This song sounds like it
was written to be on Flat Out, or maybe Club Ninja - and would've been
one of the better tracks on either of those albums.

>See You in Black: A real stormer. A strong lyric, sung with gusto and
driven along by Buck and the rythm section. I love the neat little guitar
fill just before the second verse.  9/10

I heard "Shakin' All Over" on the radio the other day (done by The Who?
Somebody help me out on this...) - and I HEARD that fill!!!  Right after
the singer goes, "Shaaaakin' aaaallll overrrr..." there's this little
guitar fill and I went, "where have I heard that recently?  WHOAH!")

>Harvest Moon: As Sandy Pearlman was quoted as saying in Goldmine, this is
a song of genius. I can't imagine anybody else who would write a lyric
like this.

In a back issue of Morning Final, it says that this is a Meltzer lyric,
but I doubt that.  Meltzer isn't credited on the album, and it just
doesn't have any of that weirdness that I expect from him.  But, probably
something I'm gonna have to research...

>Damaged:

I like your assessment of this track (my personal fave from HF), however
you gave it (as well as "Live for Me") no numerical score.  Oversight?

>Cold Grey Light of Dawn: I have a live tape of this from a few years back,
and have never been overly-impressed. So it came as a nice surprise to
find that the studio version is a piece of some quality. A gloomily
atmospheric number with a strong lyric, this is the kind of song where BOC
show that heavy rock can rise above the usual cliches.

BINGO!!  Like you, the live renditions I heard of this left me feeling
flat about the tune (especially the way Eric sang "light of dawn" live -
musically it sounded like he was off-key on this part) - but the HF
version is excellent - powerful vocals, throbbing bass and drums, fuzzy
guitars and a great "airiness" about it.

>Still Burnin': Buck Dharma goes into ZZ Top mode. I can't honestly say
that this is really a BOC number. On the other hand, it's thoroughly
irresistible, so what the hell.

Yeah, this has the weakest track for many.  However, I find it just so
infectious that I can't help but love it - maybe also because this is the
first of the "new" numbers I actually saw BOC do live (back in '94).

>Overall album rating: 7/10

Despite any agreements I might have with your more critical assessments
of the album, it will be a 10/10 in my books always.  Then again, I'd
probably do the same for Club Ninja (o.k., maybe I'd give it a 9...)  ;-)

John