(A little) OFF: My 'State of the Art'

[John A Swartz]

>This is all true.  But really, what do BOC have to gain by a new
album?  Do any of us think that the new album will propel them to
playing bigger gigs?  And, I'd suggest that the same arguments I put
forth would have held true five years ago.  I think, regretably, that
the damage had already been done.  The time for a new record would
have been right after CN or Imaginos.  And whether 5 years ago or
now, isn't BD still the songwriting source for the band?


To me, it isn't what BOC has to gain by putting out an ablum, it's
what they have to LOSE by not putting out an album.  And, unfortunately,
I think they have lost quite a bit over the last few years, in terms
of fans and name recognition.  The presumed Atlantic deal that fell
through 3 or 4 years ago now could have been good, but, in my way of
thinking, BOC should have said, "well, we gotta get some new material
out, so if we can't land a good deal now with someone else, then we
should do it ourselves".  The damage had already been done, as you
say, but the bleeding continues - and while it can't be stopped, it
could have been reduced much more a few years back.

As for BD being the songwriting source still, I agree - my point is
that the band had enough material for an album years ago, regardless
of who the songwriter is.  Therefore, I don't think we can make the
argument that lack of material has anything to do with a '98 vs. a '94
album release.

>That's a safe bet, so wouldn't the band be thinking: why now?  I
think this CMC deal is probably the best thing to happen to them.  Is
it possible that nobody would touch them til now?  I don't have an
answer, but there must be some reason they waited so long?


I DO think the CMC deal is a great thing for them - the Atlantic deal 4
years ago would probably have been much better, but the CMC deal now
is probably than the SVP deal a year ago.  However, my belief is that
they've waited so long because they weren't willing to take any risks
on a deal - they wanted a reasonably sweet financial deal on an album,
rather than take risks doing some sort of indie release.  I understand
that, but the problem is as I had pointed out -- this band has been
dwindling in popularity over the years, and at some point if the deal
isn't happening, my feeling is they've got to say "fuck it, let's get
an album out while we still have some fans to hear it".  Based on the
way their career has been going, I think they are somewhat lucky to have
gotten this deal with CMC, because it was certainly looking like no-one
in the recording biz was too interested in BOC - at least not anyone that
the band was interested in.

Granted, I don't have the real answer either - I'm supposing a lot of
things here.  Bottom line is I'm very happy that the new album appears
to be imminent, and based on what I know, should contain lots of excellent
music.  Personally, I'm a bit dissapointed that I had to wait so long
(although once I finally have it, I'll quickly forget about that), and
will always wonder if BOC's fortunes would have been different had this
album been released in '94 and not '98 (yeah, 20-20 hindsight, I know).

John