BOC: Heaven Forbid

[John A Swartz]

A few comments regarding the album that I found interesting...

> some of
you don't want to read any negative opinions about the first new b.o.c. in ten
years.  oh well...

Well, I suppose I'm guilty of this one.  Despite the fact that we on
BOC-L have gotten something of a reputation for being critical (and yes
this means at times negative, I suppose) of BOC (a distinction which we
do take some pride in - we're no all-adoring, whatever-you-say, you-can-
shit-and-we'll-call-it-beautiful fans here!), I do believe that there
is a real sense of wanting this album to succeed.  The wait has been
long, and one of the over-riding issues that many of us have had here
(if you want to call us "negative") is our dissatisfaction for the
band's ability to release this album - this album was suppossed to come
out at least 4 years ago, and many of us have expressed our frustrations
with all the delays - to the point where most of us took a "I'll believe
it when I hold the disc in my hands" attitude toward any announcements
about a new album (there's probably a few who still believe that CMC
may recall the album before its released - no, I'm not trying to start
any rumours here!).  And here we are - on the threshold of finally seeing
all of those frustrations come to an end... and yeah, I guess I have to
admit I want to believe that the only negativity should be a response of
"It's about time!".  I suspect though, that when more of us have actually
heard the whole disc, as Eddie apparently has (I say apparently not because
I don't believe him, but since the album is not out yet, and I don't know
why he has gotten a copy, and don't know who he is, I'm making the
assumption that he has in fact heard it), then we will all be able to
better engage in debate over the relative merits (or lack, as the case
may or may not be) of the songs.

>You know whether or not Heaven Forbid "flat out sucks", or whether it's
mediocre or whether its just a good solid rock album, I think we should all
cut BOC a little slack and not expect so much.  It has been over 10 years
since the last "real" studio album of original material, and I'm sure the
expectations of a lot of BOC fans must weigh on them.

A few thoughts here.  As for "cutting BOC some slack and not expect too
much", I guess this is true - but I would say we've all come somewhat
conditioned to not expecting too much these days from BOC.  I think BOC
is what it is, and in these times its a group of talented musicians
slugging their way through the clubs across the country trying to earn
a living on their music - much of it was once heard by thousands at
a time, now only heard by hundreds at a time.  We almost all would admit
that the loss of the Bouchard brothers had a big effect on the band's
overall volume of creative output, but most would contend that the band
still has talent for writing great material, although presumably not
in the same quantities as before (that's not meant as a knock - it isn't
everyone who can show up to the recording sessions with an album's
worth of demos, as Albert used to - but is clear from the album credits
over the years that Eric, Allen, and Buck all contributed to some of the
songs we all know and love).  I think it is somewhat fair to expect that
the songs on Heaven Forbid will be of pretty high quality - the band has
certainly had plenty of time to craft these tunes, and we know that their
ability to deliver them performance-wise is top-notch.  The real question
may be given the gap since the previous BOC release, do we fans have some
expectation as to what the songs would/could/should sound like?  Realize
that it's been over 20 years since BOC's 2 biggest hits (Reaper, Godzilla)
were written - Buck (who wrote both those tunes) has certainly changed as
a person, musician, and songwriter in 20 years.   We as fans who have
listened to many things in those 20 years have also changed as listeners
of music.  What might we all have thought if we had heard "See You in
Black" 20 years ago?  Would we like it?  How about "Harvest Moon"?  These
are just somewhat random thoughts I'm having right now, and aren't intended
to be argumentative of previous posts.

Final thought concerning fans expectations weighing on BOC.  I think that
this is a much more minor effect.  My guess is that if the band was more
concerned about that, they would have released the album, somehow, someway,
years ago.  But, and I don't fault them for it, this is much more of a
business issue.  Also, I think the band gets quite a bit of very positive
feedback both at their shows and on AOL that would outweigh any criticism
they might hear from people who have much-less-direct contact with them.

John