BOC: In Forbidden Heaven

[John A Swartz]

Here's a (hopefully fairly quick) song-by-song reaction to the
tunes on HEAVEN FORBID, as reviewed by this fanatical, overly-
biased-yet-hopefully-somewhat-reasonable BOC fan:

See You In Black -- I've been listening nearly every day for the
past 3 weeks to a taping I made of this song off the radio, and
I still can't get enough of it.  This song just kicks ass all over
the place.  Metallica has cited BOC as a major influence, and
it's nice to see the masters showing the students how it's done
again.

Harvest Moon -- Another song I've heard several times before,
this version is about as slick as it gets.  Should be a BOC classic,
and perhaps the next single (well, like Spinal Tap's classic
*Smell the Glove*, "Every song on it is a hit!")

Power Underneath Despair -- Sounds like the same version as the
Summerdaze recording.  No matter, it still kicks.  This is perhaps
Eric's best vocal performance on the record.  And yeah, as we all
know by now, "Despair" was mispelled "Dispair" on the back cover.

X-Ray Eyes -- Very catchy!  I caught myself singing this one a
few times today.

Hammer Back -- A song I'd never heard before.  Wow!  I like this
one a lot!  This would definitely be a welcome addition to the live
shows.

Damaged -- Funky!!  The other tune I hadn't heard before, and like
most people, I think this might be the best track on the disc.
Several have said it sounds like "classic" BOC, but I don't hear
that at all - I hear "90s" all over it - this might really connect
with radio today!  LOVE the bass parts (wish I could play them) -
a couple of the riffs sound a bit familiar - a little like either
something off Extreme's "Pornograffiti" album, or Mr. Big's first
album (the song, "Rock and Roll Over" has a few riffs that seem
very close to this).

Cold Grey Light Of Dawn -- I never liked this song when I had heard
live recordings of it.  But THIS version sounds EXCELLENT!  Very
heavy (esp. the bass), and great vocals.  My perception of this song
has totally changed.

Real World -- Buck doing the "Urban Cowboy" bit.  Not as heavy as
most of the rest of the CD, but still a cool song -- caught myself
singing right along the 2nd time I played it.

Live For Me -- A very "nice" tune, both lyrically and musically.
It sounds a bit mid-80s-ish to me, but that is not at all a bad
thing, as far as I'm concerned.  Club Ninja might have been a much
more successful album had this track been on it - of course, it
probably wasn't written that far back.

Still Burnin' -- LOVED this tune from the first time I heard it
4 years ago.  Despite it's relative simplicity, it's just so catchy
that you can't help but like it.  The double bass-drumming are a
bit more up front in the mix than I think they should, but this is
definitely a kick-ass tune.  I love Buck's guitar tone on this one.

In Thee -- Well, if they were going to put a live tune in, which I
take to be a little extra something for us fans, then I'm glad it
was something other than "the big 3" (since we've all got plenty
of recordings of those).  This is definitely the best live version
of this song that I've heard BOC do.  A sharp contrast from the
way HF starts, it kinda leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling as
the CD comes to an end.  But with a quick push of a button, I can
have "See You In Black" blowing my hair back once again...


Hard to say where I'd rank this against the rest of the BOC
catalog - then again, I haven't exactly ranked all the other BOC
albums, so the exercise would be a futile one.  This one is also
quite a bit different from the rest.  Certainly, for the next few
months, maybe years, I will play HF more than any other BOC CD.
My only hope is that it will catch on with the CD-buying public.
BOC has paid its dues many times over, and I hope that they get
some much-deserved commercial success with this one.

If not, at least this BOC fan is at last satisfied.  Well, just one
more request (for now) -- I really would like to see more songs
off this CD worked into BOC's live shows!

John

PS:  Check out the BOC Fanclub Website, listed in the CD --
http://www.bocfanclub.com
Done by Melne, with lots of input from Bolle's museum, it is now
perhaps THE premier BOC site.