BOC: Heaven Forbid

[John A Swartz]

Alright, me and Mr. Fuller probably disagree on quite a few things
about this album, but I will refrain from posting a lengthy, point-by-
point rebuttal (and there was much rejoicing...), but a few comments
to his review ...

>Cover art: Horrid. Awful. Low budget. Completely pointless. Even the
text is the wrong color for the background. Yuck! Album covers
matter in marketing.

Seems to be the consensus, but I still maintain that they are targeting
a different market that the long-time BOC fan.  Despite my own feelings
about buying albums based on covers, you are right that they matter.  But,
I disagree that this is necessarily not going to sell.  Again, time
will tell, but remember that you (I suspect) and I are not who the
cover is targeted for, I presume.  Whether CMC has done any kind of
studies to see what kind of artwork/imagery might sell, I don't know -
I doubt it, since they certainly are a smaller company than someone
like Sony.

Also, and someone else asked this - my understanding is that this cover
was very much Buck's idea (it was presumably "done by committee", but
I believe Buck has stated he wanted something "eye-catching" on the
racks - then again, that could've been a little joke).

>Music: On the whole, I like it. I will probably listen to it many times.
It's hard rockin', quirky, and technically well played. I encourage
anyone to buy it.

This comment did not prepare me for the harsh criticism that would follow.
Also, you conclude that this would have been a great album for an unknown
band, but not a band like BOC.  So, obviously you have held BOC to some
higher standard - a BOC that in part no longer exists, and a BOC that
even when it did exist produced it's share of "questionable" material.
And, if this is an excellent CD by and unknown band, then I have hope -
because for the general public BOC *IS* an unknown band in the 90s -
so maybe, just maybe, some who have never (or barely) heard of BOC who
plays HF will be so blown away by it that it will start a chain of events
that bring some larger recognition in this day and age for BOC.

>Only in the last third of the song do we hear about anything unusual: a
monster or evil force is killing the children of the village. Then the
song ends before this idea can be developed.

Well, I like the sort of implied evil.  My guess is that Buck probably
didn't start out to write a horror-type song, and somewhere along the way,
decided to add this last portion to make it more "BOC-like" lyrically.  I
could be way off here, but take away that last bit and this song might
have been something you'd have heard on *Flat Out* - a beautiful song
musically, but lyrically not typcial BOC - but with a little twist, it's
classic BOC.

>It has the typical Buck Dharma soft rock feel to it.
While pleasant, it is a poor successor to such great paranormal songs
as ETI, The Vigil, and Take Me Away.

See, there you go again, trying to compare a 90s song by BOC with 70s
and 80s songs - now, if they DID compare, would you also complain that
BOC is just rehashing the same old stuff???

>I am disappointed with most (certainly
not all) of the lyrics.

Well, based on comments on the "Bad Channels" tunes, also lyrics by
Shirley, it does seem that many have a problem with his lyrics.  But, as
someone else pointed out, is it his lyrics, or BOC's use of them?  I
don't know.  My suspicion is that they are so much different than
stuff by Pearlman and Meltzer that perhaps they didn't lend themselves
to the same kinds of translation (epic storylines and all).  Also, perhaps
the fact that Pearlman/Meltzer were probably more involved in the process
than John Shirley (it's my understanding that he basically faxed stuff
to the band, and that was pretty much his involvement).  I've read a
few of JS's books, and he is one twisted dude - he is much more "punkish"
in delivery than someone like Pearlman.  And, perhaps Buck and Eric
have a harder time putting his lyrics into song than they and the
Bouchard's did with Pearlman/Meltzer lyics.  Now, Harvest Moon isn't
exactly repetitive, and there were no JS lyrics there - so Buck perhaps
can put together his own stuff better.  Then again, Still Burnin' also
has no JS lyrics, yet there the lyrics are fairly simple and short -
then again, perhaps Jon Rogers wrote them?

But, I do understand your points on the lyrics - I think it's a matter
of taste, and perhaps having read some of Shirley's stuff, this has all
grown on me better.  But, I also think you are trying too hard to compare
BOC of today with BOC of 20 years ago.  Still, thought-provoking commentary
is always welcome on BOC-L!

John