RE: BÖC: Sometimes more Amazing then othertimes.

[Joseph Brooks]

>Well, they pretty much do, but that's always been the way they
>played.  BOC isn't about jamming.  Not a part of their style...


I've got to disagree.. They used to jam plenty when I first started seeing
them in the early 70's. Give "On Your Feet or On Your Knees" a listen and
tell me that ain't jamming with at least some improvisation. I suppose to
discuss this we need to define the meaning of "jam".... In the world of
bands, so-called "jam bands" like Phish and others, jamming seems to mean a
completely free flowing, unstructured, unorchestrated, unplanned interlude..
Ok, the Dead started that, IMO (Little Feat and Allmans.. sure...) But, it
didn't always mean that.. Used to just mean a long instrumental,
orchestrated or not. I always thought of BOC's instrumental segments, back
in the day, as jams, perhaps orchestrated within the context of the song
being played but with some improv. thrown in. But back then, they were known
for their long jams... it was definitely part of their "style". I'm talking
about oh, 1972 thru 1978, when BOC (in my opinion) were at the height of
their powers.

Of course, we must keep in mind that the genre of music has a bearing as
well,. Allman Bros. style of music lends itself to freestyle jamming much
more readily than BOC's metal approach.

And even today, I can't believe that Buck re-creates each solo note for note
each time..

                -----Original Message-----
                From:   Ted Jackson jr. s2h2
[mailto:tojackso at LIBRARY.SYR.EDU]
                Sent:   Tuesday, March 02, 1999 3:30 AM
                To:     Multiple recipients of list BOC-L
                Subject:        Re: BÖC: Sometimes more Amazing then
othertimes.

                >> From:          Laj Waldner <erebus7 at DLCWEST.COM>
                > DASLUD at aol.com wrote:
                > >
                > > well anyway, "room for improv"  as in "room for
improvisation" as in "jamspace
                > > within the arrangements".....
                > >
                > > ja ne!
                > > >>larry b
                >
                > My apologies, misinterpreted your original post, didn't
mean to offend.
                > I was commenting vaguely on the last few posts I have read
regarding
                > BÖC's live shows as of late. Improvisation? Well they seem
to have a
                > certain way they play some songs live, sometimes differing
substantially
                > from the studio recording, but I guess since they do this
the same way
                > show after show it's not improvising. People have told me
that Buck does
                > change his soloing sometimes.
                > But all in all from what I have heard they do very little
improvisation,
                > though there are some people that have seen 100+ shows
that are probably
                > better equipped to answer this question, if they care to
chime in. . .

                We have to remember that we're talking about BOC, not Little
Feat or
                the Allman Brothers.  BOC's music is somewhat orchestrated,
                consisting of definite set pieces.  Jamming has its place,
but isn't
                nec. appropriate for what BOC is trying to achieve onstage.
Even an
                instrumental piece like Buck's Boogie is pretty well
                orchestrated--i.e. each solo is of a determined length.  The
only
                tune that might be considered a jam is [TC]tLDoM, where BD
goes off
                for as long as he wants.

                BOC has pretty much kept to this pattern throughout their
history.
                But think about it:  go to a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert.
Although we
                might think of them as jammin', good-ole boys, they play
very
                orchestrated arrangements of their songs too!  In the old
days, it
                used to blow my mind how LS played every song just like the
                record--no jamming whatsoever.

                theo
                [who hasn't seen 100-plus shows, but probably has seen them
50-plus
                times]