BOC: CotHM

[Ted Jackson]

On 12 Jun 2001, at 18:51, Nick English wrote:

> Before I say this, I just want it to be known that I
> respect Theo and enjoy his posts more than probably
> anyone else's on this list.  That said. . .
>
Uh, oh...

> I think you were way off the mark, Theo, in labeling
> CotHM "Flat Out 2".  Don't misunderstand me, there's no
> anger or vitriol of any kind in this post.  I'm just
> offering a dissenting view.
>
I made the mistake of phrasing it like I thought it was a bad thing.  I
LOVED Flat Out, and considered it a reaction to the direction
imposed upon the group by Pearlman.  I don't think we can
underestimate the sort of yin/yang dialectic that operated in BOC's
early days:  the struggle between BD's pop sensibilities on one
side, and SP's notion that BOC become some sort of uber metal
band.  Add to that RM's demented [and great] lyrics, and AB's
unique and eclectic approach to songwriting,  and, I think, the
resulting mixture swirls with influences, and, to some extent,
underlines the paranoia of the early 70s...

> I say Curse is totally a BOC disc, and I think it's a
> great one.

I think it's a great album too, but I do find some things to pick on.
Overall, it's a very consistent album, which HF was not.  OTOH, HF
had 2 classic BOC tunes, SYiB and HM.  CotHM has, I think, only
one: Stone of Love.  OTOH, the rest of HF was, sad to say, pretty
weak, and, to my ears, filler material that had been hanging around,
that the group didn't want to waste.  CotHM has no weak tracks at
all [apart from some lyrics that I can't fathom--I hope it's my
ignorance that keeps me from 'getting' OotD and IJWtbB] but
musically and production-wise, CotHM is very strong indeed...

Sure, in some ways it's adjusted to the
> march of time, but I love it.  It's got all the
> hallmarks of a great BOC album. . . most importantly,
> it throws you for a total loop on some songs.
>
> I can only think back on songs like "Monsters", "Sinful
> Love" and "Debbie Denise", and how bizarre I thought
> they were when I first heard them.  I suppose that if I
> were a BOC fan from 1972-1975, "Reaper" would also fit
> into this category.

Absolutely!  My friends and I were all total BOC freaks back then,
and we were dumbstruck when AoF came out.  But after awhile, we
were raving about it.  Now, I still don't listen to Debbie Denise,
Lonely Teardrops and a few others, wheras the first 3 albums get
played all the way through...

This was a band that took amazing
> musical risks throughout its career, and the tone of
> Curse is a return to that carefree style.
>
> Even the "Buckpop" tunes are closer to BOC than to solo
> Dharma if you ask me. . . with the possible exception
> of Here Comes That Feeling.

My objection to a lot of CotHM involves the lack of guitar solos,
which is, perhaps a nod to the current trend in pop music that
seems to eschew solos...

> I hope we can all agree on at least one thing:  This
> album is damn good.  Although I'm worried that maybe
> part of the reason I like it so much is because my
> expectations were lowered by Heaven Forbid.

I agree.  I think we can forgive them for HF.  It was a huge gap
between albums, and some of the songs were weak.  Also, it was
BD's first full effort at production.  Obviously, Buck has figured it out
in a hurry!

> Shamefully, I was just not expecting much in the way of
> vitality from these guys anymore.  On HF, with the
> exception of SYIB and HM, I had to kind of search
> through all the songs to find what I liked about them.

Me too.  After that long wait, I was loathe to criticize HF too much,
but I admit I don't listen to it much, apart from the 2 songs you
mentioned, which are boffo...

> But on the new album, every single song sought ME out.
>
Well put.  I have problems with some of the lyrics, but the
production and musicianship bails those songs out.  It has a really
professional sound to it, which, sadly, HF did not...

theo