CotHM (long)

[John A. Swartz]

> > by the way, I love the new album.  One solid hour of good rockin' fun.
> >
>
> EXACTLY!  Frankly I was getting a bit tired of the complaints here about
> COTHM.  Too much living in the past for my tastes.
>
> -=snip=-
>
> BOC has its roots in my past. How can I do otherwise? Should we blindly
> accept without reservations or criticism? I know I'm negative but its not as
> easy as you think for me to rip into a band that has been with me for 30
> years. Its a dirty job but someone has to do it... I'm just saying it how I
> see it. I can't help the way I feel about it. Mom always said, if you can't
> say anything nice, don't say anything at all. But I don't think thats
> appropriate here. Do you?


Well, most people know I tend to focus on the positive.  I've been
accused in the past of being a "boot-licker" (albeit an "equal
opportunity boot-licker"), and that may be true.  Perhaps I tend to err
on the side of "if you can't say anything nice..."  But my point is
really in that I think the negativity expressed is against some mythical
standard of what BOC "ought" to be - which is why the term "Secret
Treaties II" gets used.  People seem to have a hard time taking the
current band at face value, and enjoying it for what it is - rather than
holding it up against it's greatest work and being disappointed when it
doesn't measure up.


> ... but all artists will forever be held up to
> the yardstick of their greatest work. Its inevetable.. All bands have their
> swan song and spend the rest of their careers trying to live up to that
> moment. Some come close, some fail miserably, few surpass.


I try and take the album for what it is - and don't pretend to assume
that COTHM is BOC attempting to recreate Secret Treaties.  Let it stand
(or fall) on its own.

>
> -=snip=-
> But unless you've been living under a rock for 10
> years, you'd probably realize that this album represents who BOC is
> TODAY very accurately.
> -=snip=-
>
> Sadly, you are correct, sir.
>

IMHO, not sad at all.  Further, since I feel like I've known what this
band is over the past 10 years, I'm not let down by this offering.  If
we all thought that Heaven Forbid WAS "Secret Treaties II", then maybe
COTHM would be a letdown - but, as I said, "unless you've been living
under a rock for 10 years..."  I mean, after Revolution By Night, Club
Ninja, and Heaven Forbid (deliberately skipping Imaginos since was only
put out because Albert did so much work on it), COTHM isn't exactly a
major deviation into left field for this band.


John