BOC: Long Day's Night

[John Swartz]

> Positives:
> Buck Dharma
> Buck Dharma
> Buck Dharma

The man is THE MASTER

> I can hear Allen Lanier's keys! And they sound great.

Can't hear 'em enough.

> Eric on Stairway, OD'd and Lips

Yeah, even if he screwed up the last verse on O.D.'d...

> The recording sounds polished, but not too slick

No one has said it, but to my hearing, the mix is not quite right.  Not
bad by any stretch, but I think that it is a bit too heavy on the drums
and the bass is too "muddy".  Buck's guitar and all the lead vocals
should be a bit more "up front" in the mix.  And how come you can't more
of the crowd in the Cities on Flame "call and and response"?  For all
the people who were there, it sounds like only 50 or so.  Some would
probably argue that the CD faithfully reproduces BOC's live sound - and
if so, I might agree with you.  My point is that BOC is not mixed live
IMHO as well as it should be.  While I'm sure their crew are geniouses
with the equipment (I've heard Woody rightfully praised for being able
to get the most out of the most abysmal equipment around), I suspect
that years of mixing shows has affected their hearing to the point that
they may not be noticing some of these nuances.  I know, it's only rock
n roll and most people seem more concerned with the overall volume than
anything else, but when I compare, say, the studio version of "Dance on
Stilts" to what's on "A Long Days Night" (BTW, I am no fan of the title
- it sounds tired, unimaginative, and a bad pun), the differences in the
mix are striking.

O.K., enough ranting and raving - it really IS a very good CD.


> Perfect Water
> Lips in the Hills

To have these 2, along with Quicklime Girl, is worth the price of
admission.  We can all argue about what should or shouldn't be on the
CD, but it's nice to get something really "different".  Excellent!

> Reaper never sounded so good live

Has it ever sounded BAD live?

> Crowd singing along

See my comments on the mix.

> Danny Miranda & Bobby Rondinelli driving the sound

Again, my comments on the mix.  Danny and Bobby are talented musicians
that bring a lot of energy and "spice" to BOC's sound, but I don't think
the mix necessarily did them the justice they deserve.


> 78 minutes!

:-)

> Negatives:
> No Flaming Telepaths
> The Big 3. Again.

No real complaints here - most diehard fans really don't need to hear
the Big 3, but we can all understand why they're there.  And to have
Quicklime Girl...well, I won't loose sleep if FT had to go to make room
for it.

> Eric on Astronomy, Cities on Flame and between song banter

No real problems for me here - sounds like standard Eric to me.

> The BOC symbol used to be a cool accent. With the stage set, Eric's guitars
> and the rest of the album art, it gets a little chronos-crazy

I have no problems - I think the cover artwork is very cool (kind of
ties in to "Curse of the Hidden Mirror" the way "ETL" tied in with "Fire
of Unknown Origin").  But WHAT is that rectangle in the middle of the
chronos shadow on the cover?

> Bobby's fills were overblown at times

Ah, you are perhaps thinking back to the days of Albert Bouchard.
Albert is a master of the subtleties of the drum kit.  Bobby's drumming
is about as subtle as the proverbial fart in church.  Don't get me
wrong, Bobby's great, and I don't have an issue with some of his fills.
I think you might not think as badly of the fills if the drums weren't
overmixed as I previously mentioned.


> Minor quibbles aside, this is definitely the live album
> I've been waiting for from BOC!

I guess after all these years I stopped waiting, and perhaps I've been a
bit overly-critical of this album.  I do enjoy it tremendously, although
if I'm still spinning my BOC discs in 20 or so years, "On Your Feet Or
On Your Knees" may still get more spins.


> Eric is already getting slagged on the vocals.

Unfair IMHO.  He sounds pretty good to me (even though he mucked up the
last verse on "OD'd...") - but again, it's the MIX.  The vocals are not
"up front" enough.  I also think that they need to give a bit more boost
to the low frequencies for Eric's mike and give him more of that
menacing character he had.

>
> He
> didn't quite nail Quicklime Girl

Well, he hasn't had as much practice with that one...

> and I was comparing his Astronomy to the
> SEE version, where I love his singing, and it fell flat. (Pun intended?)

He doesn't quite have the range he used to, and Astronomy is certainly a
bit of a challenge these days for him.  It wasn't bad, but the SEE
version is definitely the standard by which all other versions shall be
judged - having said that though, it still wasn't bad on this CD.

> Godzilla was fine, except for the intro banter. He should have thought out
> something cooler, and original, before the show.

Perhaps.  It was similar to the same stuff he's been doing for years.
Would have been better if they could have gotten the taped piece of
Godzilla from the movie a bit louder (ah, there I go complaining about
the mix again...)


John