BOC: real and alternate histories (was Re: 80s Metal)

[Steve Swann]

Argh yes, I hate the way Imaginos (due to timing, politics, and a variety of other factors) ended up falling through the cracks, and becoming (depending on whose point of view you take) either the "lost classic" or the unwanted bastard child.  But either way, left behind.

God damn it.

So, I love your alternate history take on it, where instead it becomes the vehicle for their triumphant reunion.  :)

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Edlund Anderson <cea at CARLAZ.COM>
Date: Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 2:31 pm
Subject: BOC: real and alternate histories (was Re: 80s Metal)
To: Reply-    BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET

On 10 Sep 2008, at 12:12 , Theodore O Jackson wrote:
> OTOH, BÖC by that time had become quite a cash
> cow, and who could blame the rest of the band for not wanting to pull
> the plug on a great band that was still making lots of money, esp.  
> given
> the musical climate of the times.  Why should BÖC call it quits  
> when the
> musical landscape of the day was rather barren?  It's not like Buck  
> is/was
> a shabby songwriter, he just doesn't work fast enough to write an  
> album's
> worth of material on his own.  Joe was still in the band before CN,  
> and he's
> always been a great songwriter.  But when he left the band, it was  
> time to
> call it a day...


Yeah, I can easily see how the prevailing logic at the time  
encouraged them not to officially break up -- it's just that 20/20  
hindsight view that makes me think that in the long run breaking up  
might have worked out better ... Had all the cards been played right,  
and there'd been a good following wind. ;)

In my "alternate history plan" (in which the band definitively breaks  
up after ETL or at worst RBN), Buck goes on to an 80s pop-rock career  
(shades of Don Henley or Glenn Frey! ;)) as he seems to have sort of  
intended to try, or maybe forms some short lived supergroups in a  
Jimmy Page kind of way.  The others do their various things, be it  
working in production, working at Cinnabon ;) or whatever ....


> Can't blame CBS for wanting to make a buck off the band.  Imaginos,
> though brilliant, showed almost zero commercial potential.  Whilst  
> adored
> by the hardcore fans, a lot of casual listeners would have been left
> scratching their heads...


Indeed -- though I think that's why in my "alternate history plan", I  
would have seen Imaginos utterly shelved (barring perhaps some minor  
bootleg leaks of the Iommi "Eighth Star" variety to keep the hardcore  
fans' appetites whetted ;)) ... until the time for the triumphant  
reunion.


>> I would _like_ to say that the plan should have been (with shades of
>> Sabbath) to triumphantly reform the original lineup in the latter
>> 1990s or for the new millennium  -- giving everyone time to, ya know,
>> work out their various issues with any luck.  And that perhaps would
>> have been the time to unleash the _Imaginos_ material with all new
>> recordings.  As it is, I think the years of touring with the puppet