My opinions (and yours) on WOTT

[John A Swartz]

I hope I am not grating on people's nerves by continuing to discuss Sony's
recent release of BOC material, but in light of some further comments on
it (both to the list and via private mail), I'd like to add a few more
thoughts on the subject:

1.  It is clear that some folks had much higher expectations of this
release than I did, and, as a result, seem far more disappointed in it
than I would have expected.  Once I heard that this "box set" was only
going to be a double CD "greatest hits" package, my expectations were
not very high, I suppose.  I even e-mailed both Sony and the band (well,
Buck and Eric anyway) to tell them that I thought a mere "greatest hits"
package would NOT sit well with most current BOC fans, and that for this
to be a really viable project, it should contain all sorts of unreleased
stuff (including live tracks and the SWU/SFG demos), and have improved
sound quality to make this a truly "definitive" collection.  But, I knew
that this was not likely, at least not for this release -- why?  Because
for WOTT, all Sony had to do was go into their vaults and dig up stuff
that they already owned, and avoid any protracted discussions with the
band on releasing stuff that was not under their direct control.  How-
ever, I was (and remain) hopeful that if not now, then perhaps in the
future Sony/BOC would be able to work something out and get that stuff
released - but as BOC in its current state is an "unproven entity", there
wasn't much chance Sony would stretch itself at all financially in BOC's
direction.

So, what we have is about what I figured we'd get -- the hits (and the
amount you can fit on 2 discs means that I guess I couldn't expect
everything that should've been included to be there), some sound quality
improvements, and a few rare things that the general record-buying public
hasn't had a chance to obtain yet.  For the hardcore fan that has
everything, there's probably no need to buy this set (as was true of
Career of Evil, On Flame w/Rock and Roll, and to a lesser extent Cult
Classic).  BUT - there may be a (hopefully large, but time will tell)
potential market from either new fans, or people who don't have much
BOC on CD.  And while there may be many criticisms of WOTT, as far as
BOC compilations go, it wins over the previous ones hands down -- whether
another compilation is or was necessary is a different matter.  If you
don't think that you need another BOC compilation, then WOTT is not
for you regardless of how well-done it was.  On the otherhand, those
who might've thought that this release was going to be chock full of
never-before-heard-of releases were deluding yourselves.

2.  Al Bouchard made some pretty interesting comments on the tracks on
the disc.  Don't know if I'd agree with some of his assessments of how
awful he and Bloom sound on the early tunes - only because I've listened
to those old tracks so many times that those versions are permanently
in my memory - and even current live renditions of those tunes won't
erase them.  Kind of funny to hear Albert talk about how bad he thought
his singing of "Cities on Flame" was on the first album -- I recall that
on hearing the version on *Cult Classic*, some of us thought that Eric
Bloom was trying to sound like Albert's rendition on the first album! So,
Albert, it took you over 20 years, but perhaps you got a little unplanned
joke in on Eric . . .

Also, as far as Albert's comments on the sound quality compared to the
original:  to MY ears, nothing sounds worse than the original - but then
I'm comparing the original CD versions, not the vinyls -- when I had
BOC's stuff on album or cassette (or 8-track), I didn't have much for
a quality stereo system - it wasn't until after I got into CD's that I
really upgraded, so perhaps my comparisons in sound quality are some-
what flawed.

3.  Regarding the packaging of the CD set:  Perhaps also going along
with my not-very-high expectations of this set, the packaging didn't
strike me very much one way or the other.  I don't think it's BAD, but
certainly nothing exceptional.  The liner notes, well most of this is
re-hashing from of old, but since they didn't get someone like Bolle
involved in this project in a big way (which I think Bolle would have
very much liked to have done -- but his pickiness and attention to
fact and detail would've probably drove Sony nuts), I didn't again
expect much.  I do agree with what someone said though - unfortunately
this set doesn't exactly scream "Buy Me!" to someone coming across it
in their local music store.

Well, I could say more about all of this, but I think I'd keep repeating
myself too many times.  Bottom line is that I got about what I expected,
which, for most hardcore fans, falls way short of what I wanted.  But,
it is the best "greatest hits" package there is for BOC - a band that has
unfortunately had too many of these done (and most of them done
extremely poorly).  And, I still will recommend this set to any
prospective BOC fans as the first CD to get (unless they plan on getting
the whole catalog anyway) - and hope that sales of WOTT will be enough
to encourage Sony to delve deeper into the vaults, and hopefully
invest a little more in this band.  And, while I'm at it - I'll tell any
prospective BOC fans that if you want to hear more of some of the genius
that was once part of BOC, then pick up some material from the Brain
Surgeons.

John