BOC: AoF & Spectres

[Stephen Swann]

Andrew Gilham writes:
>
> >"Tattoo Vampire"
> >A personal favorite.  Good mix of the heavy and sinister.
>
> This was a huge Emma Bar jukebox favourite, way back in the seventies when
> atomic test- I mean, when I was a student - as the b-side of "Reaper".  I
> think it got played more than "Reaper", in fact...  Just like "7 by 7" may

Same here.  Probably because "Reaper" was old hat to me by the time I
bought the album.  But Tattoo Vampire is amazing - I love Buck's
guitar stomping all over everything interlude; this is simply one of
the greatest guitar-jamming tunes of all time.  Cool fucked up lyrics
too.  ;-)

> >"Fireworks"
> >Nothing much here, not even an "ick".
>
> Come off it!  Best thing on the album!

You're both boneheads!  Death Valley Nights *makes* this album.  ;-)

> >"I Love the Night"
> >Like "Reaper", one of the best.  Could have been a little better,
> >perhaps, if slightly heavier.
>
> I used to like this, and "Nosferatu", a whole lot, but maybe it's just that
> what with Anne Rice and all her clones, vampires are now about as cool and
> interesting as dragons or unicorns.  Actually, I'm not sure that either of

I always felt like something of a heretic for not thinking that "I
Love the Night" is absolutely precious.  "Nosferatu", on the other
hand, is a masterpiece; there are few things like it in thew whole of
rock music (and about half of them are on Imaginos).

> these two albums have stood the test of time as well as _Tyranny and
> Mutation_, the album I now regard as BOC's best.

Well, I probably regard it as BOC's best, if we don't count Imaginos
as a BOC album.  Which is really funny, if you consider that I sold my
first copy of it to a used record shop.  (Only to buy another copy 6
months later, because the desire to hear "Wings Wetted Down" again had
really started to eat at me.  My fanaticism for "7 Screaming
Diz-Busters" and "Quicklime Girl" came later).

Steve
swann at panix.com