Stirring up trouble....

[John A Swartz]

Andrew - now you've gone and done it!  Stirring up the BOC-L vs AOL
debate again!  Your punishment will be to attend the next AOL BOC chat
session, and randomly post requests for information on Duran Duran.  ;-)

An AOL-type who's name I shall not repeat said:

>Without going into, BOC-l isn't really worth hanging around anyway unless
>you're into Bouchard OC.  Sorry, but everything they accuse the AOL
>contingent of is mainfestly true in their rants about Albert = Good, BOC =
>Bad.


Obviously this person does not know what he is talking about.  First of
all, there is plenty of praise for BOC when it's warranted (and probably
even some when it's not - and most of the times that's probably from me).
As far as "rants about Albert", well I for one am guilty of that (but as
I just said, I tend to rant about BOC too), and perhaps the reason there
is such positive comments about Albert here is because quite frankly he's
got alot going on musically these days, and it's quality stuff (and I'm
not the only one saying that -- and BOC-L isn't the only group saying
that for that matter - check out some reviews of Brain Surgeons material
by independent publications if you don't believe me).  On the other hand,
BOC has done very little new things musically in the last few years - 2
compilation albums (both of which could have been done much better had
the pricipals involved been more interested in what the diehard BOC fans
want) are the most significant events in the last 4 years for BOC (other
than a few personel changes at the very instruments vacated by the
Bouchard brothers - coincidence?).  Meanwhile, Albert has released 2 CDs
(with a 3rd due out later this year) of new material that alot of people
who get a chance to hear it really like.  But all of that doesn't mean
that "Albert = Good, BOC = bad".  Quite frankly, alot of us here who
are BOC fans complain about BOC so much because of the fact that they've
done so little musically lately -- we cry out for the glory days of old,
or at least for the band to show some sign of attempting to get there,
and maybe someday if they really do put out an album (and I for one am
really hoping this latest deal is the real thing, and I eagerly await
the day when I'll hear new BOC material on my CD player).  But instead,
we get promises of a new album "in the future", we get half-hearted
efforts in releasing the band's past material, and we watch the band's
popularity slowly dwindle -- why shouldn't we be pissed?  Finally, I
think it is untrue that everyone on this list says that Albert walks on
water - there has been plenty of criticism of Albert (can anybody
say "Debbie Denise") and even (shudder) a few criticisms of the Brain
Surgeons (but, blame it on Steve Swann), but hey - if there's less to
criticize (and you all know that I don't criticize much anyway, be it
Albert, BOC, or whoever - so perhaps I'm a bad example) when it comes
to Albert, is that BOC-L's fault, or BOC's?

Please feel free to post this message to alt.music.blueoystercult --
unfortunately I don't have access to it.  Please also request that anyone
who has any further comments or follow-up posts to this thread on that
newsgroup please also e-mail them to me (jswartz at mitre.org) as I won't
see them otherwise.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm one of BOC's biggest
fans (is the FAQ not proof enough?), but I also happen to be one of the
Brain Surgeons' biggest fans.

Please, someone post this for me to alt.music.blueoystercult.

Thanks,
John
(still the editor of the BOC FAQ)