Cult Classics/CE/ Guitar World Mag./Remastering

[John A Swartz]

>The Summerdaze Tour is mentioned on the front of Guitar World Mag.

...rushing out to the bookstore at lunch . . .

>Intrestingly enough
Buck feels he is a better player today than he was 15 years ago.

Not really surprised -- 15 years on the road can do wonders for one's
ability (not that Buck was too bad 15 years ago . . .) - even the
master continues to perfect his craft.

>Also
says the band sounds great right now.  Maybe Eric's back on track.

Hope so, but I wouldn't read too much into that.  There have been lots
of positive reviews of the band's sound since Eric has dropped back.
I'm sure Buck is probably enjoying having a bit more of the spotlight
these days, and instrumentally the band probably sounds great, but Eric
hasn't started singing more again, from what I've seen.  Then again,
Summerdaze will have probably shorter-than-standard BOC sets so perhaps
Eric will have an extra song or 2 there.

>Definitely would not get Champions
Of Rock.  Shameful that they try to cash in on the original lineup with
a record that dosen't even feature the two Bouchards.  Thats a blatant
rip-off.

This CD is quite a puzzle to me - I don't know if it's a blatant rip-off,
outright stupidity, or a combination of both.  It seems outrageous to
have Joe and Al on the cover, and to me makes no sense -- will it really
sell better?  Do the present members of the band want their product to
have pictures of guys no longer in the band?  And how much do they even
know about some of these things that go on before they happen?  I mean,
the rights to BOC's music are not owned by the band, so I don't know if
they even had a say in the matter.  (BTW - another blatant ripoff - the
"Cult Classic" songbook has photos of the band from the 70s - again, Joe
and Al didn't play a note on CC).  Furthermore, the cover photo on
Champions of Rock isn't even very good - looks like an old faded photograph,
and Joe Bouchard is barely recognizable.  Makes me think the whole thing
was more a case of something slapped together with little regard for
quality (I'm talking about the packaging, not the music on the CD - of
course, some have made the same argument about the music, which is the
material from Cult Classic).

John