BOC: early live

[Chris Baker]

Regarding the recent discussion of BOC stage presence etc.:  BOC was the
first band I ever saw live (73) and I remember one of the reactions that my
friend Frank and I both had to the show:  "Who's the leader?", we thought.
 Granted this was an unsophisticated reaction (hey, we were 15), but I think
it did point up something about the way the band came off live.  I was used
to seeing "In Concert" and shows of that ilk, and most of the bands had a
very obvious focal point, sometimes two (Jagger/Richards, Page/Plant).  With
BOC the focus shifted continuously, even in what was probably a somewhat
abbreviated set (they were not headlining).

To this day I can remember Albert's rap from behind the drum kit prior to
"Cities On Flame" (although I might have telescoped this show into the next
two I saw 3 months later):

"So I'm driving along (the LIE?) and I pick up this hitch-hiker...he sees the
BOC sign and he says "Hey man, are you into the Cult?".  I said, "I'm not
just into them, man, I'm in them...I'm the drummer!"  "Far out, man!", he
said.  Then I asked him "So how does our music make you feel?  Does it make
you feel good?...Or does it make you feel bad?"  He thinks a minute and says,
"Well, it doesn't make me feel good...then again, it doesn't make me feel
bad...it makes me feel...(strange chuckle)...it makes me feel....(ominous low
laugh)....it makes me feel...(certifiably insane cackle)...It Makes Me
Feel....EEEEEVILLLLLLLLLL!!!!"

And the band rips into "Cities", which I've never heard in my life...

Certainly the available live documents we have of the band up to the time of
OYF show a band that would become far more polished and technically
proficient.  There's been a lot of permutations of the band over the years --
there were a lot even during Albert's tenure -- but to me they had the
possible misfortune of kicking off with their best 3 albums, and doing live
shows that were such undiluted screaming mayhem that the energy level could
not be ratcheted up any higher. And they were touring at a pace that makes it
remarkable that the whole thing did not fly apart early, or become nothing
more than a series of rote gestures like the offerings of a lot of their
contemporaries.

Re OYF:  I have an old magazine interview where Donald Roeser is quoted as
saying he thought the record would have been better as a single LP.  Always
wondered if he thought half of it was poor.  Myself, I don't like Cities,
Before the Kiss, Red and the Black, Buck's Boogie...thought most of 'em were
too fast...thought Born to be Wild was fun the first dozen times I saw it,
but always seemed better as a concept than in execution...most of the rest of
it was astounding though.  Do wish that the guitar riff in Harvester of Eyes
was cranked up about nine notches crunch-wise and the synthesizer sci-fi
sound cranked down about eight...

I still stand by my story that the end solo in Harvester was overdubbed, the
flawed one is there, lurking just out of sight...I threw this out a while ago
and got no response, has anyone else ever heard what I'm talking about here?

Re ETL:  Hate this thing, pull it out every six months to see if it's as bad
as I remember, and it always is...half the mistakes and one-fourth the fire
of OYF.  I'm not just saying this to kiss Albert's ass, either; as I recall I
didn't like his drumming on this albums' D & S either, though I'm not gonna
pull it out now to find out (I've still got 39 days to go)...and that version
of The Red and the Black --  a sacrilege, an abomination, possibly the most
drag-ass drumming I've ever heard on a BOC record, and horribly recorded into
the bargain.

IMHO of course ;-)

PS   Albert, did your guitar-playing Clarkson College classmate ever express
displeasure at having his name misspelled on the back of OYF?