BOC: HF comparisons

[John A Swartz]

>Anyone care to discuss/debate/flame?

Sure, this is BOC-L after all . . .  ;-)

>favorites:

>Harvest Moon
(for the lyrics and Buck's singing)

I think the instrumentation is also quite good - parts of it sound
almost jazzy to me - and it fits the mood of the song wonderfully.

>Damaged
(a great tune to just rock out to.  It should be
on the radio.)

This song just kicks ass.  As a bass-player-wannabe, I'm going to make it
a personal goal to learn this one - but some of those riffs are gonna
be tough!

>least favorites:

>Hammer Back
(for the lyrics, not the guitar work.
Plus Eric's voice sounds weaker
on this one.)

Well, John Shirley's lyrics, at least as used by BOC, tend to be quite
repetitive on most of the songs.  As for Eric's voice sounding "weaker",
it doesn't have some of that power of old - how much is intentional and
how much is age/wear-n-tear is hard to say.  But, it is sung well, and
Eric still sounds plenty sinister for my tastes.

>Power...
(I can't handle the repetitive chorus, but
Eric sounds great on the verses.

Again, Shirley's lyrics.  This one is definitely Eric's best vocal on the
CD.  I also like the prominent bass in this song - very nice.

>Still Burnin'
(I'd love it if the bass drums were
turned down and the echo effect
was removed.  It sounds a little
sloppy, like it was done live in the
studio.)

Well, this tune is just so damn catchy that I can't find too much fault
with it.  But, like you, I found the bass drums a bit overpowering.

>Live For Me could have been
a B-side from Club Ninja (except that
it's better than almost everything on that
album.)

Does sound very mid-80s to me - but yeah, it's better than probably anythin
on CN.

>I think
it's head and shoulders above all the
'80s albums though, except maybe
FoUO.

I think it's hard for me to rank the various albums, but I think I'd rate
this one higher than FOUO.

John