BOC: Lots More o' Stuff

[Tim]

Interesting,though i read somewhere that the band hated OYFoOYK as a live albun
and thought ETL was much better...
heathcliff
John A. Swartz wrote:
 >
 > > Listening to the AOF remaster...
 > >
 > > Can Al B. sue Night Ranger for plagiarism?  Sister Christian =
 > > Debbie Denise!
 >
 > I assume you're joking - they may have a similar vibe, but musically
 > sound quite different to my ears.
 >
 >
 >
 > > while John sighed...
 > >
 > > >Sigh - anytime Mirrors, Revolution By Night, or (esp.) Club Ninja gets
 > > >degraded in any way (even if IN JEST!!!), someone always rushes to its
 > > >defense.  There IS good stuff on the album - even the tracks you
 > > >mentioned not liking (Dr. Music, Moon Crazy, Lonely Teardrops) are
 > > >enjoyable to me - but as a whole the album has its problems.  Bolle has
 > > >said that Mirrors nearly singlehandedly destroyed the fanclub in the 70s
 > > >- not his words, but he did say that the "membership" dropped WAY off
 > > >after Mirrors came out.
 > >
 > > I certainly understand your opinion, and I would guess its probably shared
 > > by the majority, but I'll expand a little on my feelings here so you know
 > > where I'm coming from -
 >
 > NO!!!!!    ;-)
 >
 > You have just proven my point about people rushing to defend a
 > particular BOC album.  Hey - some people LIKE Mirrors; and some people
 > LIKE Club Ninja.  It's O.K. - REALLY it is.  In fact, I enjoy both those
 > albums too (in moderation).  But I always find it humorous that if
 > someone makes a disparaging remark about them, somone feels the need to
 > defend it, and explain their feelings.  Feel free if it makes you feel
 > better, but it is not necessary.  The album is what it is - some fans
 > really dislike it, some fans think it's great, and most probably will
 > all agree that it has a few good tracks but is overall not on the same
 > level as Secret Treaties (then again, what is?).
 >
 >
 > > in the early 80's by a friend who had all their previous material, and
 > > though I did get my first listens to them more or less in order, the effect
 > > on me would definitely be different from that on someone who had been
 > > waiting each year for the newest release as they came out.
 >
 > Yes, and this is the rub with Mirrors (which Andy also points out) - if
 > you had been a fan in the early 1970's and followed the band up through
 > Some Enchanted Evening (when they were a powerhouse on the road), then
 > Mirrors appears as a dissappointment for many.  If you got into the band
 > (as I did) in the early 80's, then looking backward Mirrors may not look
 > so bad (but maybe Club Ninja still does?).
 >
 > To give some "perspective", I'm going to lift a few direct quotes from
 > "Morning Final" - not the song, but the BOC Fanclub newsletter:
 >
 > "There was a lot of interest in the band because of that and I
 > had about 200 fans in the club as a result. ... I eventually had as
 > many as 350 fans but it went downhill from there, and in 1979
 > when Mirrors came out I had only 15 fans left who wanted to stay
 > on for another year." MF 01
 >
 > "I think the biggest surprise may come in the Favorite Album Department—not
 > the number one slot, but the runners up: By far the pick albums are #1: Secret
 > Treaties, #2: Imaginos, and #3: Cultösaurus Erectus! This is not at all
 > what I would
 > have expected, but it shows you all have very good taste, by choosing
 > their finest
 > albums!! Also ranking high were #4: Spectres and #5: Fire Of Unknown Origin.
 > Right behind these were, respectively, Agents, Blue Öyster Cult, Tyranny
 > and Mutation
 > and On Your Feet or On Your Knees. All albums received at least a couple
 > votes as a Favorite album with the exception of ETL which received no votes.
 > Least favorite albums were Club Ninja with the most votes, followed by
 > Mirrors"  MF 04
 >
 > "To date, these rehearsals and recordings were the bands most thorough
 > work for any album before or after, with almost 3 months on pre-production
 > alone. And for all that work came the album that most fans put
 > at the bottom of their ‘fave album’ list; which Eric, in England’s New
 > Musical Express paper, alluded might make good frisbees;
 > and to this day is sometimes referred to as “Errors.”"  MF 08
 >
 > "After the disappointing Tom Werman-produced Mirrors album, The Cult
 > were looking for something to get themselves back on track again."  MF 10
 >
 > The next quote actually pertains to the recording of Spectres, but I
 > think the perspective translates nicely to Mirrors as well...
 >
 > "In March of 1977, as the Agents Of Fortune 250 date tour
 > ended and the guys got some time off from the road, it was
 > time to start preparing new material for the next album. Lots
 > of decisions had to be made: which direction to follow and
 > what kind of concept to go with on this follow-up to Agents.
 > They had to adjust to a new way of life in the shadow of chart
 > success, and the demand to become hit makers. There were,
 > for the first time, commercial pressures to at least match the
 > success of Agents, and since the hit of “The Reaper,” they all
 > saw the possibilities of having radio hits. Although in those
 > days they were almost guaranteed a big seller, they had
 > moved up the ladder of commercial success, and almost
 > subconsciously they had a different directional approach to
 > their playing, and the necessity to become more easily
 > accessible is heard in their playing.
 > The clash between Punk and Disco distorted guidelines of
 > Rock & Roll that year ..."  MF 11
 >
 >
 > By the way, all this great info from Morning Final can be YOURS by going
 > to www.bocfanclub.com - Melne has put all the issues of MF in PDF format
 > for download.
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 > > I listened to the 1st 3 releases I pretty much felt  them to be a unit - not
 > > only did I consider each one to be an album but all 3 worked together as a
 > > sort of meta-album.
 >
 > Most fans, and even the band, would agree with that assessment.
 >
 >
 > > Then with Agents, Spectres, and Mirrors, it seemed to me
 > > that lots of different ideas from different people were being tossed in as
 > > discrete songs with different approaches and no real attempt made to create
 > > a unified whole. (The liner notes for the re-release of AoF just out
 > > actually seem to agree with me here and indicate this was due to the advent
 > > of home-recording equipment allowing everyone to more fully form their ideas
 > > in a solo setting before presenting it to the band - a pretty interesting
 > > read, and also a nice explanation for what I was hearing).
 >
 > Exactly.  The band was no longer writing as much as a unit, but working
 > on demos at home so there is much more individual efforts, which yielded
 > more diversity.  Also, after "Reaper", the band was more conscious of
 > trying to write a radio "hit".
 >
 >
 > > I would offer as a possible
 > > explanation that it was not because Mirrors was suddenly a whole lot worse
 > > than the previous releases, but that people who had been holding on and
 > > hoping for a return to the 'good old days' suddenly decided that 'nope, they
 > > werent coming back, this proves it, lets get out' - the overall count for
 > > the last 2 or 3 releases had begun to tip too much negative.
 >
 >
 > Probably partly true.  But "Some Enchanted Evening" broke up the space
 > between "Spectres" and "Mirrors", so I think that contributed to the
 > more sudden drop-off a the time of "Mirrors".
 >
 > Then again, if you were in high school in 1972-1974, by the time
 > "Mirrors" was coming out, you may have been getting out of college and
 > persuing other interests, so that may have been a factor too...
 >
 >
 > Still, looking BACK in time, I can find enjoyment from the album - but
 > can see how a fan "growing up" on BOC would have had issues with Mirrors.
 >
 >
 > John