BOC: Curse of the Curse of the Hidden Mirror

[Scruton, Jason]

>        For me it has to be the bit in the middle of the ETL `Roadhouse
>Blues'; "I knew room service was closed so I couldn't get no
>breakfast... " Stunning example of Eric's ability to work a crowd. And
>these days one might even believe him when he says the new
>album's coming out some time next year...
Hehe... well, we did in '93 (and 94... and...). I hear now manages to sell
bridges at concerts.

>        I now have _Curse of the Hidden Mirror_, anyway, and
>well, perhaps>this is going to be a national divide but I'm really not that

>impressed. I>do agree that the playing and the sense of the band as a unit
is much
>improved, but where other people are saying there's no *great* songs on
>it, I'm finding there's only a few good ones.
The other differnece between this album and Mirrors or Spectrs is that there
is a much more continuous tempo to all the Curse tunes. Most BOC albums of
Olde had songs with contrastings rhythms song by song, also whats missing is
the Sgt. Pepper-y running together of album tracks a la T&M and ST. THough
Agents of Fortune didnt do that much, it still ghad the weird newspaper
voice on Morning final blending into the synthy Tenderloin.


>If Pearlman had written `(Now is the Time) The Old Gods Return'
we'd have at least a handful of references to Imaginos or Del Rio or
whatever Pearlman decided to hide him as.


>        But, that isn't the problem. My real problem with appreciating
>what's good on here is the sound. What? I hear you say, but the
>production's _gorgeous_! You could hear a pin drop! They don't fluff a
>note! It's so clear, so straightforward (pardon me while I add
>my own spin now), so honest, so down-at-home, so _normal_. Yes, excuse me,
>why are my >favourite heavy metal legends sounding like a country band?
Well, they did sound like a strange psychadelic country on SFG.  I can see
what you mean though, there's no jaggedness to the sound. Even "true
confessions" which is probably the country-est they got (excluding Redeemed
which just gets weird with the "wont be long long long " freakout at the
end) had that kind of we're playing our honkytonkiest BOC number and let
Allan sing on it. so there! kinda edge to it. This BOC version in the studio
sounds more like it took its tricks from X Ray Eyes than See You in Black
(lets not forget that lil ditty was cool for BOC because it had the non
standard time signature and it was busy, loud and eric yelling "in black!!"
with a bit of convincingness at the end).

>Where's
>Alan? I can't hear him *anywhere* on this disc, no spooky Hammond, no
>keyboard / guitar duels like we got in `Damaged', not even any
>guitar that >couldn't be Buck or Eric. Was he there at all?
Well some songs had keys buried in the mix. need headphones to hear a
hammond peep out here an' there.


>Gods' should be at least as scary-sounding as `See You in Black' if not
>more, but it's not, it's soft-rock played very well by an uninterested
>band.
Hmm... do you (as in plural listwide you) think BOC's gotten riffier as time
went on?


To prove BOC exists, I use a bootleg of the song Harvest Moon. Thats heavier
than what was on HF.


>the rest of the back catalogue and the result has been that I now feel
>I've underestimated _Mirrors_ and _Spectres_ a touch. Though I still
>don't like _Club Ninja_.
For me, spectres was a more adventurous AoF because they did a lot more
non-"first three" album kind of sounds all over the place successfully for
the mostpart. Examples: the a capalla opening to Golden age, which is a
pretty long, complex, but uptempo tune like Astronomy, but with even more
backup vocals and band unison needed.  And then you gots your odd
funk/disco/rock thing in Searching for Celine, The out-Eagle-ing of the
country rock phenom. with more feeling and technical ability in Death Valley
Nights (I love the keys in that song. was it Allan? if so, he doesnt play
like that anymore) and the Sheer Epic Power of Nosferatu --which is the most
killer thanks to Joe's eerie vocals, the cool piano and mellotron attack
,the rock riffing in "mortal terror reigned" section to the storming Buck
solo to close out the song. its also the first album cover where the band
really appear on it (ST, after all, had only a sketch and AoF's band photo
was inside the cover, not On the front proper).

>ObCD: The Brain Surgeons - _Eponymous_
good album. you should definately get the Helen Wheels tribute though--
great performances throughout and Fallen Angel IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
musicwise than Cultosaurus; its a differnt kinda vibe and everything it
rolls much more like as thundercould in a two lane sky I think.