RE: Re: BOC - Club Ninja and Wings of Mercury

[nick at THECOMPLETESHEET.COM]

I remember when Club Ninja came out.  Like a lot of others on the list, I ran out to grab it on release day.  I remember thinking it was really cool at first.  But after repeated listenings, the lameness of some of the tracks started showing through.

That being said, I will defend Perfect Water, Shadow Warrior and When the War Comes to the death.

Dancin' in the Ruins is pretty decent, but could have used less of that "new wave" influence that was spoken of.  And White Flags, for reasons I'll never quite understand, remains a guilty pleasure that I'll only admit to in certain company.  :)


--Nick



>----- ------- Original Message ------- -----
>From: John Swartz <jswartz at MITRE.ORG>
>To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
>Sent: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 07:47:33
>
>>
>>          Wings of Mercury*
>>
>>
>> Heh, one of my fave BÖC gems.  I wonder how many
>folks on this
>> list have heard it in person?
>
>Yeah, one of my faves (I have the *Into the Crypts
>of Rays* bootleg CD
>from live broadcast of the Club Ninja tour and that
>track is on it).
>
>>
>> I could have sworn that, on the CN tour, they
>played another
>> new song that didn't make the album.  Does anyone
>else
>> remember that?  Maybe it was one of the tunes
>that
>> wound up on "Bad Channels?"  Thoughts?
>
>I don't believe so - I suppose it's possible, but I
>never heard of
>another track from that timeframe that didn't make
>the album.  On the
>other hand, around the time of the Bad Channels
>release (1992, I
>believe), BOC was playing one or both of the Bad
>Channels tracks, as
>well as some tracks that later appeared on *Heaven
>Forbid* (Harvest
>Moon, Still Burnin', Cold Grey Light of Dawn, Power
>Underneath Despair),
>so it's possible you are thinking of one of
>those...
>
>>>
>>>I think I may have brought this up way back in my
>first BOC-L go-round, but why
>>>on earth does Club Ninja get so much venom spewed
>at it?  I REALLY like it!
>>>Sure, some of it sounds New Wave influenced, but
>SO WHAT?  Try throwing out
>>>your assumption of what a BOC disc SHOULD sound
>like, and *listen* to it.
>
>>It's one of those BOC albums that doesn't sound
>like a BOC album.  Half the
>>songs were written by people who previously had
>nothing to do with the band,
>>it sounds dated and some of the songs are just
>plain weak.  Whereas this is
>>dated, the first three albums, really right up to
>Spectres are (to me at
>>least) timeless.
>
>Yeah, I once heard somebody describe it as a very
>good album, but a very
>bad "BOC Album".  This album was where Albert's
>departure was really
>felt, IMHO.  I also have a theory that there are
>very few songs on the
>album that nearly all BOC fans like.  Ask any 5
>different BOC fans about
>BOC, and they'll likely tell you the album is bad,
>but "____" is a great
>song (and "____" will be different for each of
>those people).  Still, I
>like listening to it on ocassion (even "Beat 'em
>Up" gets my foot
>tapping...).
>
>Another theory - Club Ninja came out at a time that
>BOC's popularity was
>on a steep decline.  Albert had left in '81, and
>the band's next studio
>release came out in '84 (and *Revolution By Night*
>wasn't seen as a
>career-reviving album by most, although it too had
>it's moments).  2
>years later, without much touring by the band, and
>diehard fans I think
>were waiting for BOC to make a "statement" and show
>that they were still
>the kick-ass rockers we all knew and loved - with
>those expectations,
>*Club Ninja* comes off as a disappointment.  But,
>like others have said,
>if you put aside expectations and listen to it,
>you'll find that there's
>some good stuff there.
>
>John
>
>PS:  No BOC discussion in months, and people start
>by discussing *Club
>Ninja* - funny...