BOC: Speaking of filler...

[Jonathan Jarrett]

On Wed, Sep 14, 2005 at 04:12:20PM -0400, David Kuznick typed out:
> 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.

        I've done this exercise before now, and I think tune-wise it
probably beats _Revolution by Night_, although there is definitely some
slack stuff on there. In particular that gimmick of Buck's where he
changes key upwards for the verse of `When The War Comes' robs what was
building up as a monumental `Divine Wind'-like piece of all its gravitas
and converts it into his usual pop, and `Madness to the Method' is just,
well, weak. My main problem is however with the lyrics. A song like `Beat
'Em Up' has everything going for it, riff, hooks, the lot, and then these
really really bad words make it unlistenable. I find `Shadow Warrior' and
Make Rock Not War' about equally terrible for the same reason, especially
since the former should be interesting and the latter's pacifist ethic is
rather belied by, well, `Beat 'Em Up' and `Shadow Warrior'--I mean, make
up your minds boys. And `Dancing in the Ruins' is all right except for
that repeated chorus.

        But hey, I like `White Flags' and `Perfect Water', and it's not as
if I ever switch it off halfway through once I've put it on. Just that
happens quite rarely.

        I actually like _Revolution by Night_ more even though I will
freely admit that it sounds nasty and there are some *dreadful* songs on
there (though Andy Gilham and I used to argue about which they were as he
will defend `Light Years of Love', which I won't, but not `Feel the
Thunder', which I will, at least I can hardly not while I'll still defend
Meat Loaf's `Bat Out of Hell'). But it sounds more like a BOC record, and
that does matter. It's the problem I have with _Spectres_ (though I hope
the eventual remaster will solve this one) and _Mirrors_ and most
especially _Curse of the Hidden Mirror_, where there isn't even the
material hidden under the sound to save it. They don't deliver the spinal
kick of excitement that a BOC album should do. It was the greatest
difficulty I had with the Brain surgeons stuff that they *didn't* sound
like BOC until I managed to detune enough to work out what tBS sounded
like instead and enjoy it for that. It's harder to do that with BOC
especially when there is often so much else `wrong' with the episodes
where they deviate from type.

        By contrast, I thought _Heaven Forbid_ was the genuine article
just because it had the sound, even if a lot of what I say about the
material on either CN or CotHM could also be said of some of that
album. Only some, though. BOC loses a lot of its interest for me when it
doesn't have the edgy sound to it that so much of their stuff does; but
with CN there really wasn't that much else apart from the edge that makes
me remember it's worth playing. and I still think it's a stronger album
than CotHM. Of course these are just my opinions, and it hasn't stopped me
buying them all. Yours,
                        Jon

Ob2LP: Bevis Frond - _Superseeder_ (I wish he'd do more stuff like `House
of Mountains')
--
        Jonathan Jarrett                Birkbeck College, London
                 jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
        --------------------------------------------------------
  "The large print giveth and the small print taketh away." (Tom Waits)