[boc-l] BOC: Thoughts on "The Symbol Remains"

[Alex S. Garcia]

Hey everyone,

So I got my copy of the latest BOC a few months ago. I know, it's been out for a long time now, but it was constantly out of stock in my local record store and I never got around to ordering it until March or April, I forget now when exactly.

You'd think I'd have listened to it then, right? Wrong. Because of a family emergency, I had to move in with my parents for a few months. Left all my stuff at my place, including the new BOC.

Then when I finally got back, I was so behind with work stuff I just didn't even think about it anymore.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I finally got to listen to the album for the first time a few days ago. Gave it a second spin just now and, this time, I followed along with the lyrics.

My first assessment is that this CD just confirms what I've noticed in the past: the songs I like the *least* tend to be the Dharma-penned ones. Not that they're necessarily bad, but they often tend to be too poppy for my taste.

It really goes from plain dislike ("Box in my Head") to bewilderment ("Train True") to kinda cool but what's it doing on a BOC CD ("Nightmare Epiphany" being a prime example of that).

It's a shame, too, cause Buck's a great musician and I even like his voice quite a bit, but as a composer he can be infuriating.

OTOH, my favorite tracks on here tend to be those by Castellano... makes me wish he'd release some solo albums :o I'd definitely be interested. He seems like both a great composer and a great lyricist (here I'll rest my case by simply pointing at "The Alchemist").

Anyway, I thought I'd do a song-by-song breakdown of what I liked and didn't like...

Here goes.

1) THAT WAS ME (John Shirley / Eric Bloom & Richie Castellano)

Not Castellano's best, but still a pretty cool song with some damn good lyrics. Makes for a decent CD starter.

2) BOX IN MY HEAD (John Shirley / Donald Roeser)

Ugh. No. Just no. Way too poppy. Typical Roeser material. What's this doing here? Ugh.

3) TAINTED BLOOD (Eric Bloom & Richie Castellano)

Awesome track. Love the vampire-themed lyrics.

4) NIGHTMARE EPIPHANY (John Shirley / Donald Roeser)

Sigh. It's not a bad song, but why? Is this really BOC? I dunno man.

5) EDGE OF THE WORLD (Richie Castellano)

Very cool! With some more great lyrics from Castellano, this time about conspiracy theories. Love it.

6) THE MACHINE (Richie Castellano)

Not as good as the previous, but still pretty decent.

7) TRAIN TRUE (LENNIE'S SONG) (Zeke Roeser & Donald Roeser)

So this one starts kinda cool... but then it goes downhill from there. I was like WTF? This sounds like country western on crack. How is THIS a BOC song??? Seriously.

8) THE RETURN OF ST. CECILIA (Richard Meltzer / Richie Castellano)

It's not the best song on the CD by far, but I still like it for a bunch of different reasons.

Most obviously, of course, the historical/nostalgic aspect. Then there's Castellano's magic touch, giving the track a more modern sound.

But (and you're allowed to laugh) what I like best is how the lyrics instantly made me think of Alison...

Who is Alison, you ask? Well... Those of you who have watched "Pretty Little Liars" (which I'm currently in the middle of--which is why this struck me) should think of the Alison character from the show while you read the lyrics.

Seriously, the similarities between Cecelia and Alison are freaky as hell LOL.

9) STAND AND FIGHT (Eric Bloom & Richie Castellano)

Good song. Neither love nor hate. Just decent. Which, come to think of it, is annoying LOL. I mean, we all KNOW these guys can do better.

10) FLORIDA MAN (John Shirley / Donald Roeser)

Another bleh one for me. Not bad, but again too poppy and kind of sticks out like a sore thumb.

11) THE ALCHEMIST (Richie Castellano)

Then bam! This monster of a song lands. Granted, I'd already heard it, since I'd seen the video way back when. It had made me hope for more songs like this. Maybe that's why I was disappointed with the album.

This song is just so damn good. In every possible way. The music, the vocals (Eric puts so much passion into his singing it gives me chills, just listen at him when he cries "I"! LOL) and of course the LYRICS.

God those lyrics are amazing. I love epic fantasy, so this is right up my alley.

Best song on the album, hands down.

Castellano outdid himself with this one.

God, I crave for an album where all the songs would be of this quality. Why can't they do that? Is it so much to ask for? I guess it must be. Sigh.

12) SECRET ROAD (John Shirley / Donald Roeser)

An OK song from Roeser, but again it feels out of place. *Especially* coming right after "The Alchemist."

Speaking of, I wonder who thought it'd be such a brilliant idea to sandwich "The Alchemist" between "Florida Man" and "Secret Road". Ugh.

13) THERE'S A CRIME (Jeff Denny & Jules Radino)

Not sure what to think of this one. Didn't leave a mark, for whatever that's worth. Will have to listen to it again a few times.

14) FIGHT (Ira Rosoff, James Wold & Donald Roeser)

OK, I'll admit I kinda like this one. It's damn catchy and fun. But... it's still as poppy as you'd expect from Roeser. So I find myself once again wondering why this song was included?

CONCLUSIONS

So my main gripe with the album is that it has more tracks that don't fit than tracks that fit. Though I suppose some could argue that if there are more that don't fit, can it truly be said that they don't? Maybe they do and it's just that the band has evolved...

Perhaps I'm just pining for a band that no longer exists, that stopped existing years ago.

But damn it! How can I not pine for them when I hear a track like "The Alchemist"? Riddle me that.

It's like they can't make up their mind what they want to do. Which is baffling considering how long these guys have been around.

And then I think back to "Fight" and how it made me think it would have been more appropriate on a Buck Dharma solo album. It certainly reminded me of his first solo.

That's when it suddenly struck me what this album really was.

It's just a collection of solo tracks from Bloom, Castellano, and Roeser. At least, that's what it feels like to me now.

Which certainly would explain all of those discrepancies.

So what do you guys think?
Alex.

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Author - Translator - Lyricist
http://alexsgarcia.com/
Free Fantasy & Science-Fiction short stories
https://xenin.substack.com/
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