echoes of empires
author: Jeff Tollefsrud
I only wish BOC themselves (who are they now?) were making music this vital, whether new versions of old favorites or altogether new tunes. While I love the original version of Baby Ice Dog, this version rips and roars like very little BOC's done; Deborah Frost's vocals are intense and dynamic - scorching, bringing so much more emotion into the lyrics. Albert's singing is just as excellent as ever, and his drumming, while less 'jazzy', is much more powerful. At the other end of the spectrum are the more acoustic songs, which are equally wonderful. Frost's singing of Language of Love is purely sweet melancholy pop, and in Astonomy is just riveting. Hearing the 'less shiny' I Am, and the acoustic The Girl are fabulous on their own terms. This to me is really what BOC could be; or maybe not; perhaps Albert needed to go in his own direction to create something this fabulous without the gloss (as on the Imaginos project). Anyone who likes BOC should unquestionably listen to this, and anyone else should because it's just great!
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Subconcious Crazy Glue
author: Darrell V
Being a long time BÖC fan, A.B. is no stranger to my turntables and cd players, and I was thrilled finding this release available, thanks Derek! I plugged it into the truck cd player and gave it the once through, moderately impressed. Then I gave it another run at max volume, and really listened hard. The musicianship on this is outstanding, and the songs quickly sunk their fangs into my brain. I soon was unconciously singing Feliz Navidad, con Rock and Roll at work, getting terrified looks from co-workers. Now I`m walking around humming Evil needle, evil needle gun. Do you have a question about a song called This Ain`t The Summer of Love? Just ask Vicky in Nashville, she`ll tell you, The Brain Surgeons ROCK! Great album Al & gang!
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Interesting and not what you'd expect...
author: Nicholas S. Bettner
Albert Bouchard was the "bad-ass" force in B.O.C.'s sound, and a good portion of their unique sense of humor as well.
When one listens to this album, full of former B.O.C. covers, the arrangement factor of his contributions to these tunes becomes all the more apparent.
The harder driving version of CAREER OF EVIL, while more vocally innocuous, is all the more wonderfully outrageous with Deb Frost's doll-like voice; "I will not apologise...your mine for the taking..."
The Imaginos tunes, I AM THE ONE... in particular, takes one aback at its acoustic contast with the power-chord version on the IMAGINOS album, and gives it a new dimension complimentary to both versions.
One very interesting tune was THE GIRL THAT LOVE MADE BLIND, which like GIL BLANCO COUNTY was left off of the Imaginos saga. Now all we need is the latter tune to pop up on a future BRAIN SURGEONS CD!
The new material fits well here too. Good work!
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author: BRIAN PHILLPOTTS
Really liked the Hawkwind pieces & interesting versions of boc material. Tour Spiel was heavy! Hassan I Sahba as metallic as Hawkwind ever did it!!!!is gooooood.
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