BOC:WOTTmish mosh

[albert bouchard]

        Well I've just checked out WOTT and I must admit that I have pretty
mixed feelings. My first reaction was nasuea and disgust. That layout! Total
cheese! The ETL dog is ok but the way the passes look and the notes on the
inside look very sloppy. These notes are filled with inaccuracies and
straight out lies (Eric never sang any song in Japaneese). Maybe it's good
they're almost impossible to read. I think it's also badly written and
politically doesn't make much sense. Why mention Imaginos if it's not on the
album? Also doesn't it seem like if it's called "double disc greatest hits"
that it would have all the singles like HRTH and the Astronmy from Imaginos
(but I digress). Even the spine of the jewlbox looks cheesy, bad choice of
colors. In short I think the overall package sucks, the layout lame, liner
notes lies, the continuity non-existant but with all that I don't think that
it's a total wash out. The main thing that bothers me is that the package
itself doesn't scream "buy me." I don't think this thing is gonna sell. That's
a pity too because I think some of these cuts are as cool as anything out
there.

        Now you have to understand that I haven't hear any of these cuts on CD
before so I have only the vinyl to compare it to. Here are some of my
impressions:
        The first four (from BOC) to me sound better than the vinyl. Whoever
said "no remastering" must be mixed up. In order to get these songs on this CD
they had to be remastered. The only way they wouldn't have been is if they
were taken directly from the previously CDs and even if those were used as the
raw mixes they still would have to assemble them on some kind of mastering
computer (a Mac running Sonic Solutions or Pro Tools) and while they're at it
why not run some no noise. To my ear it sounds better.
        The only thing is that vocal on COFWR&R. What was I thinking?!
Sincere? Yes. Soulful? OK. Different? Definitely. But listenable? Not. Oh
well, I think it sounds better in Espanol. I am sure I sing it better now.
Trans is pretty cool if you can ignore Bloom's awful vocal. If you can ignore
mine I guess you could ignore his. BTK,AR is just totally cool. I can't find a
single thing to bitch about. Brilliant! STTS is similar to Trans except
Bloom's vox is worse. Still it sounds better than the vinyl.
        Next the 3 "bootleg" songs (were we the first band to bootleg
ourselves?) (GTDTW was a Columbia Compilation record with that cut from the
boot ep) make a strange brew to me. "Bucks" seems to have a whole lot of
distortion on it. This one absolutely sounds better on the original. Long live
vinyl! The other two sound ok but somehow not as exciting. Originally I
thought this ep sounded powerful. Now the cuts sound quirky and odd, not bad
tho.
        Diz and COE sound flat-out worse on CD. No question. What happened to
all the balls? But just when you thought digital was a mistake comes FT and
Astronomy. Boy these cuts sound great in digital. All sorts of things come
through. Check out the crash cymbal on the chorus of FT. I'd just gotten it
the day before and I was completely taken with it. These two songs sound to me
just like they did in the studio. Frankly I'd always suspected that the inner
groove distortion had really compressed the dynamics of these two very
dramatic tunes. On this CD they sound like I always wanted them to sound. The
performance is better than I remembered also. Subhuman also sounds really
great to me. Bloom's vocals on all these cuts seem pretty tolerable. HOE is
not so lucky. I don't like this one (greatest hits?).
        ME262, what happened to that gong? I lost it somewhere, maybe at the
Fillmore East. Wow! Those 5 guitars sound pretty fierce! Another phunny kool
kut. BTBW sounds much better than I remembered. I never listen to my singles.
The ending reminds me of some vocal ideas that I had for the song that got
quelled. Maybe yet another version is needed?
        Disk two: DFTR yuck! This is much better on vinyl besides it's totally
played out. Oh well. I guess you might be lying if you called it greatest hits
and didn't have it. Maybe lying isn't so bad. I guess "greatest hit on thin
sterile CD" doesn't sound so good. Some words of advice; skip the first cut on
disk two. Skip the next five too while you're at it. GAOL sounds pretty good
and seems worth listening to too.
        The two covers from SEE sound pretty good to me. Bloom's vocal is
better doing Rob Tyner than Eric Burdon tho. In Thee may not be the best song
on Mirrors but I still like it. The guitar arrangement and vocal harmonies
were my idea so if you don't like it......blame SS! No. I really can feel
moved by this song.
        All the rest of the songs sound quite good to me especially VOTPW and
D&S, although Shooting Shark sounds like an out take from the solo album BD
should have made for Windam Hill! Not to say it's bad or anything, I actually
like some of that New Age music, but on a BOC album??????
        I'm left feeling a little depressed. This is being represented as part
of my work. One thing that I really like is when an album hangs together as a
complete work. This one seems like a mish-mosh.
Al