Rock - what are you listening to?

[Rob]

There is no 'good' sounding version of Layla, I heard it best described as an 'organic mudbath'. More importantly... the music is just about as good as it gets!. I have four different versions on vinyl and they all sound like crud, but it is an LP I return to repeatedly!

The basic vinyl edition I had a while back, as well as the remastered CD (original master tapes apparently) I use currently, both sounded poor. Oddly the album has had quite a few audiophile reissues so wondered if there were any exceptions. I wonder is it down to a bad mix or was it badly recorded.

[Cyndale]

The basic vinyl edition I had a while back, as well as the remastered CD (original master tapes apparently) I use currently, both sounded poor. Oddly the album has had quite a few audiophile reissues so wondered if there were any exceptions. I wonder is it down to a bad mix or was it badly recorded.

For me it is just badly recorded and engineered but Tom Dowd (producer) got the best of the musicians. I haven't read anything favourable on any edition of the LP and that includes audiophile pressings.

[cybot]

Thanks for clearing that up lads! I too have had a copy of the album on vinyl. Crud is a good word but, funnily enough, I was never that gone on the music either! Hard to believe considering the talents on display!

[cybot]

[cybot]

An immortal record, Dermot, and their finest recorded moment. At this point in their career, they occupied a position that was somewhat peripheral to their more traditional hard rock contemporaries. Rather like Black Sabbath early in their career or, somewhat later, the Canadian prog-thrash band Voivod. I vividly recall being forcefully struck by their Dimension Hatross album and, to a lesser extent, the later Nothingface. They retained the rhythmic propulsiveness of early thrash but there was a progressive angularity in their approach that underlined their peripheral position within the thrash metal scene. I never really followed the band after these albums because, by that time, I was already slowly transitioning into other genres like jazz and classical. But, every so often, I will play the CD and it still sounds fantastic and untouched by the dated excesses of late-80s thrash.

A closet BÖC Dizbuster I see ;)

I actually got my copy from Smyths Records in Drogheda. 2.85 in old money. Do you remember the place? When I got it back home and had a listen I was struck by the Doors comparison among other things. When I heard Buck's guitar solo on 'Dominance and Submission' I was hooked for ever :) And I detest, literally detest, 'ME 262'! The whole of Side 2 is absolute perfection.....I've just rooted around for more of their albums and it seems like.....I have a lot :) A BÖC weekend is on the cards methinks starting with......

[cybot]

The first one's my very first mail order vinyl. Contains best version of 'Then Came The Last Days In May'. Robbie Kreiger guests on 'Roadhouse Blues' on # 2.The third has a sublime version of the Animals classic 'We Gotta Get Out Of This Place'.....

[Cyndale]

Is your copy a European or US pressing? The original US LP mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk has a 'to die for' sound. The European (UK or German) are ... meh! Just saying!

[mcq]

There was a crafty, knowing perversity about BÖC at their finest, especially in the way that they would knowingly co-opt pop and AOR backdrops to present their own twisted mythology which was entirely unique.  A perfect example of this is Agents of Fortune which immediately followed Secret Treaties and replaced the proto-garage rock of Secret Treaties with a poppier sound that alienated many of their fans who made the hasty assumption that the band had sold out.  However, beneath the poppy sheen many of the same lyrical concerns remain.  The closing triptych of Morning Final/Tenderloin/Debbie Denise lingers uncomfortably in the memory as does Patti Smith's contribution to The Revenge of Vera Gemini.  They grew less adept at this as time went on and the horrendous Club Ninja is nothing more than vacuous, hollow, soul-deadening AOR.  Once upon a time the band's collective tongue was held firmly in cheek and you could always detect a sly undercurrent of subversion lodged in an apparently throwaway song but this gradually became more and more diluted.  Sometimes you are surprised and delighted by the absurdity of a Joan Crawford, but, for the most part, the band became less interesting over time.  I do have a soft spot for Imaginos, however.  Too many hired hands, perhaps, but you get that sense of the fantastical which the old BÖC used to be so adept at.  An interesting and undervalued band, undoubtedly, whose best moments have not dated in any way and remain permanently inscribed upon the rock canon.

[cybot]

Is your copy a European or US pressing? The original US LP mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk has a 'to die for' sound. The European (UK or German) are ... meh! Just saying!

Mine is a genuine Mexican copy! Sounds as good as garlic beef enchilada and coke ;))))

Seriously mine is the dreaded Alsdorf pressing and it sounds magnificent! Literally a 'to die for sound'.....Must be the Howard's ;)))))

[cybot]

There was a crafty, knowing perversity about BÖC at their finest, especially in the way that they would knowingly co-opt pop and AOR backdrops to present their own twisted mythology which was entirely unique.  A perfect example of this is Agents of Fortune which immediately followed Secret Treaties and replaced the proto-garage rock of Secret Treaties with a poppier sound that alienated many of their fans who made the hasty assumption that the band had sold out.  However, beneath the poppy sheen many of the same lyrical concerns remain.  The closing triptych of Morning Final/Tenderloin/Debbie Denise lingers uncomfortably in the memory as does Patti Smith's contribution to The Revenge of Vera Gemini.  They grew less adept at this as time went on and the horrendous Club Ninja is nothing more than vacuous, hollow, soul-deadening AOR.  Once upon a time the band's collective tongue was held firmly in cheek and you could always detect a sly undercurrent of subversion lodged in an apparently throwaway song but this gradually became more and more diluted.  Sometimes you are surprised and delighted by the absurdity of a Joan Crawford, but, for the most part, the band became less interesting over time.  I do have a soft spot for Imaginos, however.  Too many hired hands, perhaps, but you get that sense of the fantastical which the old BÖC used to be so adept at.  An interesting and undervalued band, undoubtedly, whose best moments have not dated in any way and remain permanently inscribed upon the rock canon.

Brilliant write up! You're right about AOF and that wonderful closing triptych....Another overlooked album is Cultösaurus Erectus which was their last really great album. They left a terrific legacy all told.....