T1B

Another great one gone....




http://ultimateclassicrock.com/allen-lanier-dies/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClQcUyhoxTg

Another dinosaur rocker who didn't know when to hang it up and maintain some dignity. Saw BOC a few years ago at The Joe in Detroit and I think there were 13 people in attendance, including employees. They were literally giving tickets away for free at the box office. The drummer went about 400 bills with a cig hanging out of his mouth the entire time. It was a sad, sad spectacle.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:Another dinosaur rocker who didn't know when to hang it up and maintain some dignity. Saw BOC a few years ago at The Joe in Detroit and I think there were 13 people in attendance, including employees. They were literally giving tickets away for free at the box office. The drummer went about 400 bills with a cig hanging out of his mouth the entire time. It was a sad, sad spectacle.

LOL! Didn't we see BOC at the Palace in 2001, or around then? I remember another sparse crowd for that one. Dan and I saw them at Val Du Lakes that summer, that was fun.

You're right, it was The Palace. Shows how memorable that experience was for me.

Some great tunes. They just ran out of ideas or whatever. Happens to many bands.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:Another dinosaur rocker who didn't know when to hang it up and maintain some dignity.

They never had quite enough cowbell.

Mikey wrote:

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:Another dinosaur rocker who didn't know when to hang it up and maintain some dignity.

They never had quite enough cowbell.

THE Bruce Dickinson?

Dinsdale wrote:

Mikey wrote:

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:Another dinosaur rocker who didn't know when to hang it up and maintain some dignity.

They never had quite enough cowbell.

THE Bruce Dickinson?

Absolutely.
Even without the cowbell they had a pretty dynamite sound.

I saw 'em within the past year at The State Theater and they were able to draw a fairly sizable crowd for this stage in their career, certainly nowhere near their ability to pack arenas during the 70s. I've seen 'em close to 10 times, and their shows are always good. They're not great showmen, but they're not awful, either - just seasoned pros with a catalog of songs that play well live. Lanier was romantically involved with Patti Smith for several years, and Smith wrote or co-wrote a few BOC songs. He was probably the most versatile member of the band, able to play most instruments. He'll get some play tonight.

Sudden Sam wrote:I saw them multiple times, too, but always back in the 70s. They never failed to put on a great show.

Their laser shows back then were second to none.

Sudden Sam wrote:That and the music was far better than their later stuff. The first 4 albums were as good as they got IMHO. What was the lyricist's name...Sandy Pearlman, I think. Gave them a uniqueness among all the heavy guitar bands.

Never cared for 'Godzilla' and later stuff.

Yeah, Sandy Pearlman. He was to BOC what Pete Brown was to Cream, Robert Hunter was to the Grateful Dead, and Tom Marshall is to Phish. The music on BOC's early albums was clearly superior to their later stuff (not unusual for most bands), but the production quality was pretty rough, especially on their first album, which sounds almost muddy. They did have some good material on some of their later albums, but a lot of it seemed to be intentionally geared toward getting FM airplay, thereby sacrificing the rougher edge and heaviness of their early work. They always came across as very workman-like rather than rock stars, which I always found appealing.

Come on now. 8 track? The finest in tape cartridge stereo. Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end. Remember those very annoying long "pauses" at the end of some sides?

Sudden Sam wrote:That and the music was far better than their later stuff. The first 4 albums were as good as they got IMHO. What was the lyricist's name...Sandy Pearlman, I think. Gave them a uniqueness among all the heavy guitar bands.

Never cared for 'Godzilla' and later stuff.

Never cared for Godzilla? Maybe because I was an impressionable teenager when that came out, but it is still one of my favorite BOC songs.