Diving For Pearlman

There's no empty space in Sandy Pearlman's head. It's seething. There's no time for zen contemplation, the simplicity of incense smoke curling up into still air. In Pearlman's head, everything's happening at once, a rush of events too intense for narrative to describe. One side of the original inner sleeve of Imaginos was entirely filled with tiny text, trying to set out the story that infested his head. It didn't help. Here, nothing is explained, nothing is logical. You're on your own, in this cavernous, howling vacuum. No air. Sound like fun to you? It is.

There are some who say that this isn't a "real" BOC album. Who cares? Eight years in the making, Imaginos reaches parts of your brain you didn't know you had. It makes Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound sound like a picket fence, Wagner like a celeste being kissed by pixies. There are more guitars here than in Nigel Tufnell's Semi-Detached House Of Guitars. The drums sound like planets would sound if you could find big enough sticks. The bass vaporizes your bowel content. Amazingly, the tunes are melodic as hell, and beautifully sung -there's virtually no hoarse heavy metal vocal styling that normally infects the genre. And the production is gorgeously detailed, repaying endless listens. This is very, very, clever stuff.

Hi! I'm Cody!

But I didn't need the silence between tracks - it seemed to run counter to the crammed-universe theory, and I never cherry-picked individual songs. It was always listen to the damn thing all the way through or nothing. And the sequencing was baffling - not in a mysterioso way, nor in a literary narrative way. The dynamics of the album were shot to hell, random. The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria (one of the greatest song titles ever - no, scratch that - the greatest song title ever) was surely the obvious last track - nothing can come after this except a cosmic and deafening silence. But there it was, buried half way through the album.

Hence, dear readers, the FalseMemoryFoam© Mindmelt© Edition. Say yes to no embarrassing silences between tracks! Say howdy to a new, improved running order that'll leave you a shuddering wet mess after an hour under the headphones!

Plus also too, I done did a swell cover remix so you can click with confidence in yer iTunes. No, no, don't thank me. Having Cody as my blogintern is its own reward.