WORKSHOP OF THE TELESCOPES

This is an excellent comp for BOC newbies, which I was when I bought it. Obviously, disk 1 is superior, containing tracks from the first few classic albums, as well as some live stuff. It doesn't go back to Stalk Forrest Group days, but that's no problem. All the greats are here, Astronomy, the Reaper, Stairway to the Stars, Career of Evil etc. In order to give a complete career overview, disk two covers the band's career from Agents of Fortune onwards, which means a lot of 80s stuff. I don't mind tracks like Perfect Water and Burnin' for You, which are decent AOR, but some of the later stuff is pretty weak. For some reason, Imaginos didn't make the cut, but I'm not a fan of that album, so I don't mind. And it was downright stupid to include cover versions of Kick out the Jams, We Gotta Get Out of This Place and Born to be Wild when there are so many great BOC originals to choose from. That alone bumps my rating from four to three. The booklet contains a decent essay and some photos of memorabilia. If you want to get into the BOC, this is a good introduction that shows the band's development from biker boogie to slick adult rock, with plenty of proggy, spooky moments in between. Now that I have all the albums, it still makes for a great comp to bring in the car on road trips. On your feet or on your knees!