Boom Crash Opera are an Australian Band that reached the peak of their popularity in the mid to late nineteen eighties. They are a band that I knew about at that time but was never really excited by until they released their ill fated double album Born and Born Again in 1995 (Album cover pictured).At the time of its release I was very much into emerging Australian musical acts and was also looking out for new sounds that were different and had kind of a futuristic/electronic sound. Artists that I was buying at the time included; Swoop, Nine Inch Nails and Pop Will Eat Its Self. As well as a really interesting release by David Bowie, the concept album, Outside.
Born was a fairly radical departure for Boom Crash Opera (BCO). The first single, Gimme, was often compared to the sounds of Gary Glitter, particularly his single, Rock n Roll part 2, because of the pounding drum loops. Watch the video below.
My favorite single from the album is dissemble which probably went nowhere on the charts but its electronic sound and seemingly reflective lyrics always strike a chord with me. Lines like "No... we haven't met, 'cause I've got a memory too big to forget." whilst not particularly deep have a naive complexity to them. Kind of like a machine carefully trying to understand how to link words together in order to express meaning.
Born is one of the few albums that I can say I like every track but what makes it interesting, apart from the music, is the themes, look and style of how the album was promoted.
One could argue the album was ahead of its time dealing with mass consumerism, violence, self obsession and futuristic machine domination by an increasingly computer reliant world. Born's album cover suggested the idea of people tuning out of reality by living more and more in a virtual world.
The band members promoted the album wearing minimalist, black, 'plastic' looking costumes that wouldn't have looked out of place in the movie The Matrix (which wouldn't be released for another four years).
Even the CD its self included computer multimedia presentations including two song video clips, Gimme and Tongue Tied.
The book that came with the CD doesn't include song lyrics, instead it features passages of text that extend or suggest themes and ideas covered in each song. There's complete instructions for creating your own 'cryo-doll', 'primal regression therapy in three easy steps' and 'how to turn your car into a psychotromic accelerator'.
As a concept album Born should be a classic. It's filled with so many ideas. I bought it when it was released in 1995 and songs from it are currently on my MP3 player (which only has 1GB of space so I can't just stick my entire catalog of CD's on it).
The sad thing is that this was released as a double album in a double CD cover (the old style, double thick case). It came with a cardboard circle where the Born Again CD was intended to be, when released, according to the circle, in April of 1995. It never was. Born wasn't a commercial success despite its singles receiving generous radio airplay. Record label BMG dropped the release of Born Again as a result.
To this day other than two singles from Born Again, Soundtrack and Radio, available on BCO's release, Best Things - Greatest Hits (1998), the album has never been released.
One can only assume the album was complete or nearing completion because the release of Born came with a complete track list for Born Again. The complete list includes the tracks; Analytical, Radio, Soundtrack, Stay Where You Are, Shallow, Mind Over Matter, Hit The Beach, Bomb For You, Beating Addiction, Shivers, Come a Little Closer.
Perhaps there was even another book full of ideas as per Born?
I recently picked up Gizmo Mantra (1997), the last new release from BCO, in a bargain sale. Not because I was waiting for it to be bargain priced but I never knew they released anything after Born. I just happened to see it and bought it on the spot - hoping it might have some of the brilliance of Born.
To be honest, Gizmo Mantra, whilst you can see some of the themes echoing through, never stood a chance against an album I've loved for 13 years. It's not that Gizmo Mantra is bad - it isn't - it's just that Born captures my imagination and continues to do so.
With bands like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails releasing entire albums directly to their fans online, I hope BCO will take a leaf out of their book.
Personally I'd prefer them to release Born Again on CD with any book or extras that may have come with it had it been released back in 1995. I'd buy it as a mail order item from their web site (if they had a proper web site rather than a Facebook page maintained by the band).
Mostly I'd just like to have the complete concept double album. It's bugged me for 13 years not having Born Again. I know the band is still together and have gone back to where they started with the Aussie Pub circuit. Somewhere in their 'unreleased' pile of songs there's a whole album of potential brilliance that completes the MUST HAVE classic release that is Born.