I'm actually going to be BRIEF this time...no big BOB treatise (I'm sure you're all relieved!).

Why do a covers album? I mean, the Church can do whatever they want...BOB is well-selected, well-performed, excellently produced, and it sounds like they're having a little fun...but if the Church want to do covers, lets have them on singles. Or downloads. Or a limited-edition, for-the-fans thing available over the Internet. Need a stop-gap between HOB and AENT? How about that live album that's boxed away somewhere? Or collect some more outtakes and single b-sides a la AQSAS? It'd be one thing if the Church did some radical interpretations of these songs, but many of these versions are pretty by-the-numbers (esp "All The Young Dudes" and "Friction"--if you're going to cover Verlaine, cover the less-heard "Souvenir From A Dream").

Like I say, it's at least well-made, with some effort put into it, so I won't holler "rip-off"...but to my mind, a Church album should contain Church songs. Period.

Michael aka Random Pan