Blue Oyster Cult Opinions?

Can't say the same for Des'ree.

but didn't they get too seriously into being a normal rock band with it's gimmick ? the "cult" becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy i suppose

so i've steered clear of most of what they've done after their first three albums (albums i'm very fond of, cover art et. al.)

maybe i enjoy the cover art, the appearance of too much leather, all the peripheral baggage as much as the music -- yes the music is catchy, but i'm glad the lyrics are the way they are too

The cover artwork on those first two records is quite nice, much better than a fat guy dressed up like he was working road construction running at you with a plastic sword and some cheapy photography effect.

woah! ...?... could i, by any chance, entice you into a cd-r trade, dave q?!? like, some Brazen Hussies stuff in exchange for some i'm-tryin'-to-figure-out-wot-exactly-but-there-might-be-sum-thing... erm, wot a-bout it? :)
i'm serious, yes i am.

Okay, I'll try (although not to diminish Tyranny and Mutation in any way, a complete classic from the big-rock-finale intro to the bizarro song-transition bleeps throughout to the "oh yeah" at the start of "Mistress of the Salmon Salt"):

Subhumans, harvesters of eyes and cagey cretins, unite! On Secret Treaties, Long Island's favorite biker-fascists (their logo even looks like a drunken swastika) continued their career of evil (lyrics by Patti Smith) by splitting the difference between the math-rock compulsions of Tyranny and Mutation and the Byrds-of-prey breakthrough of "Don't Fear The Reaper," turning heavy metal into an art form and function that was far more sleek and sinister than anything Black Sabbath plucked from their soft white underbellies. Although the lyrics often sound like they were encrypted for transmission across enemy lines, all rubic carabs and junkers jumo 004 swimming with blue-eyed horseshoes in the state of Maine while Susie and her blindfolded brother dig "The Locomotion" in Times Square on New Year's Eve in 1963, there's no missing the Chuck Berry goosestep boogie of "ME 262," a stirring hymn to the Luftwaffe's jet fighter that also graces the cover, the whipcrack riffrot of "Dominance and Submission," the interstellar grandeur of "Astronomy" (adoringly covered by Metallica, who used this album as their blueprint), and especially the synthesonic apocalypso of "Flaming Telepaths," in which Alan Lanier's barrelhouse piano duels with Buck Dharma's dizbustin' guitar licks in a blown-hemi sprint to see who can peak first from the faster-and-louder rush, while singing-from-cue-cards Eric Bloom solemnly informs the listener that "the joke's on you." And just to prove that you know they know you know the secret of the circuitry mind, the remastered set encores with a slow-motion remodel of Steppenwolf's leather-lovable "Born To Be Wild." All hail the progenitorturers of the süpërflüöüs ümlät!

Also: CLUB NINJA?!

At one point they actually said "ARE YOU READY FOR MONSTER BASS RIFFS?" and did a 10 minute bass solo.

i found out later that the band had had trouble with people at gigs getting eye trouble from the laser show -- apparently a real controversy ? real eye problems ? eyes burned out ?

(i mean really, i hope this lyric coinciding with some accident to do with the early days of laser light show didn't seriously injure someone)

that's "the heat FROM below will burn your eyes out" from "Hot Rails to Hell," the best-ever song about New York subways (narrowly edging out the Dolls' "Subway Train" and Starz' "Subway Terror").

I'd totally buy more of their albums if I find them really cheap somewhere.

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I haven't heard St. Vitus. Their a Black Sabbath psuedo-cover band, right?

heh.

bumping for recent blue oyster cult obsessiveness. can't find the legacy reissues anywhere anymore. not that there's anything wrong with vinyl.

My love for BOC has been well documented. I've seen the legacy reissues in Best Buy, fairly recently. Are you in the UK? Anyway, totally classic in every way possible.

Didn't read all the way through this but I'll stack Secret Treaties up against just about anything. The bonus tracks aren't so hot ("born to be wild"?) but the album in it's original and/or remastered form is just rock & roll perfection.

ah, i didn't even think about best buy. hate that place, but it might be worth the trip.

"can't find the legacy reissues anywhere"

Imaginos just went on sale. Reissues were obvious at BestBuy before Xmas, particularly Spectres which I wasn't that fond of. I never much cared for their way with "Born to Be Wild" even when I saw the original line up do it. BOC mixed a bit of camp in with their old shows, or it was Bloom coming off as campy, and that song doesn't have much tolerance for it.

Bad post from a few years ago here:

"Blue Oyster Cult have a few good songs, but their drummer was quite sluggish and the keyboards overwhelm a some of their tunes."

I think people who criticize Al Bouchard have never actually heard BOC, just "Don't Fear the Reaper" on some crappy radio station. He was a gifted drummer.

Kick ass post by Adrian Hunter. I'll be looking for Imaginos in the stores.

pretty much invented pop-metal with Agents Of Fortune...used to love the campy "five guys with five guitars" bit in their live shows...I always look out for oyster boys when I go swimming in the ocean...they bite, you know!

what do folks think of the Buck Dharma LP?...I'm just now noticing that one in the racks...

I haven't heard it. Is it new?

The 5 guitar thing was pretty fucking awesome. These guys can still tear it up live.

To answer a question from 4 years ago, the "burn your eyes out" song (Hot Rails to Hell) has nothing to do with their laser show, which came a few years later. From what I gather, it's about a card game gone horribly wrong.

the Buck Dharma LP is from '83, I think...definitely not new...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-lwWAVS9L._SS500_.jpg

prolly shared the cover shoot w/ Mirrors

fire of unknown origin is their most under-rated album, a real sleeper

I always liked the way "Cagey Cretins" ("ooh Cagey, what you got?") reminded me of West Side Story...would have loved to see the Cagey Cretins go up against the Jets from School's Out...

A few weeks later, I was asleep on one particular morning when my phone woke me up. The voice on the phone said "do you play bass?" To which I replied "uh, yeah..." Then voice said "do you rock?" Then I said, "yeah, sure..." Then the voice said, "Do you want to play bass?" I said, "ok..." The voice said, "Ok, you're in. Go back to bed. I'll call you later," Then I hung up the phone, and went back to sleep. About 2 minutes later, I realized what had just happened. I sprung out of bed and told my mother, "I think I just joined Blue Öyster Cult!"

check out this cat's story:

I'm ten years older than BOC's bassist. Great.

dude was born the same year Cultosaurus Erectus came out...

I got to say there is quite a few cool demos and odd tracks on these Blue Oyster Cult reissues. I think the raw production really works on a few tracks.

Agreed. A dude up above was negative on Boorman the Cheauffuer. I actually like that one.

Great post:

The band themselves had precious little concern, apparently, for tonsorial/sartorial flair, I'll give you that.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, July 30, 2003 8:15 AM (11 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think all of the bonus tracks on Secret Treaties (including Boorman) are pretty awesome. "This song's about your mother... YOUR MOTHER!"

Bad post from a few years ago here:

"Blue Oyster Cult have a few good songs, but their drummer was quite sluggish and the keyboards overwhelm a some of their tunes."

I think people who criticize Al Bouchard have never actually heard BOC, just "Don't Fear the Reaper" on some crappy radio station. He was a gifted drummer.

― Bill Magill, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 21:49 (6 years ago) Permalink

I think that is one of my first posts on ILM. I've pretty much changed my opinion a couple times on BOC since that post. I think part of that statement probably goes that for years I always kind of figured they should have been a more heavy band, as I got to know them say next to Iron Maiden or other 80s metal/hard rock bands. I guess maybe always expected be more Sabbath riffing than the ornate keyboard arrangements. I think I started on the wrong two albums as I had Agents of Fortune, the first S/T'ed one and the 80s Best of. The first record has a pretty thin production sound. Agents of Fortune outside the big hit is a bit more keyboard dominated. I think hearing the live records and more 70s hard rock kind of changed where I file the band. Blue Oyster Cult really has a sound more out of the 60s band with all of the vocal harmony, multiple lead vocalists and use of the keyboards. While they had some numbers that did use big blues riffs, it's not really the center of their sound. The more you listen to the group you also begin to notice how much work was put into arrangements and lyrics. They were a cool band, I've come to really like quite a bit.

the part with the overlapping vocals -- "40,000 men and women everyday (like romeo and juliet) / 40,000 men and women everyday (redefine happiness)/ another forty-thousand coming everyday (we can be like they are)" -- is one of the best things regularly featured on FM radio today.

i never really thought to explore this band outside don't fear the reaper but i've always been a fan of that song. i've always associated it with hotel california, an incongruously gothic fixture of classic rock radio that evoked mystery and fascination in me as a child.

Blue Oyster Cult definitely has some other darkly ornate tracks if you are a fan of "Don't Fear the Reaper". I think "Astronomy" is just about as good, albeit somewhat lesser known or radio played.

"Nosferatu" another good one in that (uh) vein

I'm doing an extended BOC listening project with my brother, going through all the albums and writing about them. Fun. I think I never realized how much they pass the mic around. But I realized that I'm not sure who the third vocalist is, i.e. who sings "Dominance and Submission," "Cities on Flame," "Hot Rails to Hell." I'm guessing it's Joe, but I'm not sure. Anyone know for sure?

Albert sings Cities on Flame, I know that, and I think D&S.

Dominance and Submission - Albert
Cities on Flame - Albert
Hot Rails to Hell - Joe

This page has all the info you need :

http://www.hotrails.co.uk/songatorium/index.htm

Joe should have sung more. And al had a classic heavy metal voice. See also the chorus of Cagey Cretjns

Thanks everyone. I knew Al had a big hand in the band, but didn't realize he was the third vocalist. Weird how much he and Joe sound alike (my brother and I don't sound that much alike...).

Al's definitely not got the power or charisma of Buck or E. Bloom, but I agree Prince K, it is the most classically metal voice in the band. Hearing Cagey Cretins with the Bloom/Al B interplay is what prompted me to ask the question.

goddammit just when I thought I had bookmarked every BOC thread on here.

Give us a link to your chronological listening project?

Agree with recent revive: Secret Treaties has the best bonus tracks of the reissue campaign.

OU281/ME262: We're just doing it on email now, but might put it on line a little later Will let you know if we do.

When you get to the period between Revolution by Night and Club Ninja, look up the orig Albert demo versions of Imaginos on youtube. An essential piece of the puzzle (and we can live in hope that albert has better quality tapes of them that'll come out/leak someday...)

Thanks for the tip. Recently picked up Revolution by Night which I hadn't heard for twenty years at least (though I did see them on that tour!). Very uneven, but better than I'd remembered. Fire of Unknown Origin really surprised me, too. I like it better than Agents of Fortune, Specters, or any of those late 70s records.

Fire of Unknown Origin is their best album after the first 4 IMO

can't ever decide if i like cultosaurus or fire of unknown origin better but i like them both about as much as the first three

cultosaurus is awesome too, only The Marshall Plan knocks it to the 2nd shelf