Blue Oyster Cult: Classic or Dud?

this band was so fundamentally weird it's crazy.

it's true. smarter than they seemed and fucking odd.

Odd but fucking kick-ass. I love BOC. Sad that they are only known for the two or three classic rock radio hits-they don't do them justice.

...not that those couple-three hits aren't deservedly famous, of course.

I totally agree, that wasn't clear from my post.

If Gorge is reading this, it would be great if he could post that Creem Metal article he discussed a year ago.

and not just weird lyrically but they were such and odd mix musically, like you can hear (esp. on the early stuff) the vestiges of San Fran psych and Steppenwolf proto-hard rock boogie but there's something more menacing and angular about how they do it...also a metal element that's almost more there as an abstract feeling than *actual* metal music....then later stuff like "Joan Crawford" is what? AOR Goth?

Here's an excerpt from "Fear the Cheaper" which ran in the Voice back in 2001. It was a review of For the Heavy Metal Kids and the Yardbirds -- a Euro boot of Columbia's promo boot of BOC live ca. 72. Originally, it went to radio but there was enough fan and critical interest to ensure that it was issued commercially in a small run. It's also been in and out of reissue semi-regularly. The rendition of "Buck's Boogie" from it might have been the one that wound up on The Guitars That Destroyed the World anthology from around the same time. I can't remember, too long ago.
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...But the real reason for this tear is the re-arrival of For the Heavy Metal Kids and the Yardbirds, a live EP/CD of BÖC performing at a pizza parlor in Rochester in '72 that, I am informed, floats in and out of limited bootleg circulation every few years. The provenance is that it's a CD of a famous Columbia promo issued to radio shortly after the appearance of the first Blue Öyster Cult album.

For the Heavy Metal Kids has fairly obviously been mastered from original plastic. Listen close and you detect the light surface noise and rumble of turntable machinery, perfect in this case because it is precisely what BÖC sounded like back in someone's smelling-of-caked-joy-rag bedroom circa 1972. The tone is hot, airless as if heard in a stereo-equipped pine box, the band pressing stiflingly close upon the audience through a paralyzing smog of brutish, antique amplification.

Eric Bloom laughs maniacally and asks, "Wazzup, man?" as japing bullyboys chant, "You'd kill, you'd maim." This is eclipsed by the best performance of "Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll" on record. The number stalks the room in a transfixing exhibition of vulgar power, the signature riff pitting the guitar against the kick bass and floor tom in a bare-knuckles gang fight with the singer as referee. The packaging is a gatefold decorated with the half-menacing faux-Hunter S. Thompson gibber of "Transmaniacon MC." The disc even takes a stab at furthering the mythos of Gawlik.

In other words, the beating heart of For the Heavy Metal Kids brings everything BÖC's history merits to the table-its early mysterious harshness, the strong whiff of an impression that those who partook of it were members in a dream-world club of intellectual men of action and heavy-handed motorcycle thugs-everything the expected age-of-information product does not or will not provide.

And it's on a weird label named Munster.
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"Menacing" is an accurate way to describe the first three records. Even the strange way they (esp. the first two) were recorded gives you the willies. They were much freakier than their neighbors in Kiss, who came across as a cartoon.

xpost

Thanks Gorge

Alright, I don't get this. I'm crazy about this song "I Love The Night" but I tried to play the album that has Don't Fear The Reaper on it and the style just doesn't work for me. Do they have anything else like "I Love The Night"?

Yeah, that's about right. Liking "I Love the Night" at the expense of the other stuff cited doesn't get BOC. Run along now.

Bimble, I would check out Cultosaurus Erectus. "Deadline" is pretty close tonally.

LARB article on the origins of the phrase “career of evil,” with stops at Patti Smith and the Blue Öyster Cult.
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/careers-evil-migration-three-word-phrase-lautreamont-j-k-rowling-stops-patti-smith-blue-oyster-cult/

Proud to say I saw them in the Godzilla head days (my first concert, in fact).

Saw them tonight. They were great.

Will preface, I'm a casual fan, I know most of the first five albums and not much else.

Eric's voice is pretty diminished by now but he works with it the best he can and made it work. Buck sounded good still and he played his ass off all night.

Great setlist. Also it was at Sea World and the crowd was expecting a 45 minute hits and leftovers show and were not expecting a 90 minute eclectic set.

One lady, before the encode, actually said "what are they even gonna play, they played their three songs"

lol. I'd love to see them. They played regularly in Annapolis before the pandemic, which was a time in my life when I couldn't really afford concerts. Now that I'm slightly more able to, I would welcome them back.

One lady, before the encore, actually said "what are they even gonna play, they played their three songs"

Reaper, Burnin' For You...She's As Beautiful As A Foot?

Godzilla, I imagine

I heard Cities on Flame With Rock 'n' Roll in Royal Farms last month, which would indicate some level of rising popularity. However, checking setlist.fm, that one tends to be in the encore slot.

Do they still do that thing where they all come out and play guitar? I recall that always happened during their cover of "Born To Be Wild."

yeah they did that at the end

didn't realize Eric is 80 years old now! I think that is the oldest rock musician I've seen perform live now

That's wild! I saw Ian Hunter when he was 73 and was duly impressed, and he didn't EVEN have to play stun guitar.

The standard set almost always includes
—everyone on guitar at some point
—extended solos on last days of may (flashy Richie first, who is then schooled/domed by buck)
—either harvest moon or shooting shark but never both
—‘what’s that sound’ schtick from Eric into Godzilla

lol all four correct. Last Days of May solo trade-off was dope

Dare I ask if the Godzilla head is still featured?

It is not

Neando did they do black blade with the frantic synth at the end

I am sad that I haven’t seen them since before TSR came out bc I would LOVE to see The Alchemist live

Saw them last night at Canterbuy Park, a horse track, in MN, it was great. Start was a little shaky but after a couple of songs they seemed to find their footing.

We got "Black Blade", "Harvester of Eyes" and "Cities on Flame with Rock n Roll" as the encores

They are coming here in a few weeks, but prices are pretty high. I might wait a bit to see if they come down at all because it's still more than half unsold.

There were err...plenty of good seats still available at showtime last night

my 22 y/o informed music nerd kid went to see BÖC at thee Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. famous for inspiring The Shining I guess. his clips of show sound and look good enuf

Oh man that rules that they played there

So when each of our kids have turned five we give the option of getting to learn any instrument they want, no questions asked. Our second child decided harp, which we still have no idea where that instrument came into her mind.

Our youngest just turned five and she said she wanted to learn how to play the drums. So she goes over once a week now to her drum teacher’s house for lessons.

Her teacher is the BOC drummer. Her first set of drumsticks she’ll ever have owned will have a Blue Oyster Cult logo printed on them.

Seriously, A+ parenting.

amazing ❤️

Don't fear the (drum) teacher

happy 50th to agents of fortune

Her first set of drumsticks she’ll ever have owned will have a Blue Oyster Cult logo printed on them.

also this is incredible

happy 50th to agents of fortune

Strange...I hadn't seen anyone report this!

Should really have some sort of lavish legacy reissue. The earlier one with the four bonus tracks just ain't enough.

And it should include copies of those cryptic lyric sheets you could send away for.