Blue Oyster Cult: Classic or Dud?

Shame it all fell apart with Albert Bouchard (the primary writer) around then, I think they had one great new wave-y album left in them.

Probably in the minority here, but I vastly prefer the demo version of "Fire of Unknown Origin" (tacked onto the Agents reissue) to the one that was eventually released. You can practically hear Patti Smith singing the earlier version, and I'll take Joe B. over Eric Bloom most any day.

yeah that one is pretty great

I think they had one great new wave-y album left in them.

― my shear modulus is weakening (Matt #2), Wednesday, February 24, 2021 9:33 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

they made it, it's called the revölution by night

does suffer for albert's absence tho true

that's an underrated one. obv "shooting shark" is a live staple, i really love "veins" which is the second-to-last richard meltzer lyric they used i think (they used his "spy in the house of night" on club ninja but i think they didn't ask him and melz got really pissed and didn't talk to them again)

Albert Bouchard (the primary writer)

Well observed.

Been on a big BOC kick lately, started when I picked up the surprisingly great Albert Bouchard Re Imaginos. Feel like it's time for the Stalk-Forrest Group comp to get reissued again, going for crazy money.

― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, February 11, 2021 12:41 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

listening to this again and it's really worth your time, definitely interesting to hear what he thought imaginos was going to be, his voice is a little shakier at points but still pretty good and it's really a nice sounding record (imaginos is just produced like fucking garbage)...but it *feels* like a BOC album even if it's technically a solo album

I got FoUO recently after rwading about it on here, funnily enough the post thay convinced me i needed it was derogatory iirc.

It's my third favorite BOC album after Tyranny and Secret Treaties. I wouldn't fault anyone for saying it's their best album.

listening to this again and it's really worth your time, definitely interesting to hear what he thought imaginos was going to be, his voice is a little shakier at points but still pretty good and it's really a nice sounding record (imaginos is just produced like fucking garbage)...but it *feels* like a BOC album even if it's technically a solo album

Yeah, I played Re Imaginos again last night and it's really good. It's no patch on prime BOC, but it's nice to hear something closer to Bouchard's original version and you are otm, it sounds incredible.

woah this is cool - blue oyster cult by voices

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odfQ11PByac

I'll take Joe B. over Eric Bloom most any day

Every time I listen to a BOC song sung by a Bouchard I think "I wish Eric was singing this".

Both of you are wrong.

xp love that demo, it's the best version

FoUO and OYFoOYK are I think tied for my favorite at this point, with the latter to be understood as an avatar for all the BOC bootlegs I have mainlined

Speaking of which, I scoured all over the damn place trying to find bootlegs where they perform the more interesting deep cuts from Revolution By Night (“Veins”, “Shadow of California” and “Feel the Thunder”) - I was only able to find one and its in pretty terrible sound quality

Also - i think it’s a little cruel of buck that he either performs “Shark” or “Harvest” at a given show but never both of them!

Veins is a really great deep cut

It’s top notch and hooky as fuck

Since you mention OYFoOYK I thought I'd mention that I checked it out a while back and was blown away by how great "Born to Be Wild" sounded, especially the mental white noise section toward the end. It might as well be late 80s Sonic Youth at that point.

Just sharing this here because I only just found out about it myself, but Bouchard's already got a follow-up to Re-Imaginos coming out in a few weeks (maybe digitally even sooner, this week maybe?). It's the second part of a now planned trilogy, Re-Imaginos 2: Bombs Over Germany.

tracklist:

“When War Comes”
“Independence Day”
“7 Screaming Dizbusters”
“OD’d on Life Itself”
“Il Duce”
“Bombs over Germany”
“Before the Kiss (A Redcap)”
“Three Sisters”
“Quicklime Girl (Mistress of the Salmon Salt)”
“The Red and the Black”
“Dominance and Submission”
“Shadow of California”
“Cities on Flame (with Rock and Roll)”
“Half Life Times”

oh wow, interesting

really wish this project could have been done with the whole band when lanier was still alive but still really cool to see something more approximating the original plan

oh wow, interesting

really wish this project could have been done with the whole band when lanier was still alive but still really cool to see something more approximating the original plan

Very cool - I have not got round to getting reimaginos yet but I’ll get both when vol 2 comes out

that tracklist is unfuckwithable i must say

mistress of the salmon salt is underrated.

Not sure if anybody here reads Maggot Brain, the periodical published by Third Man Records, but a recent issue had a great and lengthy article about the lyric sheets you could send away for, the address of which was printed on the back covers of the first three (I think) BOC albums.

I love watching extended live versions of "Veteran" where Dharma really stretched out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pFdkkjGiEs

Ha, that was meant for the Fire of Unknown Origin thread but it works here too.

Not sure if anybody here reads Maggot Brain, the periodical published by Third Man Records, but a recent issue had a great and lengthy article about the lyric sheets you could send away for, the address of which was printed on the back covers of the first three (I think) BOC albums.

That was a great read! Shortly after I read it I ended up at a antiques shop that had a surprising number of (way overpriced) BOC vinyl, but I went through all of them just in case someone had stashed those printed out lyric sheets in one of them.

I too hunt for those lyric sheets in second hand shops, that somebody might have stashed away in an old BOC record jacket, but still have not hit pay dirt.

The debut came out 50 years ago today!

For someone relatively new to the band, are the first four albums generally the ones to check out? Or is a compilation better?

the first two are of a piece. on the next two the concept starts to unravel, and they start the long road to becoming...something else, which is still really good, but requires a little more injection of...faith? it's kind of like the monkees, where they emerge without warning as a real band made up of individuals. this really doesn't come through on the comps.

it's sort of one or the other. you either commit to the deep dive or you don't. the deep dive is rewarding, but you have to put in the effort.

i would say start with secret treaties or fire of unknown origin then fill in the blanks as you see fit

First album retains a little more of the psychedelic feel, and the songs are shorter.
Tyranny & Mutation and Secret Treaties head fully into occult-ish hard rock/prog, this is their peak.
Agents of Fortune and Spectres introduce some soft rock and sound a touch less cohesive (they weren't really writing as a band by that point) but are still mostly great.
Mirrors is a soft rock misstep.
Cultosaurus Erectus heads back to the earlier sound, although I think it's overrated largely due to having a memorable cover.
Fire of Unknown Origin is a surprisingly successful incorporation of new wave influences.
Then Albert Bouchard left and they didn't do anything much worth a shit after that.

And that's my personal rundown of their oeuvre!

Oh yeah, check out the pre-Oyster Stalk-Forrest Group album too, very much a psych rock band at that point though

Then Albert Bouchard left and they didn't do anything much worth a shit after that.

The "Take Me Away" video is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1NYhbiiiFw

As is the one for "Shooting Shark"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvsthsbbLfM

revolution by night is a sleeper
curse of the hidden mirror was surprising good as was the symbol remains

Could get the first two or three albums and then the Workshop Of The Telescopes 2xCD for the rest.

Their discography is so weird. Just based on how it sounds, and the quality of the material, I would expect Fire to come either right before or right after Spectres, not that late in their career.

"Fire of Unknown Origin" itself was a leftover from Agents of Fortune.

Workshop of The Telescopes is a little lopsided, with the second disc covering Agents-->Club Ninja, shortchanging Fire of... in particular. Still, it's the most panoramic comp the band ever got (not counting the Columbia albums box).

https://www.allmusic.com/album/workshop-of-the-telescopes-mw0000176248

become an obsessive BOC fan right away imo

^^Probably the best course of action, lol.

A cool thing about BÖC is that they only had a couple of radio staples that Classic Rock stations could run into the ground, so digging into the catalogue reveals a lot of hidden in plain sight gems.

Also the regular remasters of the first five studio sets on CD are loaded with quality bonus material and only list for $7 a pop (and frequently can be found for less).

good point they have extraordinarily quality bonus tracks

ums otm, C. Grisso/McCain otm

i started with some enchanted evening (a favorite of the 'rocker' kid at my ymca camp 2 years my senior who played the drums and wore a bandana everywhere, BOC were his favorite band) and then agents of fortune. did not become an obsessive fan right away, but the 'tyranny & mvtatvion'/ 'secret treaties' one two punch did the trick eventually.

Spectres is the album I've played most in recent years, a real sleeper, at least two-thirds top notch Oyster (as I've taken to calling them).

i will admit that i listened to fireworks on repeat for more than an hour the week after halloween.
i kinda suspect they were trying to make certain songs sound more like reaper. there are textural, uh, similarities.

I've grown to really love Mirrors in recent years. "The Vigil" us one of their greatest moments.

I like "In Thee" a lot too

I love most of “Mirrors” in spite of itself. The aforementioned songs, but also the title track, “You’re Not the One (I Was Looking For)” is a decent stab at power pop, and “Dr. Music” is high grade cheese. The only song I’ve never really got behind is “Great Sun Jester.”