Blue Oyster Cult: Classic or Dud?

tyler, yeah in my opinion. But the only actual dud was In Thee. You should hear the whole show cuz why not.

Since y'all are gonna hear this show now, I'm curious what you think about the long solo section of 'Last Days Of May'. Castellano takes a several minute gtr solo, then Buck takes a several minute gtr solo. It put me very specifically in mind of when I saw Nusrat Fateh Khan & Party in Seattle in the early nineties-- he had this younger qawwali singer at his right hand who kept doing all these long super-flashy melismas and then Nusrat would come in and just crush his young techy ass with one syllable.

also thinking of breaking down & buying the set

(typing onna ipad, how the fuck do people do this?)

Basically, I'm hoping there'll be a good deal on it on dec. 26th.

Anybody heard the remastered "On Your Feet...."? Is it a significant improvement?

I've heard it (On Your Feet). It sounds fantastic.

Shit, i think you just cost me $120 or however much the box costs!

I've also heard the remaster of Cultosaurus Erectus, which sounds great too. So I'm assuming they did a really good job on the other studio albums that haven't been tweaked since whenever.

Yeah I'm hoping this box will spark a renaissance of Cultosaurus appreciation. Such an amazing album.

what about mirrors, kinda hate the brassy 80s production on that, hopefully mastering can help

Cultosaurus Erectus is so crewsh

Martin Birch FTW

i think tom werman produced mirrors, that guy sucks

have you read the Martin Popoff BOC book yet? (if not DO IT)

no i haven't, i read a chapter online once seemed cool, seemed really trainspotter-ish but that's kinda what i want

yeah it's exactly like a really really long BOC zine with access to all the players, you'll love it.

Looks like these may be the droids / individually released remasters you're looking for. Anyone heard anything about this? Would be psyched for a really good sounding OYFOOYK

http://www.culturefactoryusa.com/new-releases/view/productdetails/virtuemart_product_id/106/virtuemart_category_id/4

awesome, looking forward to that

there's a youtube of redcap from march 5th that claims to be "remastered", but i can't tell the diff

I'm still gonna opt for the box set. Just got my (modest) annual bonus, maybe now's the time.

Apparently, the movie Oblivion has a close up of the Some Enchanted Evening sleeve in it. Come with me, young man...

Just scores the Martin Popoff book -- very satisfying. Thanks for the tip, Mr Spatula

I'm seeing reports on fb that Allen Lanier has died.

Eric Bloom posted this on FB

My great friend Allen Lanier has passed. I'll miss the guy even though we hadn't spoken in awhile. He was so talented as a musician and a thinker. He read voraciously, all kinds of things, especially comparative religion. We drove for years together, shared rooms in the early days. We partied, laughed, played. All BOC fans and band members will mourn his death. Ultimately smoking finally got to him. He had been hospitalized with C.O.P.D. It was Allen who heard some old college band tapes of mine and suggested I get a shot as the singer in 1968. A lot of great memories, over 40 years worth. Maybe he's playing a tune with Jim Carroll right now.

Fuck.

That sucks. He was the coolest (certainly the tallest!) of the Cult. His association with Jim Carroll and Patti Smith made them way hipper than their metal peers. And though he couldn't sing, he still managed to write some of their most touching tunes. RIP.

Oh no, not entirely unexpected but very sad to see another guy from that era go. Check out his playing on Nosferatu, Joan Crawford or Flaming Telepaths to hear what a hard rock keyboard player should be. RIP.

oh man RIP :(

RIP.

I tried to offer some thoughts on Lanier's influence, since I haven't really seen too many sites/news outlets do so today.

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/music/blogs/post--allen-lanier-of-blue-öyster-cult-dead-at-67

Aw damn. That "Flaming Telepaths" Moog solo is alltime

RIP

Sorry, here's a proper link to my Lanier obit:

http://on-msn.com/1cERWxl

Jesus fucking christ

Jesus FUCKING Christ

real tears rn

can't even

listening to burnin for you, the synth pads on this song are so crucial

He looked really bad onstage at the 40th anniversary show in NYC. But I didn't expect this.

Hey hold on, how did I miss this, RIP Allen.

CELEBRATING ALLEN

When we were in the planning stages for last year’s 40th Anniversary celebration show one of the “surprises” was going to be Allen joining the band on stage with guest vocalist Patti Smith performing one of the many BӦC songs for which Patti had written the lyric.

Sadly, the show was postponed by Hurricane Sandy, and Patti was out of the country on the rescheduled date.

I captured a rehearsal take on my cell phone, and Patti has been gracious enough to let us share it with everyone.

So here’s Eric, Buck, Richie, Jules, and Kasim joined by Allen and Patti for “Career of Evil”.

SLS

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151766278794780

aw sad that didn't happen

Nice obit here : http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/features/allen-lanier-1946-2013/

That's a good obit.

I love when Dharma is referred to as "Donald Roeser". Im like, who????

So stoked for the free BOC show at the MN state Fair

I was gonna be there this week and next week too!!! Had to postpone our mn trip cause of my stupid arm. Then the boc announcement arrrgh

Just saw them in Boston.
Good (not great) show (I'd kinda prefer hearing 'Tyranny...' from beginning to end!)... pretty short set list too. 8-10 songs or so.

Still... first time I've gotten to see them and I'm happy I did.

Just found out these guys are playing near here next week (with Foghat). I've been listening to the first two records pretty much every day for the past couple of weeks, so it was a nice surprise to find out. I always have the hardest time convincing myself to go to shows, but I think I should really try to go to this one; my list of shows I regret not going to is long enough already.

Go. They were great when I saw them a year and a half ago. And nothing lasts forever, so go.

Saw em last summer and it was great. State Fair free stage and they still pulled out some deep cuts

did they do "Lips in the Hills"? That was a highlight of the anniversary show

Nope but Golden Age of Leather, the Vigil, and Black Blade were unexpected

That was a pretty awesome show! Maybe a few too many extended solos toward the end (didn't bother me too much but my wife and friends weren't having it at all), but a pretty solid set overall!

OK, thanks to the Classic Rock poll thread I started combing through BOC's catalogue in search of something else that sounded as great as Reaper, in that same vein. A week later I still haven't found it but I found this other incredibly weird band instead. Like some of the earlier posters here, I've tried here and there to get BOC over the years, but found it an opaque mix of intriguing and awful without a consistent point of reference. However, after listening to Veterans of Psychic Wars about 2 dozen times this week, they've started to win me over on sheer unpredictability alone. So far I've responded best to Fire of Unknown Origin & Cultasaurus Erectus, but there's obviously much much more to discover.

they've started to win me over on sheer unpredictability alone. So far I've responded best to Fire of Unknown Origin & Cultasaurus Erectus, but there's obviously much much more to discover.

lol, that was exactly my entry trajectory: "reaper" on late 70s radio, followed by "veterans" on the heavy metal soundtrack in the summer of '81. FOUO and cultosaurus are two of my favorites, love the mix of true cult oddity and streamlined 80s pop. i don't know what you've heard and haven't, but "opaque mix of intriguing and awful" fairly describes my reaction to some of their most successful releases. think the best approach is just to marinate in the first three albums until your marbles start to roll around on the floor.

Secret Treaties is pretty perfect

Blue Oyster Cult has become a favorite of mine in the past few years. I have been listening to them on and off forever, but I think I was always wished they were a heavier rock band like Sabbath and some of their hits might indicate. It seemed their aesthetic finally kicked in for me and I really like them now. The first couple albums they seem like a very dark and evil version of the west coast ballroom rock bands then they morf into a group really under their own rules. It's really arranged music at times kind of like prog rock, but not ornate. I think some of this is how they would switch off on keyboards to extra guitars and the multiple vocalists. Their music can be kind of intricate, which might be why you don't see too many covers of BOC. I think they hold up pretty well.