Agents of Fortune

Books by blameless and by the dead
The king in yellow, the queen in red

...gets my vote, but near enough classic from beginning to end. Spectres just about edges it though, they were really into vampires around this time.

Final 3 songs are unimpeachable. Going with Debbie Denise, which along with True Confessions (the only Allen Lanier vocal in their catalogue) reveal a latent love of doo-wop.

don't think there's a bad song here

I could do without "Tattoo Vampire" and (the impeachable) "Debbie Denise", I prefer the CD bonus tracks "Fire of Unknown Origin" and "Sally".

"Tenderloin" is great, but "Morning Final" gets my vote because it manages to be psychedelic, ominous and funny all at once.

ETI
ETI
ETI

The chorus into guitar solo is for celebrating the departure of your last shreds of sanity as you line dance into the maw of some terrible cthulhu mythos being.

I agree with henry s about the last three. Grooves and melodies on "Morning Final" and "Tenderloin" are fantastic and I find "Debbie Denise" affecting. But "Revenge" also has a lot to recommend it. The more straightforward boogie hard rock songs are the ones I like a little less but I do still like them all. Leaning towards "Morning Final" atm but it's tough.

It's the reverb on "Morning Final" that paints the entire picture.

something like a five way tie between the last three songs + eti and vera gemini

yeah, i don't know if i have a single favorite song but the last 3 songs have always been my favorite part of the album.

yeah, they're all great songs.

i expect ETI will get the most votes.

Anybody know anything about Helen Wheels, who is credited (along with Albert Bouchard) as the co-writer of "Sinful Love" and "Tattoo Vampire?" I've always assumed some kind of NY scenester, this being the era when BOC sat at the cool kids table (Patti Smith, Jim Carroll, etc.) Can't find much about her on the 'nets.

There's a fair bit of information about her under the name Helen Robbins.

Wow - seems like she was very instrumental in developing the band's identity. It's a long way from "Arthur Comics" to "Dominance and Submission."

I find their relationships with collaborators outside the band one of the most interesting things about them, like Blue Oyster Cult is the concept and you bring in people to help realize it

One of my all-time BOC faves is "Goin' Through The Motions", which Eric Bloom co-wrote with Ian Hunter and could have easily been a late-period Mott classic.

I don't know a lot about their history, but wasn't there some sort of tension or conflict at one point against being seen as puppets of their producer/lyricists?

Well, they were one of the bigger touring acts of the 70's, so burnout probably set in. I'm guessing any conflict/tension re: lyricists/producers was spearheaded by Bloom, who seemed like he just wanted to rawk while the Bouchards were all over that sci-fi shit. Probably why they booked when they did.

I wouldn’t say they ever strongly rebelled against that way of working; it’s still their model with John Shirley now

xp Bloom was only the illiteratus by default. As Albert Bouchard put it "Eric Bloom was the one with his nose closest to the street but he went to college, too."

i couldn't conceive of a better frontman tbh

For them, or for anyone?

I don't know a lot about their history, but wasn't there some sort of tension or conflict at one point against being seen as puppets of their producer/lyricists?

― Halfway there but for you, Monday, November 22, 2021 4:26 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

they definitely had some kind of falling out with Pearlman after Spectres, they used other producers until he returned to the fold for Club Ninja, but I'm not sure of the specifics. Pearlman definitely positioned himself as the svengali/mastermind behind the BOC mythos

Pearlman only had one co-writing credit apiece on Agents of Fortune and Spectres, maybe they felt they'd outgrown him? Also they were unlikely to get hit singles with songs about...well, whatever his lyrics are about. Nazis, Mounties, telescopes, telepaths, all the rest of it.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Wow, had no idea that one was so well-liked.

We all found the saucer news.

All praise Balthazar!

Forgot to vote, sorry. Probably would have gone with “This Ain’t the Summer of Love.”