Back when I worked sorting bottles
at a recycling depot we used to listen to a radio station that had what they called "a house band’ which was basically their adoptive band; first in their hearts and frequently
played. This next band is my ‘house band.’ As this blog attests, I like a lot of
different kinds of music, but few are as close to my heart as these guys.
Disc 463 is…Agents of Fortune
Artist: Blue
Oyster Cult
Year of Release: 1976
What’s up with the Cover? This cover is awesome – so awesome I spent fifteen
minutes just looking up the artist (Lynn Curlee) who still has a studio in New
York City.
It looks like some sort of cross
between the Men in Black, a fortune teller and a Vegas blackjack dealer shows
four of his finest cards. All the while,
the dealer is giving the coolest of one finger points down low, subtly drawing
your attention to the Blue Oyster Cult symbol that is always featured somewhere
on BOC covers. When I was a kid my older
brother Virgil would make a game of taking out his Blue Oyster Cult LPs and getting
me to find all the BOC symbols on the cover of each. No wonder BOC is my house band.
Speaking of Virgil, I’ve always
thought this guy looked a lot like him, except that my brother has worn a
tuxedo exactly never (I think he once put on a tie for one of his best friend’s
weddings. He’s more the outdoorsy type.
How I Came To Know It: If you’ve been reading along you’ll deduce that I’ve
known this album since I was a kid. My
brother bought it when it came out (I was six, he was thirteen) and I’ve been
listening to it ever since. Admittedly
the other kids in Grade One did not know what I was going on about, but I was
pretty certain this was cooler than Sean Cassidy and Donnie Osmond. I think time has proved me right.
How It Stacks Up: I have eleven studio albums by BOC, which is
everything up to Imaginos (as well as three live albums). “Agents of Fortune” is awesome, but competition
is fierce at the top. I’ll put it
solidly in 5th place, just edging out “Cultosaurus Erectus” (reviewed
back at Disc 206).
Rating: 4 stars
After
three albums of dark progressive rock, “Agents of Fortune” draws Blue Oyster
Cult down a slightly different path, as they incorporate pop and jazz elements
into their work. It is a departure that
not all early fans liked, but I think it works fabulously.
The
great hit that has sadly overshadowed this album is “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” which despite being played with great
consistency on the radio for over thirty five years, is as fresh today as it
ever was. You could release that song
for the first time ever tomorrow and it would still be an instant classic. However, I’d prefer to focus on some of the
songs readers may not know (likely most of them, if you are not a BOC junkie).
“E.T.I.” is one of the finest rock riffs
ever written; a song that grabs you by your tender parts with its first notes
and never lets go. Sure, the topic is
some strange encounter with a spaceship (that may or may not have some kind of
elder gods or demons onboard – I’m never certain). That’s just Blue Oyster Cult. They’re not content to write a kick ass riff
and then waste it on such obvious topics of love, death or rock and roll. If it doesn’t feature a King in Yellow and a
Queen in Red it isn’t finished yet – and all the better if you’re not sure who
the hell these people(?) are. Did I
mention this is one of the finest rock riffs ever written? If you don’t like the weirdness that
accompanies it then feel free to ignore that part, but I challenge you not to bob
your head until your (hopefully) long hair falls in front of your face.
One of
my great loves about Blue Oyster Cult is that they are truly a band. No instrument – not vocals, not guitar, not
horn – dominates over any other.
Everything gets a fair shake in the mix, and this in turn allows you to
really appreciate how all the parts come together.
Sometimes
this means genius guitar playing by Buck Dharma doesn’t get the attention it
deserves, but that just makes me like him more as the most unassuming axe-god
in rock and roll. When he does get a
tasteful minute or two of guitar solo, such as on “Sinful Love” he reminds you of how great he is, the greater that he
knows just when to say when.
Pop
elements emerge on songs like “True
Confessions” which with its jangly piano and sparse arrangement sounds more
like a fifties hit. Around this time
Blue Oyster Cult starts to show their musical roots, and that they no doubt
grew up with: Bill Haley, doo-wop and Buddy Holly. On “True
Confessions” Buck even shares his guitar solo time with a horn section.
“Debbie Denise” is a straight ahead pop
song, about a girl who waits patiently for her musician boyfriend to come home. She waits by the window for her man to come
home – first patiently, later bitterly – but the singer advises ‘I was out rolling with my band” and not
coming home. Set to piano and cymbals, and
sung at times in falsetto (I think by Dharma, who also has good rock chops),
this song kicks the crap out of much more famous songs on the subject, like
Kiss’ “Beth.”
Despite
these dalliances, there is still plenty of prog to go around, particularly on
songs like “Tattoo Vampire” and “Tenderloin.” Both songs are about the seedy
side of rock and roll. “Tattoo Vampire” is about visiting a
Chinese tattoo parlour. It starts with a
beat that sounds like someone shaking a box of cards before launching into a
catchy blues riff. However, this being
Blue Oyster Cult it quickly fades into yet another brilliant Buck Dharma guitar
piece, weird and roomy with the hint of Allen Lanier’s keyboards in the
background reminding you that in 1976 visiting a tattoo parlour was still a wild,
dangerous and edgy thing to do.
“Tenderloin” is more like a beefed up
jazz riff, trilling synthesizer and guitar setting the stage for an all-night
party that only ends when the drugs runs out.
No sooner does Eric Bloom sing:
“I come to you in a blue, blue
room
By some abuse and some heart
You raise the blinds say
‘Let’s have light on life
Let’s watch it fall apart.”
That the
music follows suit, with the song descends into a weird jazz odyssey that –
despite all the careful effort to pull it in different directions – is always
at its core pure rock and roll.
Maybe
the greatest testament to this album is that I’ve known it almost my entire
life and I still love listening to it in its entirety. Like most BOC albums, I also own it on vinyl,
and when I put it on the turntable I’m never disappointed. “Agents of Fortune” has great musicianship, a
range of style and of song choice spread over a tastefully restrained ten
tracks, and music that combines both the simple energy of rock and roll with
complex nuances that appeal to an experienced listener.
Bonus Tracks:
“Agents of Fortune” is one of four BOC albums
that were remastered a few years ago and a few extra tracks were added to each. I’m not always a fan of this, but the added
tracks are far more interesting than usual.
Of the four, two are particularly interesting.
The
first is the original 4-track demo of “(Don’t
Fear) the Reaper,” which is known as the ‘no cowbell version’ for reasons I
will let you deduce on your own. Slightly
slower, and all the more haunting for not having any extra production value, I
like it almost as much as the one that was included on the original record. Sheila even has both versions on her MP3
player.
The
other cool track is a completely different version of the song “Fire of Unknown Origin” which would
eventually appear on the 1981 classic album of the same name. The lyrics are exactly the same, but the song
is completely different. Musically it is
not a different version, but a completely different tune. It is surprisingly good, and it amazes me with
how completely unlike the original it is – opting for a weird and Lovecraftian
minor chord structure over the more rock approach the final version ends up
with.
The
other two bonus tracks aren’t as good. “Sally” is a bit of strange sixties
throwback, and “Dance the Night Away”
is a fairly atrocious demo by Allen Lanier that was fortunately never originally
included on a studio album in any form.
I prefer
bonus tracks on a separate disc, but these ones I can live with, and even
enjoy. Also, it would take a really bad
four song selection to wreck the excellence that comes before.
Best tracks: (Don’t Fear) The Reaper (both versions), E.T.I.
(Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), Sinful Love, Morning Final, Tenderloin,
Debbie Denise
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