Wednesday, May 15, 2013

CD Odyssey Disc 514: Blue Oyster Cult

Finally another review of the band that I always feel most closely associated with – Blue Oyster Cult! (OK – tied for that honour with Alice Cooper and Leonard Cohen).

I am just back from guitar lessons with my guitar guru Josh, who thankfully taught me how to change my strings (they were sounding terrible).  Teach a man to fish, etc., etc.

He also taught me a new song – a Blue Rodeo favourite!  More on that later but for now, ladies and gentlemen; on your feet or on your knees; here they are, the amazing… Blue…Oyster…Cult!

Disc 514 is…. Spectres
Artist: Blue Oyster Cult

Year of Release: 1977

What’s up with the Cover?  There is a lot going on in this cover.  I think they were going for something that evoked an eerie smoking room in some Lovecraft short story, but it is pretty clearly a bunch of hastily arranged props in a photography studio.  The set decorators obviously had a lot of fun.  You can practically still hear them yelling, “more curiosities!  I want old luggage!  I want a mirror with a hand in it!  Give me an antique phone…an hourglass…and a bust.  Also – stuffed cat!  Stuffed cat!

Some of the guys took it more seriously than others, as you can tell.  Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom (centre) got all dressed up but some of the guys clearly just put a suit jacket on over their T-shirt.

At this stage of their career Blue Oyster Cult were renowned for their laser light show, so it is no surprise that they’ve managed to work frickin’ lasers into the cover as well.  These are mostly blasting out from behind the bookshelf, but one is going into (or out of) Donald Bloom’s eyes.  It doesn’t matter which because – lasers!  Man, I love this cover.

How I Came To Know It:  As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, I grew up listening to Blue Oyster Cult.  I first heard this album when my brother bought it in 1977. I was seven years old.  I’ve been hearing it ever since.

How It Stacks Up:  I have eleven studio albums by Blue Oyster Cult.  Of those albums, “Spectres” is one of my all-time favourites.  I’ll rank it third.

Rating:  5 stars.  Yes, at least two other BOC albums are five star albums.

Can excessively listening to an album over a thirty-five year span unduly influence how you feel about it?  Can it remove any hope for objectivity?  Probably, but since all knowledge is subjective, I don’t feel bad saying “Spectres” is a rock classic.

It begins with one of Blue Oyster Cult’s most iconic songs, “Godzilla.”  This song has one of the most recognizable rock riff openings in music.  Thick and reverbatory, it sets you up for the arrival of monster moviedom’s greatest star, Godzilla. Is it silly to sing about a giant lizard “[picking] up a bus and throwing it back down/as he wades through the village for the centre of town?”  Maybe, but Blue Oyster Cult treats the subject with such thorough reverence you are drawn in nonetheless.

It also helps that “Godzilla” features Buck Dharma – one of rock’s most accomplished players, delivering some of the greatest guitar work of his career.  As usual, Dharma lets the guitar occupy its proper place in the mix so the song is served first, and so his genius playing doesn’t tread on any other band members.  The song also has one of the funkiest bass solos ever.  Yes, in the seventies bands occasionally did bass solos.  It wasn’t easy, and there were many failed attempts, but on “Godzilla” BOC shows you can brave the bass solo if you do it right.  If you count the beginning of another “Spectres” track – “Searchin’ For Celine” they manage it twice on one record.

This album is about a lot more than “Godzilla.” “Spectres” showcases the bands many talents.  At times heavy rock like “Godzilla”, at times showing their love of sixties doo wop (“Goin’ Through the Motions”), and also delivering atmospheric progressive songs (“Golden Age of Leather,” “Death Valley Nights”).  Often they attempt grand themes which threaten to over-reach but never quite do.  This record is powerful even in its weirdest, campiest moments. 

As I may have mentioned in the past, I have an MP3 player that is pretty light on memory.  It only holds about 400 songs, and with the CD Odyssey ongoing, the turnover is pretty intense (my rule is that any song I mention in “best tracks” section must stay on for at least a run of 30 reviews and then it is a free-for-all).  Very little has lasted from my first upload five or six years ago, but “Spectres” has not one but two such survivors.

The first – “Death Valley Nights” – is half a dreamy mood piece with piano, and half a guitar driven rock extravaganza.  This song captures the loneliness of the desert at night, and how it reflects on the loneliness of separated relationships as well.  It is angst ridden, rebellious and in places downright mystical.

The other long-term MP3 survivor is “I Love the Night” a song about a man who encounters a vampire on a late night walk and soon succumbs to her charms.  Dharma’s creepy gothic guitar riff establishes a mood-drenched atmosphere better than anything he’d done since his masterpiece “Then Came the Last Days of May” on the band’s debut five albums prior (another song that never leaves my MP3 players).

I listen to this song repeatedly, often singing along.  One day soon I hope to learn it and play along on guitar as well.  It begins:

“That night her kiss told me it was over
I walked out late into the dark
The misty gloom seemed to soak up my sorrow
The further I went on
I felt a spreading calm

“Then suddenly my eyes were bathed in light
And the lovely lady in white was by my side
She said, “Like me I see you’re walking alone
Won’t you please stay?”
I couldn’t look away”

It may be schlocky to read but it impacts wonderfully as a song.  Listening to it this time around I am confident it inspired my first novel.  I have over a thousand albums full of songs, but only one ever inspired me to write a book, so that’s something special.

As an aside, there is a song called “Goin’ Through the Motions” which isn’t the strongest entry, but is a pretty little pop song that Bonnie Tyler covers on her “Faster Than the Speed of Night” album in 1983.  I will one day man up and purchase that record if only for the cover (I used to own it on tape).  It isn’t the greatest song on “Spectres”, but even the lesser lights have sufficient charm to catch the attention of not just me, but Ms. Tyler at the height of her career (it wasn’t a hit for her or BOC).

The album ends with “Nosferatu” an ode to the F.W. Murnau classic silent movie from 1922.  Along with “Godzilla,” “Nosferatu” reinforces my suspicion that the BOC boys liked to stay up and watch late night horror on TV.  In 1977 I was doing the same thing (yes, at age seven).

As with “Godzilla” they tackle “Nosferatu” with a sincerity that cuts through the many potential failings inherent in referencing pop culture.  Oh, also – “Nosferatu” the song features (again) some of the finest guitar work, a kick ass solo and some brilliant production decisions mixing piano in and out as needed.  The whole tale is ably told in under five and a half minutes, complete with all the love and lust and dark desire of the original story.  Here is a perfect song.

My only regret with this album is that when you see Blue Oyster Cult live these days they only ever play two songs (the obvious and “R.U. Ready to Rock.”  I would happily pay to see them play the entire record in order.

If you were to only ever own three Blue Oyster Cult albums (and you should have at least three), this should be one of them. An under-appreciated classic, from an under-appreciated band.

Bonus tracks:

I have three copies of “Spectres”:  the original album on vinyl, an original CD issue and a remastered version.  The vinyl is best, but the remastered CD is pretty good as well.  It also features four bonus tracks of varying quality.  Most don't grab me, but the one extra I do appreciate is a remake of the Ronette’s 1963 classic “Be My Baby.”  Like KISS singing “Then She Kissed Me” on “Love Gun,” this song demonstrates BOC’s early musical roots, and their genuine affection for early doo wop.  Also, they do a fine job of the song.

I usually only listen to the original album only, however, because the ten original tracks are so perfectly put together that adding any of the bonus material just spoils the mood.  This record should always be book-ended by “Godzilla” at the front, “Nosferatu” at the end and eight other amazing songs filling in the middle.

Best tracks:  all ten original tracks, and “Be My Baby” from the bonus material, if you’re inclined.

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