Greetings and welcome to this rarest of events – a mid-week review! I guess I’m needing some escapism, and I know of nothing better than delving into some music.
This next one is a live record. I’m not one for live albums generally, but I have five by this next band.
Disc 1601 is…Live ’83 (also known as Nail You Down)
Artist: Blue Oyster Cult
Year of Release: 1992 but originally recorded in…wait for it…1983
What’s up with the Cover? The boys of BOC, cleaned up and looking sharp. None sharper than Buck Dharma (centre). How I longed for Buck’s hair when I was a kid, but alas, it was my brother who was thus blessed.
I ended up with Eric Bloom’s hair (left) which I hated then but would learn to love as I got older and discovered the alternating joy of both a fully teased out afro, and the invention of styling gel.
How I Came To Know It: My buddy Ross bought this for me. This is the second time he’s bought me an album of BOC’s live music out of the blue (the previous one was “Setlist: The Very Best of Blue Oyster Cult” reviewed back at Disc 1333). Thanks again for the gift of music, Ross!
How It Stacks Up: I don’t stack compilation albums up, but I have been known to do so for live albums if they’re all from the same show or tour. While “Setlist” doesn’t make that cut, “Live ‘83” does, and I’ll put it 4th. And here’s the full list of them for you to revel in, or vehemently disagree with (I am good either way).
- Some Enchanted Evening: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 391)
- Extraterrestrial Live: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 930)
- On Your Feet or On Your Knees: 4 stars (reviewed
at Disc 716)
- Live ’83: 4 stars (reviewed right here)
Ratings: 4 stars
You know when you’re at a show and some doofus is standing in front of you holding up his phone and recording it all, so he can release a shakey-cam, tinny rendition of the show on Youtube later to prove he was there? Well, that’s the image I get when I think “bootleg.” So knowing that this Blue Oyster Cult performance, was a bootleg of a show held in 1983 at the Pasadena Perkins Palace in California, I was a bit concerned going in.
Turns out I didn’t need to be. The recording sounds a bit metallic around the edges but that provides a welcome new way to give these songs a fresh voice. It is as though their 1974 incarnation had somehow stepped through a time portal, learned their newer material from their future selves, and then let loose with the youthful off-campus flophouse jam where they spent their formative years. Of all their live records, this one feels the most visceral, even punk adjacent, if it weren’t for the fact that punk never thrashed its way through songs this structurally complicated. On “Live ‘83” the boys seem willing to just thrash away, trusting their talents and the bones of the songs to carry along the more complex aspects of their art.
Every Blue Oyster Cult live album I have is a treasure, and not just because these guys play so brilliantly together, or that they are one of the most innovative rock bands in history. It is because beneath that crazy brilliant mix of melodic rock, crunch and prog the boys are, in their hearts, a great jam band. Blue Oyster Cult know the value of a few carefully placed licks and solos that make a song twice as fun without you noticing it is also twice as long.
I have been known to gripe that in recent years Blue Oyster Cult’s setlists haven’t been sufficiently varied. This is partly that I’ve seen them a lot, and I’m always looking for new tunes in the setlist. They could literally play anything new and I’d be happy.
“Live ‘83” comes out just a year after their more famous commercial release “Extra Terrestrial Live” and so there is some natural crossover, but there are also a whole lot of unexpected and very welcome nuggets. Most notably, they play two of my favourite songs from their first album, “Stairway to the Stars” and “Workshop of the Telescopes”.
“Workshop of the Telescopes” was particularly delicious. Coming in thirty seconds shorter than the studio version, they sacrifice a bit of mystery for a whole lot more energy. The original is the hidden mystery of cultists gathered around a telescope located on some dark hill. The “Live ‘83” version is the same scene, but the cultists are moshing.
The band also gives some love to Buck Dharma’s 1982 solo album, “Flat Out” performing that record’s most BOC-ish tune, “Born to Rock”. Buck’s vocals and guitar work are both brimming with energy, knowing the band’s got his back, and that while he was away to make that record, he was never really away. (Of note, Buck is one of only two original members remaining in the band today).
I only have two gripes with this record. The first is the three-song encore. The band does three of their usual “welcome back to the stage” mainstays: “Born to Be Wild”, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and “Roadhouse Blues”. No complaints there, but somewhere between the main set and their return they either lost the original audio feed or something happened at the sound board, because things get a bit muddy.
My second gripe is that even at 4 stars, it is hard for this record to compete with all my other amazing live records by Blue Oyster Cult. OK, that’s not a gripe – more of a humble brag.
Best tracks: Love them all, but I gotta go with the new live stuff, so Stairway to the Stars, Workshop of the Telescopes and Born to Rock. This version of Burnin’ For You is also great.
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