Blue Oyster Cult [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Blue Oyster Cult | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 26, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1972
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00005LNBQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #204,120 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More Than Just a Reissue, July 21, 2001

By 

Dave_42 "Dave_42" (Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Blue Oyster Cult (Audio CD)

Sony deserves a lot of credit for doing more than just re-releasing the first four Blue Öyster Cult albums. These releases have something for the die-hard fans and for those that are new to the group. They include lyrics, photos, and liner notes by Lenny Kaye. They also contain additional tracks, the majority of which are previously unreleased. In addition the albums have been digitally remastered and sound great. They did leave out lyrics for the extra tracks, but that is a minor negative in what are overall great releases. Their self-titled first album, "Blue Öyster Cult", was originally recorded in October of 1971 and released in January of 1972. It was produced by Murray Krugman and Sandy Pearlman. This remastered version was released on June 26th of 2001.

The album's best known track is undoubtedly "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll", which according to Albert Bouchard was originally called "Siren Singalong", and was inspired by Black Sabbath's "The Wizard", MC5's "Motor City is Burning" and King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man". The album also contains several cuts which long time fans of the group are well acquainted with, such as "Transmaniacon MC", "Then Came the Last Days of May", "Stairway to the Stars", "Before the Kiss, a Redcap", and "I'm On the Lamb, But I Ain't No Sheep", which was rearranged and appeared on their second album and two of their live albums as "The Red & The Black". This is undoubtedly the most diverse album that BÖC ever released, and the group still plays many of these pieces in concert.

The four bonus tracks on this CD are demos that they recorded under the name Soft White Underbelly which is one of the names they used prior to getting a record contract. Tracks 11 and 13 were recorded on September 11th, 1969, and tracks 12 and 14 were recorded on July 21st, 1969. None of these tracks have ever been officially released before, although the band would again record "Donovan's Monkey", "What is Quicksand?", and "A Fact About Sneakers" in early 1970 under the name Stalk-Forrest Group and those recordings have since become available on the CD titled "St. Cecilia: The Elektra Recordings". I was very impressed with the sound quality of the bonus tracks. "Donovan's Monkey" would have fit in with their other material, while "Betty Lou's got a New Pair of Shoes" is a Bobby Freeman cover and is unlike other BÖC songs, but is still worth hearing.

The group consists of Eric Bloom (lead vocals, stun guitar, keyboards), Albert Bouchard (drums, vocals), Joe Bouchard (bass, vocals), Allen Lanier (rhythm guitar, keyboards), and Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (lead guitar, vocals). This lineup would remain unchanged for the first 12 years of the group's existence. Along with the band members, it is necessary to acknowledge Sandy Pearlman, Richard Meltzer, and Murray Krugman. All three contributed to the songwriting, and Pearlman was as indispensable to the success of the group as any of the band members.

Sony obviously put a great deal of thought into putting together a reissue that would be attractive to all types of listeners. This reissue deserves five stars for the effort; although the album is closer to four stars. It is a must have for the die-hard fans and a great place to start for those who are just getting into the group.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage debut from a vintage year for hard rock/proto metal., November 11, 2003

By 

Johnny S Geddes "OC" (Enlgand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Oyster Cult (Audio CD)

January 1972 provided something very new for the world. Vietnam was still raging but the Hippies had all gone home and 'Star Trek' had been canceled for two years and running. The 'me' decade was getting into full-swing when a hard-working New York band that had undergone several incarnations finally gave birth to a 12" by 12" black-&-white album upon which was depicted some kind of endless lunar antimaze atop which sat a cryptic symbol. Better still, the circular design around it all gave the impression that the prospective listener was staring at all this through a telescope lens.
This novelty was too intriguing to pass up for many of us. In the time it took between sighting it and getting it home to play it, the imagination was free to wander. They called it the American answer to Black Sabbath but this album looked space-age, not churchy or corpselike.

As a matter of fact, the instant 'Transmaniacon MC' strikes itself into life, it appears that no preconceptions could have served this kind of sound up in the mind. 'Blue Oyster Cult' is a new kind of hard rock - rocking in hard stings, rolling in controlled but varied tempos and never falling victim to traditional indulgences like the Blues. The album carries an identity card and attempts to define a progressive-metal sound that does something very intelligent indeed. As much as they crave remaining esoteric, sinister-leaning and cultish, B.O.C. manage not to alienate listeners accustomed to more straight-laced material. The lyrics are delectably fantastic, the hooks novel and punchy and the rhythm section calculated and military. Better still, the sequencing is such that ballad sits comfortably between rockers, and the two bits of folksy rock that happen don't stick out like sore thumbs. 'Cities On Flame', the album's mainstay, is just one track among (pretty much)equals. Years of jamming procured the band with similar heavyweights like 'Stairway to the Stars' and 'I'm On the Lamb But I Ain't No Sheep'. They branch out into ballad territory very well on 'Then Came the Last Days Of May' and 'Redeemed' is one of the most uplifting, spiritually rewarding tracks in the group's repertoire.

But there's another dimension at play here, showcased on 'Screams', 'She's As Beautiful As A Foot' and 'Workshop of the Telescopes'. While everything else on this album is hard rock the B.O.C. way, these songs are a tunage that defies genre pigeonholing.

On the bonus tracks, there is good, tasty evidence that goes some way to accounting for how this band came to sound as good as they did here and would in most of their ensuing works. Some might cynically argue that their inclusion is merely token or for marketing purposes but to be fair, there is much to be enjoyed on these. Yep, they're sweaty, clunking and dripping oil everywhere but these songs reflect an equally sweaty group, superlatively hungry to rock from amid their club-circuit peers and out into the world to fulfil a mission.

That mission? Hey, just listen to this album a few times and you'll quickly pick up on what Blue Oyster Cult are about. You'll never get 'over' this album and there's a great likelihood that you'll then want to follow them on their vision to be the heaviest kind of heavy metal alchemists by picking up more of their work.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The First Time Was The Best Time, July 10, 2001

By 

"randymix" (Albuquerque, New Mexico United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Oyster Cult (Audio CD)

I was never a huge Blue Oyster Cult fan, but their 'black and white' albums (the first three) were frequently on my turntable. The band had a way with a melody, and coupled with some truly bizzare--but fine--sci-fi-inspired writing, made some indelible seventies rock.

The best thing about "Blue Oyster Cult" and its twin 'black and white' siblings is that they haven't been lashed to the whipping post of 'Classic' rock radio and flogged until dead.

"She's As Beautiful As A Foot", "Then Came The Last Days Of May" and "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll" all provide stellar witness to this then-emerging band.

While most hard-core fans cite "Secret Treaties" as the best-ever BOC album, their debut has a sense of discovery and a willingness to take chances about it, of still-emerging greatness. The band's modus operandi hadn't solidified yet, so they used their lack of fame (and the attendant record label pressure) to experiment. They did things here they would never do again.

It is for that reason this remains my favorite, and Bruce Dickinson's remastering adds much to the original, which always sounded like you were listening to it through a thick woolen blanket.

Recommended to both Blue Oyster Cult fans and young'uns looking for a never-before-heard fix of fine seventies hard rock/heavy metal.

You won't regret it, I promise.