Customer Reviews

Cultosaurus Erectus

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As BLUE OYSTER CULT roared into the 80's, one had to wonder if they would be able to maintain the high quality of their work for another decade. The 70's had been amazing. Album-after-album, B.O.C. had remained in the top tier of American hard rock acts. The 1980 release of "Cultosaurus Erectus" saw a continuation of the brilliance B.O.C. had displayed throughout the 70's. Song for song "C. Erectus" matched any previous album and silenced those who thought B.O.C. would falter in the burgeoning new-wave, punk, and NWOBHM early 80's scenes. "C. Erectus" blended elements of all the above styles with the classic B.O.C. "sound" , which was captured with typical brilliance by production god Martin Birch. It's hard to believe that Birch produced "Cultosaurus Erectus" as well as Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell" LP in the same year!!! "C. Erectus" is a must have for any B.O.C. fan. Fans of punk like Radio Birdman and DMZ, as well as fans of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal will also be quite satisfied by B.O.C.'s 1980 masterpiece. So get out the blow, roll a joint, and blast "Cultosaurus Erectus" at full volume in celebration of one of rock's greatest bands!!!!

Unfortunately, this album seems to be often overlooked. However, it's one of the band's greatest albums. It's a bit more commercial than some of their previous albums (it doesn't have the garage sound that made the first few albums so haunting). However, it has some of their very best hard rockers.

"Black Blade" is the band's best opening song ever. Then it cruises into Monsters, another awesome track. This one's kinda weird cause it has some jazz parts, but its all good. The other standouts are Divine Wind, the Marshall Plan, Lips in the Hills, and Unknown Tongue. I usually only skip a few songs on the album, which is far less than some of the band's "more famous" albums.

Many say this is heavy metal for the masses. I think that this album is one of their crowning achievements. Granted it doesn't have anything as good as "Don't Fear the Reaper" or "Then Came the Last Days of May", but song for song, the album as a whole is one of their very strongest. Only their debut is better.

One of the best BOC LPs, produced in glory by one of the masters, Martin Birch. By "best" I mean: dark, heavy, classy & original. The Oyster Boys let loose some pearls like "Lips...", Buck's "Deadline", Joey's sunny-sounding "Fallen Angel" & the eerie "Unknown Tongue." Eric Bloom has never sounded more in command. Check out the other side to this coin=Fire of Unknown Origin. And for those not on board yet go see em live, NOW, on the road forever.

After the disastrous sales of the pop and disco oriented ' Mirrors ' (and the fans not so good reaction toward that album), B.O.C. decided to get weird and heavier again with 1980's ' Cultosaurus Erectus '. I remember my brothers and I being excited when we first saw the album. We could tell by just looking at the front and back covers that B.O.C. were heading in the right direction again.

The first half of the album made me a happy B.O.C. fan again. The opening cut, ' Black Blade ', was a collaboration between Eric Bloom, his old Lost and Found bandmate John Trivers and sci-fi writer Michael Moorcock, and was based on Moorcock's Elric series. This is a good song (I remember being excited when I heard it on the radio), though I like the live version from E.T.L. even better! 'Monsters' is a solid hard rock song which is once again sung by Bloom (who didn't sing too much on their two previous albums) and has a very weird, almost comedic jazzy break in it. 'Divine Wind' is another hard rocker, with a strong vocal once again from Bloom (although it was written by Roeser) and 'Deadline', also written by Roeser, is a laid back, but melodic number.

Unfortunately, I hate the second half about as much as I like the first half. The album goes straight to the toilet with 'The Marshall Plan ', which covers the same lyrical ground as Foreigner's 'Juke Box Hero ' and Bryan Adam's ' Summer Of '69 '( though not quite as successfully). Unfortunately, the music and the vocals for this song are dreadful. In my opinion, a career low for B.O.C. The album never really recovers after this song, though it does get just a wee bit better. I have had this album for over twenty years and I have never gotten into the last four songs. I have a difficult time remembering how they sound and I even forget the song titles, which is bad for me.

So, the album was a step back in the right direction...the songs are heavier, the lyrical themes a bit more in the tradion of older B.O.C. songs, the guitars are louder, the front and back covers are cool to look at. Maybe they should have released this as an EP....

I don't know what that "critic" above was thinking when he called this "cheese metal". This album does not only rock ("The Marshall Plan"/"Lips In The Hills"), as the lyrics of such songs as "Deadline" and "Unknown Tongue" have the power to make your blood run cold.

BOC are my favourite band. And I will tell you this now - "Cultosaurus Erectus" is not their only truly great album.

blue oyster cult,s cultosaurus erectus was released in 1980.cultosaurus erectus was the first album b.o.c. made with very famous rock producer martin birch and the results were and are one of blue oyster cult,s strongest albums so far!martin birch also produced black sabbath,s heaven and hell the same year or so as this album. it also happened that blue oyster cult and black sabbath toured together that year on what was called the ;black and blue tour and it was great!this tour was also filmed and released as the black and blue movie which i would love to see released on dvd with 5.1 digital sound...maybe someday. black blade has got to be one of b.o.c,s coolest songs ever!!! eric bloom wrote this one with famous sci fi author michael moorcock[nice last name eh?..well anyway for me the great ones are;black blade [crank this one!!],divine wind,lips in the hills[play this one loud!!],monsters [which is kind of jazzy but very cool]hungry boys,fallen angel and unknown tongue. these tunes make this great b.o.c. album one of their best ones in my opinion.the remastering on this 1999 rewind edition is o.k. however i would like to see this and other b.o.c. albums remastered with bonus cuts with 2009 technology! but until a new round of remasters this one will do.

There's never been a Blue Oyster Cult album that hasn't had songs on it that make it worth listening to, if not purchasing outright. The first four songs on CULTOSAURUS ERECTUS are the four main keepers on this one, particularly "Monsters," which owes more than a little in it's execution to "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson, and has several tasty sax solos in it as well. After those four are three so-so tracks that aren't so much bad as boring, but much interest is restored with the final two tracks, "Lips In The Hills" and "Unknown Tongue," leaving the album in the end with much metal heft. This is not the complete snooze-fest the album before it was (MIRRORS), but it's nowhere near as fulfilling a music experience as TYRANNY AND MUTATION and SECRET TREATIES are and were. And no cowbell, either!

"Black Blade" is one of my favorite Blue Oyster Cult songs. It marked their most successful foray into the science fiction/hard rock hybrids that made the meat of their first three albums, and is easily as great as the classic "Golden Age Of Leather" from "Spectres." That said, there are plenty of cool songs here for the BOC fan, and I pretty much figure this was their last really good album. "The Marshall Plan" is possibly one of the funniest songs the Cult ever made! Especially for the Guitar Riff 101 segment in the middle, this rates with right there with Blotto's "Heavy Metal Head." It may also be important to note that Blotto toured with Blue Oyster Cult and Dharma played on the perviously mentioned parody.
If the thought that Blue Oyster Cult could possess a funny bone gets under your skin, then you should probably avoid this disc and go for "Spectres" or "Agents." But for "Cultosaurus Erectus," the BOC stretched their chops in a really fine way. Get this for "Black Blade," "Unknown Tongue" and the stunning "Divine Wind" ("if he really thinks we're the devil, then let's send him to hell..."). They were still capable of giving us hard rock (courtesy of super producer of the time Martin Birch) with brains.

After their commercial success with AGENTS OF FORTUNE, along with their Halloween-compatible conterpart SPECTRES, and their lark-into-the-sunshine MIRRORS, the Blue Oyster Cult comes rip-roaring back with CULTOSAURUS ERECTUS. This album brings them back into very familiar territory, minus the production team of Murray Krugman, Sandy Pearlman, and David Lucas. The sound of the Cult is heavier and is more inclined to go in more exotic trips (listen to MONSTERS). I remember that the president of the B.O.C. fan club stated that CULTOSAURUS ERECTUS was his favorite album by B.O.C. This may not be the absolute best by B.O.C., but one thing is for sure, it certainly is one of the weirdest.

I have always like this cd. From Monsters to Unknown Tongue this cd rocks you like the start of the 1980's could only do. And the classic Black Blade with the excellent stereo effects.
This is one you should add to your cd collection. But you might want to wait for the remaster that is coming out soon with additional songs and a true to the original release cd inlay card.