Customer Reviews

Essential Blue Oyster Cult

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I'm not sure why people are complaining about this Blue Oyster Cult collection. If a band lasts long enough, there are bound to be a few "best of" compilations released. For my tastes, the Essential Blue Oyster Cult works quite well. You get a nice overview of BOC's career, including their biggest hits (Don't Fear) the Reaper and Burnin' for You, digitally remastered sound, and a (sale) price tag that is about half the cost of the average CD.

No matter what songs appear on a "best of" or "greatest hits" package, there's always going to be a track that gets left off that you think is one of the band's better tracks. The Essential BOC does a pretty good job at showcasing the band's best material, and compared to the 30-40 minute 20th Century Masters series, it looks pretty impressive with its 14 tracks clocking in at 70 minutes.

Serious BOC fans will probably have no use for this collection, and that's perfectly OK. This wasn't released with them in mind. It was released for people like me who wanted an affordable way to get a better idea of what BOC has to offer without jumping straight into the band's studio albums. Of course now that I've heard more BOC material than what the classic rock stations typically play, I will most likely be seeking out those studio albums in the near future!

Sony spits out BOC compilations these days the way the band spit out live albums back in the glory years - and just like those
live albums, some best-of's are somewhat comprehensive and interesting for the casual fan and die-hard alike (Workshop of The Telescopes) and some are very poor representations of a very good band (Career of Evil). BOC fans are indeed a cult and are wary of the public at large writing the band off as an arena rock three-hit wonder. This particular "power-pop" driven collection seems to represent enough radio hits to please the casual listener, while also exposing them to some great deeper album cuts. Through the years on these various compilations, there has been a round robin song selection from the seminal first three studio albums, so for every "Dizbusters" and "Harvester Of Eyes" there is the absence of a "Red & Black" or "Dominance & Submission." No worry, since true fans consider those three combined albums as must-haves anyway. If you're looking for a place to collect the songs you may know from the radio or your youth, this is a good choice.

Blue Oyster Cult's sound shifted tremendously over the years, and this set proves that. From their early distorted rock creations, they went on to craft the most amusing progressive songs one could hope to get from a gang of none-too-serious musicians. Later, their sound gives into to the arena rock affectations of the late 70s and early 80s. During this time, they play with the usual Journey/Foreigner/Boston mold by meshing it with abundant acoustics and synths a' plenty.

By the end of these 70 minutes, you really wish you had more music. An essential anthology would've compiled two discs worth of music. As a result, you're better off getting the two-disc compilation that everyone's been raving about. That will give you the same idea as this one, but it'll be presented in a more consistent manner.

this is my first blue oyster cult non studio cd.it was this one or the best of blue oyster cult so for some reason i chose this cd.i love every song on here and their music is so great and their lyrics so intelligently written.i go to www.blueoystercult.com and check out their lyrics because sometimes i can't understand exactly what they are saying or singing.the lyrics are brillant.

I have to concur with the previous reviewers. On the one hand, this music is Blue Oyster Cult and it is very good. On the other hand, Blue Oyster Cult has a lot of "greatest" collections. Further, this recent collection is good, but hardly essential, and there are better collections available.

My favorite Cult collection thus far is "Workshop of the Telescopes." As with most such collections it is not perfect, but short of having Blue Oyster Cult's better albums "Workshop" is probably the best collection you'll find. "The Essential Blue Oyster Cult" is a pared down "Workshop." I am not sure whose idea "The Essential" collections are, but Blue Oyster Cult is far from being the the first group to have an "essential" collection; there are a bunch of these things. Someone seems to feel the need to have a collection of CDs with the "essential" label on it for the most popular artists in a variety of genres; likely for marketing reasons.

For a casual Blue Oyster Cult fan this CD is a decent "Best of" kind of collection. For more serious fans, pass this one by unless you just have to have everything ever done by the Cult.

First, note that I'm not downgrading the music. I'm downgrading another inadequate and ill-concieved compilation.

The reason that so many people are objecting to this latest compilation is that we've gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. In 1995, Sony released the 2-disk "Workshop of the Telescopes" which was a fine (if flawed) overview. It costs a mere $19.98 on Amazon as of this writing, and unlike these inadequate single-CD collections which come out about every six months or so, you get most of the big hits and mid-charting singles along with most of the great album cuts. Alas, even "Telescopes" had its unforgivable omissions, though: "R.U. Ready To Rock", "Black Blade", and "Joan Crawford" were all mysteriously absent. That plain sucked. But you can remedy these oversights by getting the two outstanding albums, "Fire of Unknown Origin" and "Cultosaurus Erectus" in addition to "Workshop of the Telescopes." I know...that's four disks altogether (one 2-cd set and two 1-cd packages) and you were only wanting one disk. But if you care about your music, you'll do it and thank me for it. The missing tracks really are that good and I'm speaking as a casual fan, not a cult Cult fan.

Obviously, if you're considering a hits package, you want the tunes you know. But you also want a damn good sampling of the best material that you may not know. These are the great songs which anyone who grew up on radio stations like WSHE in Miami or the original 96 Rock in Atlanta knew by heart and which would rarely be left out of a live show.

The problem with each of the single-CD collections (like this one) is that they each are missing way too many great songs. It's inexcusable. For example, on "Essential", you get "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)" -- which truly is essential -- but then you don't get "Joan Crawford", "Going Through the Motions" or "The Red and the Black", which WERE included on a single-CD compilation released back in 2000, "Don't Fear The Reaper: The Best Of Blue Öyster Cult". However, that compilation of course did not include "E.T.I.", nor several other of their best such as "Stairway to the Stars" -- so unless you just bite the bullet and get "Workshop of the Telescopes", you are going to be missing out on many of their best album cuts and lower-charting singles as well.

Solution: Get "Workshop of the Telescopes", "Fire of Unknown Origin" and "Cultosaurus Erectus." Otherwise, you'll be stuck with just another inadequate compilation, no matter which one you choose. By the way, I am now signing up for therapy to deal with all the confusion created by Sony's multifarious compilations. I'm ready to get out my own "Black Blade" and chop these underperforming compilations into millions of little pieces.

I was at a crossroads with my musical tastes. I decided to buy this compilation, and expand my musical interests. Needless to say, it did the trick. I wish there were more songs on this disc, but the ones that were included just rock!
This is worth your money, however, buy it used..i did..wasn't disappointed.

But why? Just about all these are on "Don't Fear The Reaper; The Best Of Blue Oyster Cult," (which costs less, I should add) and the double "Workshop Of The Telescopes" fleshes things out even more. But for the price, be aware that you can do much better.

B.O.C. is one of the most underrated 70's rock/metal band's!! these guy's were sorta like the first VOIVOD!! they have a very spacey and sci fi feel to them!!

This is great for the price..I dont skip any song's except ''shooting shark'' and only sometime's!! that song is a little to long for not being very good! the video for that song is funny as hell by the way!!

With GODZILLA, DONT FEAR THE REAPER,BURIN FOR YOU,CITIE'S ON FLAME WITH ROCK N ROLL, HARVESTER OF EYE's,ASTRONOMY, 7 SCREAMIN DIZZ BUSTER's..you know this will rule...and it DOES!!

In total rememberence of BLUE OYSTER CULT..one of the first CULT band's that ever lived..LISTEN to this and see why!!

EXCELENTE ALBUM RECOPILATORIO DE UNA DE LAS MEJORES BANDAS DE ROCK NORTEAMERICANO, INFLUENCIADOS PRINCIPALMENTE POR LA NWOBHM Y LOS INIGUALABLES BLACK SABBATH. GRANDES TEMAS DONDE PODEMOS ESCUCHAR LO MAS IMPORTANTE DE TODA SU CARRERA, ESCENCIAL PARA TODOS AQUELLOS INTERESADOS EN LA NWOBHM Y QUE SOLO CONOCEN 1 0 2 TEMAS, PRINCIPALMENTE POR LAS VERSIONES HECHAS COVERS COMO "ASTRONOMY" POR METALLICA, O "DON'T FEAR THE REAPER" POR HIM. UN EXCELENTE CD DE UN EXCELENTE GRUPO. ALTAMENTE RECOMENDADO.