Customer Reviews

Flat Out

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When this album came out, it was so poorly promoted that I didn't know it was out until I stumbled upon it in a record store and freaked out. As good as this album is, it could have been better and possibly gone platinum. "Burnin' for You" was intended to be on this album as well, but fellow Blue Oyster Cult members begged Buck to record it with BOC instead. You can definitely hear the similarities.

"All Tied Up" has to be my favorite song on the album and it's no wonder. There are so many pop hooks in the song it infects you.

"That Summer Night" and "Cold Wind" are melancholy tunes that will take you back in time to your first true love.

"Anwar's Theme" is a great instrumental noir tune that could have been the opening theme for "The Untouchables" and is reminicent of Jon and Vangelis' "Friends of Mr. Cairo"

"Five Thirty-Five" is the one tune that got airplay. It is a good tune but has not aged as well as "Burnin' for You".

Buck has a definite, sometimes morbid sense of humor as evidenced by "Your Loving Heart" which is a bit of a farce.

"Wind Weather and Storm" is from a Pearlman or Meltzer poem (I can't remember which) that is silly enough to make you laugh but infectious nonetheless.

"Born to Rock" is another example of silliness on Buck's part but remains a solid rocker.

"Come Softly to Me" is a remake of the Fleetwoods' classic and vocals are shared with Bucks wife Sandy Roeser. I have both versions and I think Buck's is actually better. Buck claims that this is the first song that he made out to as a teenager.

All in all, it is a very good album and fans have been waiting a long time for it to be released on CD. It is well worth the listen.

Buck Dharma has a unique guitar and approachable vocal style that has contributed to make Blue Oyster Cult one of the greatest and most successful rock bands in history. His long awaited on CD "Flat Out" showcases Dharma's super talents with the opening cut, the blitzing "Born To Rock", moving right into the electrifying "That Summer Night". The beautiful ballad "Your Loving Heart" is indeed classic with a catchy story line. "Five Thirty-Five" and "All Tied Up" are foot tapping FM gems full of hooks. The album is a well written and produced classic. Recommended as essential for any rock collection.

Finally, Flat Out is available on CD. It took long enough for this great album to make to CD. Get your copy now and help push sales of it through the roof so it can stay with the rest of the BOC cd collection and not end up on the shelf in the record vaults.

Think Jonny Cash meets Bruce Springsteen with a little Chris Issack. Buck does not try to be Blue Oyster Cult, instead its a true solo album, almost an auto-biography.The album is like a story, where one song must follow another to get the full effect of Buck's talents and honesty. Buy this album/cd today and see BOC in concert, and be born again!

I had to get this years back from some bootlegger on an auction site. Now I can have it for real. Outstanding. Quick review....it doesn't sound like BOC it sounds like Buck Dharma! Great pop hooks, great pop hooks, great pop hooks, and great pop hooks. You will get the feeling of great pop hooks when you hear it. From the opening track of 'Born to Rock" to "Come softly to me" you'll know the man is a pop craftsman making a living in a hard rock band called Blue Oyster Cult. This album got no respect but it did however, get a good review from hard-ass reviewer JD Considine in a 1982 Stereo Review magazine. Go figure.

An extremely tight album by a master craftsman. Buck Dharma is a fantastic melodic guitarist with a large cache of technique and flavor - if he looked more like your typical lanky, long-haired slacker rock-head rather that a "nice guy from Long Island" he'd probably be more known in the public eye. Anwar's theme is a great demo tape of his work and All Tied Up is a great example of his ability to walk his leads through a song. Pretty pop oriented with catchy hooks as well.

Roeser fans will love this album. It's classic Buck and it has some of the best guitar work you've ever heard in your entire life.

However, don't expect it to sound like BOC. It doesn't.

This is a very good album by Buck Dharma, and clearly sounds like a solo album, instead of Blue Oyster Cult. It is heavy metal, but it's not hard rock, it's soft rock for the most part. The stand-out tracks are the opener,"Born to Rock," the suite "Your Loving Heart," and the album's closer, "Come Softly to Me," which certainly closes the album as a soft-rocker. Buck produced the album, and did very well. This is much preferable to "The Revolution by Night," by BOC, which came out close to the same time. The guitars grab your senses. All in all, a very good album.

As a diehard BOC fan from back in the day (Class of '76 rules!) I could not NOT buy the LP, which I managed to wear out during the intervening years between high school and college. OK, college and graduate school. Found the CD here on Amazon, jammed it into my car stereo CD player within one minute of removing it from the mailbox and started singing along with it at the top of my lungs: "I was born to ROCK!!!" while my long-suffering girlfriend looked at me with her particular brand of surprise, love and disgust. From Denver to Wheatland she indulged me while I blasted Flat Out at pretty much maximum volume. I'm a rock guitar fan, first and foremost, so most of what I'd have to say about Buck Dharma has to do with his mastery of his instrument. Flat Out, when considered solely for the quality of guitar work and guitar tones, is something of a classic. Want a fine example of a set neck, humbucker equipped guitar (aka Les Paul)? Listen to Anwar's Theme, or the rambunctious guitar break in "Born to Rock". Oh...you want another example? Turn up "That Summer Night" and treat your ears to an inventive, mouth-watering solo that cuts deep and artfully through the foundation of a well-crafted power pop tune. Want to hear a prototypical hollow body through a clean amp with a nice reverb unit? Listen to the simple E major arpeggio in "Cold Wind", then sit tight through chimey single coil rhythm guitars and overdriven lead work during the guitar break. Go ahead and poke fun at the dorky lyrics and the maudlin songwriting ("paging Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard!"), but don't you dare listen to this album's tasty layered guitar tracks, fiery solos and affecting guitar craft and tell me you're not a Buck Dharma fan. This nice boy from Long Island is in my top five.

Buck Dharma...aka Donald Roeser...This is a solo effort from one of the best guitarists in the history of rock. So, if you haven't heard of him, that is a shame, Blue Oyster Cult has never been main stream so you are forgiven if his name doesn't ring a bell. But this effort on Bucks part is a great example of what he is about. I can't say that any of this is his greatest playing ever but it is damn good. BOC fans will love it, I do. I am partial to the early days of BOC and I think the live album On Your Feet Or On Your Knees is still to this day one of the greatest live albums ever produced. He shines here but you have to go through the entire BOC library to really get a feel for his FLAT OUT genius with guitar in hand. I rank Buck up there with Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and David Gilmore. He has his own very distinctive style and can be blazingly and deceptively fast. He has short stubby fingers but they fly and he can strut the fret-board as good as any and better than most.