Customer Reviews

Some Enchanted Evening

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nevertheless, I give it 4 stars for the significant content.

Frank Doris (from TAS*), talking of Buck Dharma, wrote "...a titanic, hurricane force musician". He is a great guitar player, and this album is a raw evidence. The live tunes are okay ('Dont Fear The Reaper' is, to my ears, better on this live version(harder and faster) than the studio's. But, it is for the remarkable version of 'Astronomy' the majority of us will be after this record

I had the vinyle record years ago, and I must say it sounded better than the re-issue; cd's fault? [ my cd copy is a CBS pressed in Austria if that means something ]. In fact, some tunes have a good sound, others are less obvious. Musically, this is p o w e r f u l stuff : hardrock - - if not heavy metal - - at a 1 0 0 % technical peak ! * *The Abso!ute Sound­, vol 20, issue 104

This is one of the best live albums to come out of the 70's. It gives a sense of what a concert sounds like and the band plays amazing through-out. Two problems though: An inferior version from a different show than the vinyl of We Got To Get Out Of This Place was accidently used and at 38 minutes the cd is just too short. In the hopes that some Sony executive reads these reviews it is time to re-master this with more songs from the same shows (they do exsist) like Golden Age of Leather and This Ain't the Summer of Love which aren't on any other live albums. Still I recommend this cd if you don't have it and then I recommend buying another copy if it ever comes out re-issued expanded.

The only problems I can think of offhand are the fact that I don't like "Kick Out the Jams," (so what, the rest of the album more than makes up for it) and the fact that "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" is just a little lacking. Other than that, there is no way I can think of that it could be better. The band plays an amazing cover of the Animals' "We Gotta get Out of This Place," a good all-around song to play on Mondays, as well as a cool rendition of the eternally catchy "R.U. Ready to Rock." Also of note are the versions of "Godzilla" and "E.T.I.," both of which are just fantastic. The real star of the show, however, is "Astronomy," always a personal favorite of mine, but this version takes the cake. The soft but dense background keyboards and the crushingly hard guitar work from Buck Dharma (in relation to other versions of the song I've heard), and most especially the four-minute guitar solo that closes the song (primarily uninterrupted, except for "Astronomy...a star") all make this the best version I've heard yet (although I haven't heard IMAGINOS [yet...]). Also, as a final plus, the sound quality is still excellent, even after twenty years. Get this album if you want to hear one of the world's best live bands in close to top form (although I am not a huge fan of "Reaper" or "Jams," the playing is still excellent).

All the people who've heard it agree that the version of Astronomy on this CD is absolutely the single best piece of music ever recorded by any artist, in any genre, anywhere, ever. There's not much debate about that anymore, but I think it's something of an understatement. I would go so far as to say it is the single greatest human achievement of any kind--easily beating out calculus, manned space flight, and the Sistene Chapel.

I've been listening to it fifteen to twenty times a day every day for 11 years now and I haven't even begun to get tired of it. Actually, I can't get enough of it. I'm listening to it right now. When the warrior Christ returns to earth to lead the faithful in the final battle against evil, His herald angels will be playing Astronomy.

The rest of the CD isn't bad, but nothing to write home about.

BOC was eleventh grade for me. I hooked up with my first band and we played these guys, Black Sabbath, and Rush to death. The live version of "Astronomy" really did it for me. In retrospect though this isn't Cult's best live album. For one it's so short, and it was only made after they had done just two more studio albums since the double live On Your Feet Or On Your Knees (their best live album). It does have other high moments; "ETI" smokes, we get the only Cult live versions of "We Gotta Get Outta This Place" and "Kick Out The Jams"(but give me the MC5's original any day over this one). "Don't Fear The Reaper" sounds weak in the vocal department here."RU Ready To Rock" was a silly throwaway from their worst record up to this point, so why include it here? I get the feeling that this was probably a contract filler album while they were in a little bit of a transition;manager/producer/ guru Sandy Pearlman got the axe before they went in the studio to record Mirrors.

Some Enchanted Evening (1978) has only seven songs on it, but all of them show Blue Oyster Cult at their best. They're a good live band (I saw them in 2001). This album is a perfect example.

Some of the highlights: The album opens with the Spectres song "R.U. Ready 2 Rock". Next is the Agents Of Fortune classic "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)". This has always been one of my favorite BOC songs. Next is another favorite, the Secret Treaties classic "Astronomy". This is a very good live version of this great song. BOC's signature song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" rocks as usual, as does "Godzilla".

This live album is short and sweet. I think you'll like this album if you like live albums. It's one of the better ones I've heard from any band out there.

This was my first Blue Oyster Cult CD. I bought it 'cause of the cool Grim Reaper album cover art and because it had "don't fear the reaper" on it. I had no idea it was recorded live when I bought it, and might have gone with a greatist hits package if I had known. I'm glad I didn't though, because I LOVE it. While I think the song "R U ready to rock" is so dorky it's hilarious, I also think it's the perfect album opener. This is just a fun, live rock record that one shouldn't take too seriously. I now own 4 B.O.C. CDs and 2 LPs. I love this band. If you like live stuff, get this CD.

Blue Oyster Cult had very few songs which broke into the mainstream, but they define the early Goth/Heavy Metal niche perfectly and sold out every arena in the world back in their prime years in the 70's and 80's. When I watch Spinal Tap, it's BOC they have right in the cross-hairs. They're easy to goof on with their cosmic BS and oblique, poetic lyrics, but BOC is authentic. Without any radio play they've become a 2nd-tier band over time, but they're the real deal.

These guys are a poor man's Pink Floyd with a more rock-oriented sound. The live version of Astronomy here is just a sublime piece of guitar work. It's easily as good as Clapton at his best and will make them immortal. It alone is worth more than the price of this album. The rest of the songs here are excellent live versions of their 70's hits. You can hear the warm summer evening in the ampitheater in the background and it's transporting in just the way a live album should be. Buy it.

I came of age (i.e., teenager) with mid-late 70s hard rock and this is one of my favorites still. I believe it was the first BOC album I ever bought, so I am more biased towards liking the live versions of these more than some of the studio tracks. The studio versions seem much too tame after hearing these.

I only went to see them once, in the early 80s when they were touring with Foghat (now THERE'S a 70s AOR flashback for you). I agree with many of the reviewers that Astronomy is probably the strongest track on here, and it really exemplifies what live albums ought to do: make a familiar song, but add to it. One of the best guitar solos there is. I've always felt the band as a whole, and Donald Roeser in particular, were vastly underrated, at least in the mainstream -- some critics, such as those in 'Stereo Review' (another nerdy hobby of mine back then) sang their praises as 'the thinking man's heavy metal'. That's probably true.

Nutshell: Turn it up LOUD and listen to the guitars. 'Nuff said.

I was happily in the third row when this was recorded. This was one of the last shows before the government made BOC stop using the extensive laser show (which some said would hurt the poor kiddies eyes). I wish the selection was a little more representative of the whole show but they were great anyway. I saw them four times during the late 70's and next to their show at the Omni with Ian Hunter(save for a drunk who was working out some homosexual angst, not realizing that Ian is straight in spite of "all the Young Dudes"), they were never better. This is a great album, but for first timers, I'd suggest ON YOUR FEET OR ON YOUR KNEES which has the blitzkreig version of ME 262. Still, even without the lasers, this shows one of the late '70's better live bands at their peak...