Spectres

Blue Oyster Cult | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000025BW
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #242,994 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Remastered from the original tapes are Godzilla; Goin' Through the Motions; I Love the Night , and the rest of this 1977 fave. PLUS you'll hear unissued versions of Be My Baby; Please Hold; Night Flyer , and more! --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Menacing Foreshadow of BOC's "Pop" Experiment, May 19, 2004

By 

Bud (Seminole, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spectres (Audio CD)

After the success of `Don't Fear the Reaper,' it had been proven that even a complex band like Blue Oyster Cult had the potential to score huge FM radio hits; the musical pioneers earned a strong following among the nation's metal fan base with their dark, cryptic, heavy brand of rock, but the aforementioned single and album "Agents of Fortune" propelled them to Top 20 status. Perhaps sensing that their mysterious heavy metal could still make a hit single, BOC recorded "Spectres," a record which Rolling Stone described as "Hard as nails but sweet as cream...proves Blue Oyster Cult to be the Fleetwood Mac of heavy metal." It embraces the menace and grim hauntings of earlier records, but the tracks here have been sculpted slightly to allow for FM radio station accessibility (for instance, a previous example `This Ain't the Summer Of Love'). BOC were still one studio album away from letting loose with a deliberate attempt at pop-metal (1979's "Mirrors"), but this was the layout for their plan for heavy metal domination.
Most of the material on this album and its predecessor is much more direct and slightly shorter than earlier classics like `7 Screaming Diz-Busters' or `Astronomy.' But the mystique is always present, and the Cult delivers a careful, meticulous assault. The gorgeous `I Love the Night' and the irresistible `Goin' Through the Motions' are, in hindsight, obvious preludes to what BOC were aiming for with "Mirrors." `Nosferatu' and the concert crowd-pleaser `Godzilla' perfectly embrace the sci-fi/horror flick themes that have always been identified with the group, neatly woven into blistering tapestries. Blue Oyster Cult's view of romance has to be one of the most interesting, odd, and alluring perspectives of any metal band before or after them; `Fireworks' and `Death Valley Nights' (the title of which says it all) rank as some of their finest overlooked songs, while `The Golden Age of Leather' is one of the band's most articulate, elaborate anthems of the 70s.
BOC rightfully earned their title of "the thinking man's heavy metal band" and these songs are certainly no exception. "Spectres" is actually more essential than many may think; it is the dark, often haunting bridge between two musical phases in the fascinating career of the Blue Oyster Cult.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Album Deserves Remastering Treatment, March 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Spectres (Audio CD)

As far as I'm concerned, SPECTRES is very much in the same vein as BOC's AGENTS OF FORTUNE album...both are great.

Some BOC purists will say that after the first three albums they began to "sell out." I don't agree. If anything, it seems to me that their music became more expansive, more atmospheric, and more imaginative, at least up until around FIRE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN. SPECTRES contains some of BOCs greatest moody classics ("I Love The Night"), some of their greatest mysterio-rock anthems ("Golden Age of Leather," "Godzilla") and one of their greatest unabashed pop songs ever ("Going Thru The Motions.")

Now if only Bruce Dickinson can get this album remastered with lyrics and unreleased tracks as he did with the first 4 BOC studio albums...

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blue Ã-yster Cult and the Feel Good Factor, April 20, 2002

By 

"prelim2" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spectres (Audio CD)

I've just listened to it again and I'm not ashamed to say I've got a silly euphoric grin on my face. I'll be `Goin' Through the Motions' all day now. That is a serious drawback with this album; it'll drive you insane for hours as you rerun it mentally. They say Sony are planning to release a re-mastered version of this with bonus tracks - well I don't know about that. Just how do you improve on perfection? OK that's an exaggeration. It's not perfect but when even the weakest parts are as good as `Searching for Celine' who's splitting hairs? I could probably live without `R U Ready to Rock' and `Celestial the Queen' too but having said that none of these songs is bad per se and would be perfectly acceptable additions to any other album. `Godzilla' has been done to death but I can't help it - I love it. I'll never tire of hearing `The Golden Age of Leather' either or `Nosferatu.' `I Love the Night' is as creepily compulsive now as it was at first hearing and even the superficially light and frothy `Fireworks' has hidden depths. `Death Valley Nights' is the kind of Blue Öyster Cult song that creeps up on you unawares. You start by almost dismissing it but upon successive hearings it exerts an insidious fascination and it grabs you. For those who say the whole thing's too soft, too polished and too `poppy' - well, so what's your point? It makes me feel good and I won't apologise for that. It's not a representative BÖC album they say. Huh? So point me to one that is. The point with these guys is that just when you think you've got their measure they change the rules and turn everything around on you. Always expect the unexpected when you're dealing with the Öyster boys.