Customer Reviews

Workshop of the Telescopes

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"Workshop Of The Telescopes" is a 2 cd compilation of Blue Oyster Cult's work from 1971-1985. The group consisted of the Bouchard brothers; Joe on bass and Albert on drums, Eric Bloom on vocals and guitar, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser on lead guitar and vocals, and Allen Lanier on keyboards and guitar. The band played a sort of progressive "thinking man's" hard rock. Some of their songs were co-written by such people as Sandy Pearlman, Richard Meltzer, and Patti Smith (Lanier's girlfriend). The lyrics were at times abstract, futuristic, and horror/science fiction influenced. Their first three albums are the most interesting and make up the bulk of the material on the first disc. Concert favorites such as "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll", "Astronomy" (lately covered by Metallica), "Career Of Evil" and other essential cuts are here. Regretably "Then Came The Last Days Of May", and "Hot Rails To Hell" were not included. However, rare live promo versions of "Workshop Of The Telescopes", and "The Red And The Black" were included. Other rarites included are a version of "Buck's Boogie" from a compilation album and previously unissued studio version of "Born To Be Wild". The second disc contains material which was more commercial. Radio favorites like "Don't Fear The Reaper", "Godzilla", "Burnin' For You", and "Take Me Away" are included on the second disc. Other notable tracks on the second disc include "E.T.I.", "Dominance And Submission" and "Veteran Of The Psychic Wars" are included. Live covers of MC5's "Kick Out The Jams", and the Animal's "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" are also included. I was disappointed that tracks like "R.U. Ready To Rock", "Black Blade", "Heavy Metal: The Black & Silver", "Dr. Music", "The Vigil" and "Joan Crawford." were not included on the second disc. With many Blue Oyster Cult compilations available this is the most comprehensive. It provides a good overview for an overlooked band. If you are a fan of seventies era guitar rock you will not be disappointed.

Blue Oyster Cult are often overrated by fans but just as often underrated by everyone else. Their first three studio albums are great ALBUMS; they hold up as self-contained entities and sound fresh and engaging after all these years. While BOC's subsequent albums from AGENTS OF FORTUNE on have their moments, what's more noticeable is a few really good songs per album sandwiched between LOTS of filler and substandard material. Over time, they became the Seventies and Eighties equivalent of Steppenwolf, a band with strong individual, often radio-friendly tunes who couldn't sustain that creativity through an entire release. Maybe there's an acknowledgement to that comparison evidenced by BOC's cover of "Born To Be Wild," a journeyman studio version of which is included in this collection.

More striking, however, is that the first disc of this two-disc retrospective of BOC's years with Sony/Columbia is mainly given over to the music from those first three studio albums, while disc two culls material from seven of the eight studio albums that followed (the eighth, IMAGINOS, is one of the band's best and not only is it denied any representation here, it's not even in print anymore, which is outrageous!). You can rail and scream at the label wonks for their short-sightedness in song selection, but, honestly, I think they pegged it right this time. Those later albums just aren't up to the first three. Come on, admit it, when was the last time you played MIRRORS, CULTOSAURUS ERECTUS or CLUB NINJA? Even the band doesn't like CLUB NINJA!

But what you get with WORKSHOPS is a good distillation of what was, and is, good about Blue Oyster Cult. There's the heavy ("Cities On Flame With Rock 'N Roll," "Career Of Evil," the live cover of "Kick Out The Jams") there's the sinister and creepy ("Transmaniacon MC," "Astronomy," "Don't Fear The Reaper"), there's the funny/sarcastic ("Stairway To The Stars," "7 Screaming Diz-Busters"), there's the funny/campy ("Godzilla," "Take Me Away"), there's great pop-craft ("Burnin' For You," "In Thee") and then, here and there, there's what makes BOC a little hard to pigeonhole entirely ("Shooting Shark" "Harvester Of Eyes"). The one other constant is that the musicianship is tight as a drum. Buck Dharma Roesser is without a doubt one of rock's best lead guitarists and is the focal point for this band, while Joe and Albert Bouchard were at one point the most cohesive rhythm section in a (sort-of) metal band. The songs mentioned above are great examples of ace SONGCRAFT overall and I think Allen Lanier's "In Thee" is as close to a "standard" as this band ever produced. If BOC didn't always hit the high-water mark in that regard, they did it enough that even a two-disc retrospective might be a little of a thin showcase.

This is, in sum, a terrific overview of Blue Oyster Cult for casual listeners and not a bad collection of the band's better moments.

Looks like your one stop place for the beginner here.

The early punk-influencing tracks,and the cream of the mid-period are all here!

"Dancing In The Ruins" and "Perfect Water" are great to get here too,'cuz ya wouldn't wanna buy "Club Ninja" just for those two good tracks and miss the alternate early tracks on disc one here. So,just grab this and use it to guide you thru the BOC catalog. Just skip Club Ninja...really.

A great set covering all the early bases. Looks tasty!

Blue Oyster Cult were an incredibly creative band, not just the authors of the mid-1970s radio hit "Don't Fear the Reaper." Although that song is still very listenable, in fact it's probably the poppiest gothic rock song ever written, there's a whole disc here full of pre-"Reaper" material. BOC were basically a heavy-metal band fascinated with science fiction and occult fantasies, as evidenced by their Egyptian black-dog icon and Chronos-symbol logo. From disc 1, "Buck's Boogie" and "The Red and the Black" are basically boogie tunes. "Career of Evil" and "Harvester of Eyes" are Cult-ic statements of ill will. "Stairway to the Stars" and the excellent pairing "Flaming Telepaths"/"Astronomy" are melodious science-fiction tunes. The live version included here of "Workshop of the Telescopes" rocks harder than the studio version from the first BOC album. Disc 2, the "Reaper" disc, is much more uneven. To indulge in a bit of analysis, when BOC try to be a heavy-metal party band like Kiss, they just sound goofy: "Goin' through the Motions" and "Golden Age of Leather" are a couple catchy bits of juvenalia. It's when they stick to their original dark vision that BOC do much better: there's "Godzilla" (OK, that's a bit goofy too) and the guitar ballad "Burnin' for You," and four mid-'80s pop tunes that close disc 2, namely "Take Me Away," "Shooting Shark," "Dancin' in the Ruins," and "Perfect Water."

Staggeringly talented lead singer Eric Bloom, virtuoso guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, fluid keyboardist and the songwriting backbeat the Bouchard brothers formed a truly unique and powerful alliance in the '70s with Blue Oyster Cult, a marriage of progressive rock, metal and pop elements that made only a small dent on the charts but left a distinctive touch on rock history.

Some of the best, most innovative rock songs ever written can be found on this collection: "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", invoking The Byrds vocally and in that resounding guitar line, but with a beautifully transcendental lyric that's like Led Zeppelin with a romantic factor; "Astronomy", one of the most dynamic and ethereal songs in the band's catalogue; the keyboard-driven "Flaming Telepaths", with its memorable melodic hooks; "Veteran of the Psychic Wars", the best song from the Heavy Metal soundtrack and a prog-rock gem; "Career of Evil", with its Patti Smith-penned lyric and tongue-in-cheek keyboards; "Goin' through the Motions", a sunny, irresistible piece of California rock...

Bloom's vocals are what distinguish the Cult from its competition. An instrument capable of tackling intense narratives (as in "Astronomy"), soaring pop anthems ("Goin' through the Motions") and eccentric madness ("Career of Evil"), Bloom's voice was a marvel, the perfect companion to Buck Dharma's always tasteful, melodic guitar lines. And remember that the band had two other vocalists, neither of whom has Bloom's power but contributing nonetheless to the diversity of the band's sound, Dharma's tasteful croon ("(Don't Fear) The Reaper") and drummer Albert Bouchard's strange pub-rock voice ("Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll") offering alternatives to the mighty Bloom bellow.

The only fault of this collection is that it left out the band's signature concept album, the 1988 release Imaginos, which featured a breathtaking, radically different version of "Astronomy".

Workshop of the Telescopes is an excellent introduction to a band that's now lapsed into cult status only, a band that greatly deserves to be rediscovered. Blue Oyster Cult's level of sophistication and sense of songwriting could teach today's rocker a valuable lesson.

Many BOC fans will disparage at the lack of production values in places. No band has ever even come close to dismantling "Born to be Wild" like BOC somehow manages to do. Moreover, as is typical with BOC (my fave group), it is the ommissons that stand out. They are known for "live", so I wish there would've been more of that. But there's extra stuff here too: the liner notes are reminiscent of their mid 70's public relations blitz via CREEM MAGAZINE (I had those magazines but my mom destroyed them much like you would a rabid dog - she burned them fearful I was planning to shoot up my school). Of course, the art, lay-out and design, and seemingly errant fonting, only add to the mystery of the BLUE OYSTER CULT!

I had always liked BOC's commercial singles but had never been curious enough to buy any of their albums or discs until recently. This is a pretty good collection in my opinion, but you may want to do what I did and pick up "On Flame With Rock and Roll" first, which is a single disc budget-priced CD with some of the essentials. It has a good mix of older and newer material on it and is a good primer for this set. If you like it, there are plenty of excellent tracks not on that one that are here like "E.T.I.", "Before The Kiss", "Buck's Boogie", and "This Ain't The Summer of Love".

I would almost say "America's Best Heavy Metal Band," but that would not be true for disc two. But in America, only Blue Oyster Cult had the heaviness to rival the overseas likes of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest or other similarly hued bands of the time. They were also uniquely urbane (hailing from NYC), which meant that they were frequently witty and sarcastic, and far more literate than most bands.

From those first three classic studio albums (and the incredible double document "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees"), you get the first disc. Frankly, it's a blue-print for how to make a "Career of Evil," with such deviant metal anthems like "Cities On Flame With Rock and Roll," aliens come to your house groovers like "Flaming Telepaths" and a summer of love disclaimer called "Tranmaniacon MC" (about Altamont). Blue Oyster Cult flirted with dangerous imagery, SM, and biker mythology, making their lure of the forbidden too much to resist.

It didn't hurt that they also had a white-hot guitarist in "Buck Dharma" Roeser, who's "Buck's Boogie" can be heard here in its firefingered glory. Match that to the general excellence of the players, and you have here a disc of incredible rock and roll.

Ah, but commercial success was in their red and black hearts. Deciding that being heavy and being polished were not mutually exclusive, "Agents Of Fortune" delivered a stunning lightning bolt of maturity....and a top 40 single. Morphing a Byrdsian riff and "Romeo and Juliet" lore into "Don't Fear The Reaper" gave the band their breakthrough and their curse. The platinum success of "Agents Of Fortune" garunteed that the band no longer would ever be in a situation where they would lack the time it took to buff any composition to its highest polish. It follows that, for the second disc, BOC transfomed into an incredible arena rock band of the highest order. "Veteran of The Psychic Wars" indeed!

They did have one more amazing album in them, the dark and lush "Spectres" (Phil Spector pun likely intended). With an incredible sci-fi biker epic backed by a boy's choir, "The Golden Age Of Leather" was a mini-opera that even Queen would be proud of. The BOC was also being exulted enough that the likes of Ian Hunter could be found co-writing songs ("Going Through The Motions"). The band's penchent for tongue-in-cheek lyrics gave them a goofy anthem for the ages in the riff monster, "Godzilla." And who could forget the giant inflatable lizard on the accompaning tour?

Alas, after that, the albums were increasingly spotty. "Mirrors," "Cultosouraus Erectus," and "Fire Of Unknown Origin" all have their moments, and some of them are here. (I would have prefered "Black Blade," but that's just me.) After that, the remaining albums are, frankly, represented by their best single songs. "Shooting Shark" was BOC's second best collaboration with punk-poet-preistess Patti Smith, and "Perfect Water" is, well, perfect.

Disappointments are to be found here as well. The studio cover of "Born to be Wild" can't hold a candle to the live version. Could've had the "Extra-terrestial Live" version of "Roadhouse Blues" here over about any other live cut. And the Cult's last great hurrah, the concept album "Imaginos" is ignored. Still, for the bang-on-the-buck ratio, "Workshop Of The Telescopes" delivers better than any of the single disc comps.

Blue Oyster Cult is a group that nearly has no genre. Much of their early music, chronicled on disc one of this two disk set, is hard rock with flashes of progressive rock. Most startling are their lyrics, sometimes almost comedic, typically creatively bizarre, and just as frequently so bizarre as to be incomprehensible. The second disk shows a somewhat different Cult. The phenomenal success of "Agents of Fortune" appears to have steered the group to a milder rock style, and in some cases, pop. The titles often remain bizarre, such as "Veteran of the Psychic Wars," and the lyrics also remain challenging and unusual, but the music itself is softer.

Consider, for example, "Goin' Through the Motions." This music sounds like something Foreigner might have created rather than the group that created "Harvester of Eyes" and "Flaming Telepaths." As the disk progresses we have mainstream rock songs such as "We Gotta Get Out of this Place," a bit of 60s retro-rock. Even mellower is "In Thee," which I consider the mellowest song on this two disk set. This song is romantically beautiful, and somewhat un-Cult.

While I've focused somewhat on the more uncharacteristic songs on the second disk, I would be remiss if I did not point out one of the best songs on both disks that is also on the second disk, "Shooting Shark." This song, from 1983's "Revolution by Night," is somewhat a product of its time, featuring electronics and an early 80s sound, and yet, it contains that spark that has always been at the heart of BOC's best music.

Blue Oyster Cult was formed in 1967, and released an album as recently as 2001. While they were likely strongly influenced by a variety of groups, they have also influenced a variety of musical styles that range from current hard rock to nu-metal or thrash. This two-disk CD is an excellent chronicle of the eclectic range of styles of this influential and always dynamic group; a great introduction to the group, or for the long-time fan looking for a single disk to pop in the CD player.

When it comes to BOC, I'm not a fan of "Best Of" albums. But beginning with Agents of Fortune, I guess they had no choice but to release only their hits since exceptional thorough albums with no fillers were touch and go after their Black and White years.

Disc One: They could have put the studio version of "Dominanace and Submission" on disk one, instead of the "live" version on disk two, and after a song from Fire of Unknown Origin?? The songs were pretty much going in chronilogical order up to that point. But cool.

I actually prefer Steppenwolf's version of "Born to be Wild". While a concert favorite and I'm sure there are fans of this version by BOC, it could have been left off the disk and replaced with an original BOC song, lets say something off Tyranny and Mutation since there are already 6 songs from Secret Treaties.

Disk two: I will admit these are probably the best songs from Agents of Fortune onward. While "Kick out the Jams" and "We gotta get out of this Place" are concert favorites and nice for "live" albums, this is a Best of BOC. I would have included "I Love the Night" from Spectres and "Monsters" from Cultosaurus with its rare jazz-fusion interlude.

If you are new to the BOC experience, this CD is your best bet to get an inclusive grasp of the melodic and visionary world we call Blue Oyster Cult.

BOC is Rock, part mythology, part heavy, part humorous, part intellect, part fantasy, part evil....all Cool.