On Your Feet Or on Your Knees [Live]

Blue Oyster Cult | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002540
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,089 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

The band's first live album achieved even greater success and went gold; includes The Subhuman; Harvester of Eyes; Hot Rails to Hell; (Then Came the) Last of May; Cities On Flame; Before the Kiss (A Recap); Maserati GT (I Ain't Got You); Born to Be Wild , and more. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No One Envied the Bands That Had To Follow Up This One, June 4, 2004

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

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This review is from: On Your Feet Or on Your Knees (Audio CD)

When surveying Blue Oyster Cult's catalog of live albums, it's apparent that each of these in-concert releases was carefully placed at a specific point in the band's career, to sum up or end a particular epoch. Such albums include "Some Enchanted Evening" (1978), "Extraterrestrial Live" (1982), and the recent triumph "A Long Day's Night." Each live album balanced old and new material, describing the advances and new territories discovered, while making sure to note the material from previous eras that made the progression possible. 1975's "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees" was the first of these releases, an homage to BOC's first three albums (all of which were landmark recordings for the heavy metal genre), and a reliable testament to what kept this great band alive-loyal touring and performing.
The blazing fury on this album completely blows away many, if not most, live albums that came before it; in 1975, Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive" was still a year away, and artists were not yet mistaking his example and disguising greatest hits albums under the live album mask (though some bands did manage to make live albums a meaningful event). Some of the only concert recordings released before "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees" that had as much fire and energy were The Who's "Live at Leeds," Deep Purple's "Made in Japan," and Bob Dylan & The Band's "Before the Flood."
The focus on these songs should not be so much on melody as on the fact that each of these five men are playing their guts out. The extended guitar readings that dominate the album are pure heavy metal passion and a musical bond that few bands can perfect. A perfect example is `Seven Screaming Diz-Busters,' which features a searing guitar exercise in which drummer Albert Bouchard's driving drum beats are kept perfectly in time with the soaring guitar work, one musician in heavy metal harmony with another. And when BOC does show a hint of restraint, it is just as hypnotic; Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser's `Then Came the Last Days of May' is one of the best songs written during their early era, a haunting but deceptively melodic tune about the futility and violence of the drug business. The collection closes on an appropriate note, a cover of `Born To Be Wild,' one of the songs that coined the phrase "heavy metal."
Perhaps it's best that "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees" has not yet been fully remastered. The studio polishing would only take away from the raw sound that places the listener amidst the battalion of appreciative fans cheering for a band that were among the most unrelenting pioneers in heavy metal. As non-mainstream (for the 70s) as this music was, "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees" was Blue Oyster Cult's first album to break into the Top 30, a stunning document of the innovations to come; it is both the end and the beginning of an era.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A hearty slice of the Rabid 1970s, February 16, 2005

By 

S. R. - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Your Feet Or on Your Knees (Audio CD)

Blue Oyster Cult recorded "On Your Feet..." at a time when they were selling out venues all over the world without the benefit of a hit single anywhere. A raw sounding record with NO OVERDUBS shows the rabidness of the band and gives a wicked slice of their first few releases with a couple cover songs thrown in, to boot. Speaking about sonics, this album will not impress you at first especially if your under the age 25, but give it a further listen a realize the time it was (I'm not saying its a badly recorded album, it just sounds like a mid 70s live album). "Then came the Last Days of May" features killer Buck Dharma solos, and is one of the coolest songs of the era, and the band's re-working of the Yardbirds "I aint got You" is also very good rock. This is the band before "Don't fear The Reaper" was released and before their style began to progress to a more adult-oriented rock and roll. But it's all good, and it's all cranked to high volume. A good lost classic for any collectors of landmark musical recordings. An interesting piece of history from an american metal band amongst a sea of British metal gods. An album worthy of the landmark title and should be on the tip of tongues of metal-heads everywhere like Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath is today. Blue Oyster Cult took a back seat to NO metal band of ANY era they just progressed beyond the (for lack of a better phrase) the teenage genre. Check it out.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let me take you back., July 28, 2004

By 

Dr. Music - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Your Feet Or on Your Knees (Audio CD)

In a darkened room, set up your speakers on the floor about four feet apart. Now, lay down with your head on a pillow positioned midway between your speakers. I'm serious! Crank up Last Days of May (without making your ears bleed) and close your eyes.

Now, picture white clad Buck Dharma, bathed in blue light, standing alone in a smoky spotlight beam. A heady brew of pot and perfume permeates the air. Buck looks down as you strain against the crowd that yearns for your spot on the barrier, longing to worship at his feet. He smiles at you with his infectious grin and nods knowingly as he effortlesly produces the most unearthly, mournful wails ever to emanate from a guitar. You stare in disbelief and a shiver comes over you as if it was you in that ill-fated back seat, with your life-blood flowing and your mispent life slipping away before your eyes. The crush fades as the crowd becomes mesmerized. Lighters begin to pierce the darkness like stars on a moonless night. Someone nearby lets out a shrill whistle. Buck turns and your ears buzz with a harmonic ringing, like a pickup on Buck's guitar. The solo ends with a flourish, the lights come up and he joins Eric Bloom, clad in sunglasses and a theatrical black cape, as they bring the song to a finish. The spell is broken and the air is forced from your lungs as the crowd surges forward, pinning you against the barrier. You could die a happy man now. You have witnessed one of the greatest live songs ever recorded.

This album captures Blue Oyster Cult's musical genius and raw power like lightning in a bottle. At the time this was recorded, the sound level at a BOC concert could probably be measured on a seismograph!

Unlike most live albums, many of the songs here are actually better than the studio versions. Last Days of May compared to the studio version is like The Red and the Black compared to I'm on the Lamb: not even close. Subhuman is unbelievable! Buck flat out wails and Allen plays the Hammond like a six-string axe. Seven Screaming Dizbusters just keeps building and building to a diz-busting climax. Harvester of Eyes is transformed into a crunchy boogie that is far more enjoyable than the already good studio version.

The CD is not without its faults such as bad production, that annoying screech between two tracks, the repeat of a portion of Buck's Boogie as a jam at the end of Maserati GT and of course, several conspicuously absent classics. Despite this, it still ranks as one of, if not THE greatest live album in rock history.

I for one would not mind if this album was remastered, if for no other reason than to get rid of that awful screech. As an owner of a vinyl copy as well, I am annoyed by the crossover added to the CD to meld four album sides into one