I see the points about including more of their own songs but my thought was being a live album, including Born To Be Wild seemed appropriate due to the sawing of the guitar necks by Eric and Buck which was sort of their trademark that they did in their early live shows. I also believe this is how they closed most of their shows back then. Probably why this was the last cut on the album to make fans feel like they were at a concert since they were better known for their live shows than their studio efforts. I read somewhere they did Born To Be Wild because it was Sandy Pearlman’s favorite song. Would have definitely traded Maserati GT for Astronomy or Flaming Telepaths though. Also agree Roadhouse Blues on the later ETL didn’t really do much for me either. Think they probably did that one since Robby Krieger appeared on stage with them. I will say that on the expanded version of Some Enchanted Evening there were 2 versions of We Gotta Get Out Of This Place. One would have been enough. Could have replaced one of them with I Love The Night.
@fireprix I like their cover of Kick Out The Jams better than Born To Be Wild, I Ain't Got You, Roadhouse Blues or We Gotta Get Out Of This Place. They could have easily included The Golden Age Of Leather which appears on the Some Enchanted Evening Deluxe Edition dvd but not the cd instead of a second version of We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.
I've seen them do that (Roadhouse Blues) a couple times IIRC, I think they just like the song. One time was a really cool/funny memory though. This was at the Trocadero in Philly in 1986 (that show was broadcast live on the radio btw, and a friend of mine taped it for me while I was there, I gave him my hi-end tape deck to use - that show is well worth seeking out the various fan shared copies, especially since they played the song Wings of Mercury which is not on any album). Anyways, I was right up at the foot of the stage. It was a relatively high stage, higher than say the one at the Chestnut Cabaret in Philly where I've also seen them (I saw a good deal of that Cabaret show standing on the stage at the side, had a conversation with Buck during the Godzilla drum solo but that is a different story, one which I think I've told b4). To get back to the Troc show, the stage itself was about eye level high, I guess about 5'4 or so. I was rooted dead center in front all night, directly in front of Eric. Both myself and a couple other folks at the front were drinking Moosehead beers. For some reason which I do not remember we were peeling off the bottle labels and laying them down at Eric's feet and pointing them out to him. We made a line of Moosehead labels which he seemed to get a kick out of. During Roadhouse he had some fun with us about that, pointed to the labels, held up a can of Bud (or something similar) and made a point to say/sing "got myself some AMERICAN beer" to which we had a back & forth exchange holding up our Mooses to his Bud for the rest of the song, the upshot being him praising Bud & giving thumbs down to Moosehead with us doing the opposite - or something like that. I'd have to listen to the recording again to remember more about what happened but it was a funny fake "argument" type of vibe. I 4get if it was also at that show that he did a shotout to a NY team like the Mets resulting in a back & forth with the crowd about the corresponding Phillies team, but maybe that was a different show.
Yeah that would have been good. I like their cover of WGGOOTP though, strangely enough. Their version is what made me appreciate that song, love the bassline riff and Buck's counterpoint guitar solo part, that was something I used to do/kick around at jam sessions with friends.
True enough but I did enjoy their covers. They really beefed up the guitar on BTBW. And I had not heard Maserati before that, so new to me.
I Ain't Got You was an old Jimmy Reed/Billy Boy Arnold song that both the Yardbirds and Aerosmith also covered.
The Aerosmith Live Bootleg came out after OYFONYK, so I would not have heard it prior to BOC. And I wasn't familiar with The Yardbirs or Jimmy Reed/Billy Boy Arnold at that point in the mid 70's.
The Columbia Years Agents Secret BOC Cultosaurus Spectres Fire Tyranny Mirrors Revolution Ninja Not sure if Imaginos is even a BOC album. If it is it's between Mirrors and Revolution.
That's a killer cover of "we got to get out of here". I never really liked the song until the BOC cover.
Great story, I had an interaction with Eric at a show back in 1999? Anyway the guy has a great sense of humor and is just a very cool person.
Time to move on. Next up is......fm Wiki.... Spectres is the fifth studio album by U.S. hard-rock band Blue Öyster Cult, released in October 1977. The album, which features one of the band's biggest hits, concert staple "Godzilla," was certified gold in January 1978. Released November 1977 Recorded July–September 1977 Length 40:29 Label Columbia Producer Murray Krugman, Sandy Pearlman, David Lucas, Blue Öyster Cult Singles: "Goin' Through the Motions" / "Searchin' for Celine" Released: November 1977 "Godzilla" / "Nosferatu" Released: February 1978 "Godzilla (Live)" / "Godzilla (Studio)" Released: April 1978 "I Love the Night" / "Nosferatu" Released: August 1978 The cover art features Blue Öyster Cult's use of lasers in their live show at that time. A remastered version was released on February 13, 2007, which included four previously unreleased outtakes from the Spectres sessions as bonus tracks. Track listing 1. Godzilla 2. Golden Age of Leather 3. Death Valley Nights 4. Searchin’ For Celine 5. Fireworks 6. R.U. Ready to Rock 7. Celestial the Queen 8. Goin’ Through the Motions 9. I Love the Night 10. Nosferatu Personnel Blue Öyster Cult Eric Bloom – stun guitar, vocals Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser – lead guitar, vocals Allen Lanier – keyboards, rhythm guitar, vocals Joe Bouchard – bass, vocals Albert Bouchard – drums, harmonica, percussion, vocals Additional musicians Newark Boys Chorus – vocals on "Golden Age of Leather" Spectres (1977), had the FM radio hit "Godzilla", and would become the one of the band's better-selling albums, with other well-known songs like "I Love The Night" and "Goin' Through The Motions." However, its sales were not as strong as those for the previous album, going gold but not platinum, becoming their first album to sell less than its predecessor. It featured even more polished production, and continued the trend of the lead vocals extensively shared between members, although Allen Lanier did not sing lead. As with the previous album, Eric Bloom sang lead on fewer than half the songs. Blue Öyster Cult - Spectres Full Album - YouTube
I first owned Spectres on cassette way back when and at the time, I didn't truly appreciate it until some years later when I rediscovered the catalog. As I mentioned during the discussion of Agents, I find Spectres to be a superior and solid follow-up and the collection of songs, minus two, work far better within the stylistic change brought on by the previous Fortune album. Obviously Godzilla is one of the main memorable cuts of the record as well as R. U. Ready to Rock, although Enchanted Evening's version is far more realized in the live format. But, Death Valley Nights, Golden Age of Leather and album closer, Nosferatu are also pivotal album cuts. Allen's sole contribution, Searchin For Celine is poppy and melodic, but I enjoy the swooping vocal harmonies and the tight gut boogie that the song evokes; Eric does a great vocal on this one too. Buck's I Love the Night is an underrated gem, imo and it has a pleasant melodic bend, but there's a slight element of ambient darkness as well which features an organic quality to its worth. I didn't like it for the longest time and then one night, it just hit. Albert's other contribution, Fireworks, is agreeable, upbeat filler within the album. I do enjoy the uplifting chorus and again strong vocal harmonies abound for this one, but it just seems a tad forced within the commercial vein of things. The two cuts I dislike are Joe's Celestial the Queen and the Bloom/Ian Hunter co-write, Goin Through the Motions. It seemed to be an interesting idea that Ian wound up doing a collaboration with Eric and based on his own writing style, which I do admire(Mott the Hoople anyone?), seemingly Motions could have been the follow-up smash to Reaper for this album, but while the commercially driven style is apparent, I think it's exactly why it's such a bum tune; it just doesn't have strong legs to stand on at all, imo. Celestial the Queen would've worked better for a Joe solo project I think, rather than a BOC cut, but I suppose the band were conscious that they needed to have equal parts of dark and light material to provide a proper balance and to ensure that they could follow-up Agents' platinum status with a consistent result. Joe did redeem himself with the semi-epic album closer, Nosferatu a few cuts later, but I think Celestial is just a tad "too" saccharine and would've preferred a darker number to include within the album's tracklist. All told, I enjoy Spectres far more within the new musical chapter in BOC's evolution and think that it succeeds a notch above Agents' introductory stylistic change. It's an easier album to digest in this particular light.
This album is a mixed bag for me. I liked it upon release, maybe partly just because it was one of my most loved bands, and partly due to some strong tunes. Although some of the songs were fill to me. Godzilla is another tune worn out for me through excessive FM play, but revisiting it again was nice. Some of my favourites are Golden Age of Leather, Death Valley Nights (which again is eerily close to Alice Cooper’s tone back in the day), Searchin’ For Celine and Nosferatu. Even I Love the Night is good and keeps with that Cult darkness. I don’t dislike the remainder of the songs, but for me they just don’t stand out. Performance wise you can’t knock them. They are very tight and the songs are very melodic.
Regarding Spectres: I can say that this is an odd album that is a bit all over the place. That said, there are many good songs here. Oddly the songs that seem the most up front poppy like RU Ready to Rock and Fireworks have some of the most subversive lyrics. Who drops a refrain like “I only live to be born again” into a song like this? Why BOC of course. I really don’t care for Searchin’ for Celine and Going Through the Motions, but the other songs all work on some level for me. Yes Fireworks is pop, but it is good pop that still retains some mystery for me. Golden Age of Leather has some fine crunchy guitar (and chugs along well), Godzilla ,though overplayed on the radio, is a pretty fun song. Death Valley Nights and Celestial The Queen are pretty good too (love the harmonies). The final 1-2 vampire song punch is a hell of a way to end the album. I am surprised the owners of the Twilight series didn’t use I Love the Night in any of their movies. Not that I am a fan, but it would have yielded some nice royalties to the oyster boys. Nosferatu make some fine use of a Chamberlain and really achieves a creepy vibe. After this album I don’t think BOC ever achieved this darkness.
Although not considered a true BOC album by some, Imaginos does achieve the old darkness, plus some. IMHO.
It's not really BÖC per se; it's an Albert Bouchard/Sandy Pearlman project with many guest musicians and Eric & Buck added to it later after the fact so the label could slap the BÖC bandname on it (you can read some of the very complicated history about it on the wikipedia page). Some people consider it BÖC since that is what it is called after all, and it definitely has a BÖC vibe to it.
Great album imo I like it more than Agents Of Fortune and I Love The Night is an underrated gem as stated earlier Blue Öyster Cult - Spectres Blue vinyl
I like Spectres a lot, although it suffers a bit from that subdued Columbia sound (see also late 70's Judas Priest albums). I'd rank it fifth or possibly sixth in the BOC canon. Death Valley Nights, Searchin’ For Celine, Fireworks and I Love The Night are my favorite tracks. I also like Night Flyer and M For Murder, bonus tracks taken from the Spectres sessions. I usually listen to the album with these in place of Celestial the Queen and Golden Age of Leather.
I was just commenting for those that don't know, my post was not directed at you. Many people have no idea what the story behind it is and think it is just a normal BÖC album (which it's not).
