even funner that you're the elitist, when he stated his opinion was "period, exclamation point". that sounded suspiciously elitist to me. but I'm just a plebe, dont mind me.
Some great info given, thanks guys. Casual fan of a couple albums over the decades (on cassette). Agents/Fire and Spectres recently on old compact disc, been having fun rediscovering these guys. There was a 7 disc lot I grabbed for dirt cheap, hopefully have them next week so I can really dive in
If I remember correctly this was their first album I bought. My personal favorite song off this is the Albert/Patty duet The Revenge Of The Vera Gemini followed by Morning Final. Joe’s contributions to their albums was usually a highlight. He’s a very underrated musician and song writer in my opinion. Overall a strong album. The 5.1 SACD is a good listen. Was my favorite studio album of theirs for a while, a long time ago. Still in their top 5 studio releases to me.
This is the first album were I didn't love it from start to finish. I used to only love half of it but over the years the rest grew on me The weird think about Cult is even when they write a stinker there is still this creepy spooky sort of vibe going on that redeems the song some. Most bands can't do that. Another fantastic album cover from the Boys.
Interesting note from Buck on the MFSL; “Another surprising thing we learned recording at that busy world class studio was that several of our famous rocker contemporaries didn’t play on their records”. 1. Summer of Love - great song but don’t like the production. Riffs worthy of this band. 2. True Confessions- sounds out of place. Kind of a head scratcher. Like it though. 3. Don’t Fear the Reaper - Top drawer. Great production, lyrics and instrumentation. 4. E.T.I. - great rocker. Are these tunes really different from previous songs or just better produced? 5. The Revenge of Vera Gemini- great tune. Mystic, great melody in keeping with BOC. Patti adds to the ambiance. Fits them like a glove. 6. Sinful Love - surprise to me, I like this tune more now than before. The lyrics are just them! 7. Tattoo Vampire - an all out rocker with that air of sinister that maybe Alice Cooper could pull off. 8. Morning Finale - this is another great tune, perhaps one of the best. I think their writing was getting better. 9. Tenderloin- smooth instrumentation all in all. Some soloing near the end during the instrumental. 10. Debbie Denise - closes the album on a ballet like tune. Good closer actually. I don’t think personally, after revisiting this album, that it is such a long way from their original albums. Just way better production. Love it!
I agree with you regarding the superior and much-improved sound on AOF. And I'll disagree harshly with you regarding the relative merits of the songwriting of these first 4 studio albums.
The one concession I will give is that True Confessions was definitely their worst song to that point.
Agents of Fortune is one of those odd records where it features many (maybe most) of their comp-able songs (Summer, Reaper, ETI) and many tracks I love (True Confessions, Sinful Love, Debbie Denise) yet I would not rank the album, or the next, as a favorite. I think Tattoo Vampire to Tenderloin is a bit of a let down and that accounts for it. Or maybe I seek more of a unified sound like on the prior 2 or Mirrors to Fire of Unknown Origin. Still, this is a fun hodgepodge in a White Album kinda way with often great lyrical bits, "Dare-devil, she-devil, printer's-devil, evil, I love you like sin, but I won't be your pigeon."
funny thing about my experience with Agents of Fortune. I was already a big BOC fan when this came out and so I was eagerly awaiting it. I had already been playing electric guitar for awhile (I was maybe 16 or so) and Buck was one of my el supremo heros. I got the album, brought it home, and magically my parents informed me that they were going out and would not be home till late! They left, I rolled up some fine stuff, and got pretty baked and listened to it. At one point I was so inspired that I decided to record myself playing guitar, along with the album... even tho I was hearing it for the very first time MY GOD I remember thinking, I am nailing this crap, Buck's got nothing on me. Then the next day I listened to the tape. AYE CARAMBA. I had nothing on Buck, thats for sure. ---------------- I always liked the album even tho my band friends said, "they sold out, they suck now. Only girls like this crap". Didnt matter, I showed up on the front row for their concert later, Rush and REO Speeedwagon opened, they were both great, but Buck pretty much schooled everybody. They were excellent as usual.
So I ordered the quad of this ... I was going to give the Agents Of Fortune a go as well, but at 100-200 bucks ... I decided I am not quite that intrigued at the moment lol Thanks for the prompt
Sorry, whose album sounds 1,000% better than their first four? Buck's solo album Flat Out? Or did I miss something (quite possible)?
Sorry, I'm in the camp that believes the first three are the best. That said, I freaking love AOF (and Spectres, and Cultosaurus, and FOUO, and even TRBN, but we'll get to those...) I don't know if I agree that the songwriting got "better," per se, but what is clear (and well-known, and has been true with many other bands with any longevity) is that as opposed to more collaborative song-writing of the early days, each band member (well, except maybe Bloom) was writing songs by themselves for the first time, making demos and bringing them to the band, where they voted on which songs to actually do, etc. Buck obviously did "Reaper," Allen "True Confessions" and "Tenderloin" (and "Dance The Night Away," fun to hear on the expanded version but clearly best left off the record), Joe "Morning Final," Albert a bunch of songs (including the awesome "Sally," which probably should have made it). Which gives the songs on the album more unique identities, in many cases, yet for me the album still flows and coheres nicely. While I agree "True Confessions" is the seeming outlier, especially in the two-hole, I still think it's a great song, great lyrics that fit the times, and great guitar by Buck. I only wish I could have seen them do it live with Albert a few years back, especially since they never play anything from it aside from the obvious three on side one (and very rarely "Tattoo Vampire").
Agents of Fortune forever remains the turning point in the band's career and although it opens up a new chapter in the band's development, with "Reaper" exploding in the singles charts, the band seemed preoccupied from here on out with commercial tendencies which could yield in some great follow-up classics such as "Godzilla" and "Burnin' For You", but I think some of the songwriting began to suffer as a result of this factor. The quality of material and experimentation on Agents of Fortune, for better or worse, was a forward step and while I like about half of the album, material like "True Confessions", "Tenderloin", "Morning Final" and "Sinful Love" seems a bit removed from typical BOC stock. "Debbie Denise" is probably one of the best ballads they ever did, and seems bittersweet in its delivery, and it's also far removed from the typical sound, but I find it to be progressive and unique for the closing of that record. I think Spectres succeeds better with the broader musical spectrum that they adopted on Agents and the material is a bit stronger, but I guess I'll wait until we get to analyzing that one. Agents of Fortune is at the lower middle in my BOC albums list, I'll put it that way.
I like Agents of Fortune plenty. But, I think both True Confessions and Sinful Love are semi-stinkers As a result, I can't rate it higher than fifth - after the first three and FOUO.
I agree, Agents gets better and better as the years go by. Tenderloin is either a stinker they made cool and interesting....or a great tune cleverly hidden in subtlety. The latter I think.
Well a lot of mixed opinions on Agents. I managed to pick up the 5.1, so we'll see how we go... Enjoying the thread guys.
