Love me some BOC! First got into them in around '75. Had just moved to San Diego with my parents and all my albums and stereo were still in storage as we looked for a house while living in a dinky apartment. Met up with some other teens in the complex, made my way to Tower Records on Sports Arena and picked up some new vinyl, including BOCs first 3 albums. Had to spin them at the apartment of a new friend. Even the older brothers would stop in to listen (with some Schlitz bombers - yum....). Good times. I give the nod to The Red and The Black album (aka T&M) as my fav of the first 3. I think Mistress of the Salmon Salt is a masterpiece!
Yes, the first three records are the best, but I wonder if those that say Spectres or Mirrors made them stop their fandom, did you hear Fire of Unknown Origin later? It's a worthy addition to the discography. And now many have heard Heaven Forbid? It's a great album that only thousands heard, but I bet millions would enjoy. The loss of the Bouchard brothers did have a negative impact. But I saw them in Reno in 2004. Danny Miranda was on bass and Bobby Rondinelli (Rainbow, Black Sabbath) was on drums. GREAT show!
What qualifies as unique? I've got a copy of Secret Treaties signed by Eric Bloom in the 70s (I think), so I guess that. I've got a massive promo poster for The Revolution by Night but I'm sure it's not the only one in the world. I also had the promo CD God Save Blue Oyster Cult From Themselves that Sony sent out to promote the early 2000s deluxe editions. At the time it was the only way to get "John L. Sullivan." But it got destroyed in the most bizarre flood in human history.
I was a big fan of the first 3 albums and the live album. Just amazing stuff. It took me a while to warm up to Agents of Fortune (bought at time of release), but over the years, it’s become one of my absolute favorites. A desert island disk. After that, while each album had some amazing highlights, there just was too much inconsistency. They stopped writing albums...and went to a steady formula of trying to write hits, add in a couple of rockers, and a couple of left fielders. In other words, they got a lot more commercial. I can’t say I blame them, you need to sell records to get royalties and get people to the shows, but the creativity and originality got thinner and thinner. You listen to an album like Mirrors, and then Secret Treaties....you get my point.
May be my favourite B.Ö.C. track, if I had to choose. I have that too, there is also a live version of "Hot Rails To Hell", which I think is still unique to this release. To keep the tradition going there is also a sampler for The Columbia Albums Collectiön which has track not on the box ("Substitute (Live)"), but I'm not gonna loose any sleep over not having that.
Yeah, this. I've loved them since I was a kid. They really don't get their due these days as progenitors of heavy metal. For a while, they were being called "The American Black Sabbath", which is kind of silly, but their music (esp. on the first four albums) was very heavy and very influential. Fabulous musicians, too, e.g. listen to the way Albert Bouchard (drummer) adds just a little bit of "swing" even on a super-heavy song like "The Red & the Black".
I used to see them described as heavy rock when i was younger, but i've never considered them to be that at all.
Right right, but it was on Summerdaze a year earlier. So that CD became irrelevant unless the live "Reaper" is unavailable elsewhere. Or you're into Foghat.
I used to have BOC Kronos logo stem caps on my black Impala SS - now I just have a Blue Oyster Cult Don't Fear The Reaper license plate frame on my VW Tiguan. I also have black BOC hat with a red Kronos logo which gets a lot of "nice" remarks when I wear it.
Might sound crazy but my all time favorite song by them is "Pocket". When it was first released I loved it because it sounded like CLASSIC BOC!
Agreed, although while searching for it I also found this alternate cover. Might be fan made, I dunno.
