Blue Oyster Cult

You’ve heard their ‘music industry’s’ declared top hits over the radio “Don’t Fear the Reaper” “Godzilla” and “Burnin’ for You”. I say “music industry’s” because there are indeed better songs than those same three they spin over and over. However, I’m not about to argue their top songs, rather I’d like to state their all-time best album.

Is it the psychedelic leaning self-titled first album from 1972? Agents of fortune from 1976? Or perhaps 1981’s Fire of Unknown Origin? Let’s find out what I think while giving a review.

Blue Oyster Cult, or B.O.C. is an almighty band that formed in the late 60’s and was formed with key members Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom then got its solid grip with the release of their first album in 1972.

This album has great songs such as “Before the Kiss, a Redcap” “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll” and the odd but groovy “She’s as Beautiful as a Foot”. And lets not forget that album artwork. A pen and ink sketch of a labyrinth with stars up above and an odd symbol in the middle of an upside- down nook and cross that represents the astronomical symbol for the planet Saturn. How cool is that?

So that is how the band entered the room, but how did I, born in the early 90’s fall upon them? I’ll give a quick rundown. I was 19 and worked landscaping over the summers and Little Caesars over the winter. After a year and a half of that I ran out of music. My favorite song at the time? “Don’t Fear the Reaper” So, I decided that I would get intimate with B.O.C. and listen to every single song. And I’m not joking. For an entire week, before I went to bed, I would play a full album on YouTube with lyrics to follow.

From start to finish I went through iTunes and downloaded all songs that appealed to me. I was completely enthralled with their music. I was a big fan of the show SUPERNATURAL, Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, monster and ghost stories are my go to camp fire subjects and B.O.C. seemed to fit my persona. My first college essay back in spring of 2015 was a history overview of the band from start to finish, and resurrection to their for ever on tour. Or so we though… blatant foreshadowing here…

Back to songs I adore more than the industry’s top standard three. We already know what I like from their first album. “O.D.’d on Life Itself” is catchy, but overall, the Tyranny and Mutations album does not spark as much as its predecessor. Secret Treaties was a great revival with “Flaming Telepaths” “Astronomy” “Career of Evil” who could say no to adding this one to their vinyl collection?

Now I know you know where this list is going. Straight on to Agents of Fortune. The album with “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and.. well… that’s about it. Just kidding. I love “Extra Terrestrial Intelligence” and the angsty “This Aint the Summer of Love”. But I saw a video the other day where someone was discussing the culture of the seventies they grew up in and how music had changed. He noted how on iTunes you can see the one hit wonders and how albums are a thing of the past. (In some cases, at least) but he brought up a great point that all us vinyl collectors applauded to hear. “You don’t know what it’s like to play a vinyl and wait out 3 boring songs to hear 1 good song.” BOOM! Truth bomb dropped! I’m not picking the album with a number one song, I’m picking an album that I can dig 100% of, and Agents of Fortune is not that album.

I wish bands would drop records like The Beatles did when we just released 20 plus songs within one year. Spectres came out November 1977, just one and a half years after Agents of Fortune. This one does feature a top three industry hit, “Godzilla”. But even that song dwarfs in my opinion to the heavy emotions of “Death Valley Nights” and “Going Through the Motions” but my personal track choice is “Nosferatu” a song about the Vampire from Transylvania and went to Germany only to die by staying in the room of his subdued lover Lucy and was killed by the rising sun through the window.

Stop right there and read the previous sentence again. How many bands can pull off such epic paranormal themed ambiences? This is a song I have set to auto repeat on my Spotify. But I still can’t stop at this album as we’re only halfway there. Another year and a half later they dropped Mirrors. Not nearly as epic as the previous eight years of music releases, but “The Vigil” a song about UFO’s and alien abduction and “Lonely Teardrops” a beautiful heartache are very worth mentioning.

At the start of a new decade, 1980, Cultosaurus Erectus was released. It featured “Black Blade” which was written by a fantasy author and depicts a magic sword that possesses its master to destroy the world. Next it gave us an upbeat mix of classic metal and jazz “Monsters” followed by a political statement about terrorist in the middle east while critiquing American foreign policy “Divine Wind” and then a sweet rhythmic chimed song “Deadline”.

Side two of the album isn’t too thrilling, though the jam about a boy who loses his girlfriend to his favorite band at their concert, then becomes a guitarist rockstar himself to win her back, but never does, is an epic reflection on life through music “The Marshall Plan.”

Literally one year later Buck was working on a solo song called “Burnin’ for You” but to our luck some higherups convinced him to share the song with the band and put it on A Fire of Unknown Origin. To my opinion, this album outweighs all the previously listed ones. With the groovy tune of “Burnin’ for You” the interesting and creepy story of “Fire of Unknown Origin” and super sci fi lyrics with possibly their heaviest metal sound yet “Heavy Metal: The Black and Silver”. Like I stated before, can you name a band with so much epic fantasy under their name? They’re literally singing about building an Einstein bridge through the universe! The album even contains ghost stories from a pop Halloween tune of “After Dark” and the horrors of an abused step daughters step mother coming back from the grave to haunt her “Joan Crawford”.

This album slays and its depth is represented by the imagery on the front cover of 13 Blue Oyster Cult worshipers dressed in robes and spooky cult attire. I’ll make mention that Jesus plus twelve apostles also equal 13… but we’ll save that comparison and conspiracy for another day. This album also has “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” which is very Scifi and yet also addresses the real-life issues of military soldiers PTSD. It traps you in the mind of one who may be suffering the confusion of warfare and politics. I can’t think of one wrong thing with this album and the remaining songs “Sole Survivor” “Vengeance The Pact” and “Don’t Turn Your Back” are all to send a shiver of spooks down your spine.

After the greatness of Fire of Unknown Origin it’s hard to even give a hoot about The Revolution by Night. “Take Me Away” a song about asking the aliens and ufo’s to ‘take him away’ is a powerful smashing hit with super creative lyrics that I ask again, can you name another band that can pull these songs off? Now “Shooting Shark” is kind of a mess, but grew on me. It’s about a love sick man who wants to get over an ex and see’s a fortune telling mystic to give guidance. But it’s still doesn’t grab you like previously discussed songs and the only other song worth mentioning is “Shadow of California”.

This one has power to it, as well as “Feel the Thunder”. There are often songs about motorcycle gangs throughout B.O.C.’s years. But after all that heavy metal on this album and previous albums they decided to give us… “Let Go”. If there was one song B.O.C. wrote to capture an audience of middle school girls that drooled over cheesy pop, it would be this song. So that being said, I’m not voting for this album. But in 1985 the atrocity that is Club Ninja cursed the word “music”. I think the only song on here I can tolerate is “Dancin’ in the Ruins” all other mentions would be a waste of time.

I pretend Club Ninja never existed. It and Imaginos are the only original B.O.C. albums I don’t have collected on vinyl. Speaking of Imaginos. It was 1988 and the band was on decline and relied on Sandy Pearlman’s poem collection called Imaginos. It’s a story about alien conspiracy’s and the cult of blue oysters that was the orchestrator to both world wars.

A poetic rock opera that is just too awkward to follow. Honestly, the only song worth mentioning is an 80’s re rendition of “Astronomy” from an album released over a decade prior to Imaginos. After this album, the band was done.

Like a lot of their songs B.O.C. dealt with death and returned as musical apparitions. I do not know the story behind their reunion to release an album in 1994 Heaven Forbid, nor why we were lucky enough to get a follow up in 2001 with Curse of the Hidden Mirror. But these albums were great. Not only did they have the same paranormal sci-fi tones, but they had a heavier sound. “See You In Black” is straight up metal in sound and in lyric about a guy who wants to see his female neighbor wearing black so that he knows her husband is dead.

He deserves it for being abusive to her. Another head banger is “Hammer Back” about keeping the hammer on a gun pulled back and ready to shoot. Besides those two we get a more familiar classic B.O.C. sound with “Harvest Moon” “X-Ray Eyes” “Damaged” and “Still Burnin”. These songs are not synth like from the eighties but match better with earlier albums, and so sad it is not on Spotify, last I checked their 2001 album Curse of the Hidden Mirror isn’t on their either. It's not as awesome as their 1998 album, but “The Old Gods Return” and “Eye of the Hurricane” are great rock hits, but much of the album doesn’t stand out.

After that B.O.C. was closed again and was sent on their forever tour. I had tried my best to represent them and other classic rock bands when I was radio DJ for Snow College and then again for Utah State University. I would ignore the industry’s top three and played songs that probably haven’t gotten any airtime across the country since the late eighties. I was mad in 2016 as they came to Peppermill Concert Hall in Wendover during my spring break. I couldn’t go though due to being under the age of 21, however, the following year, they returned, and I drove from Logan UT out to Wendover to see them. I should have seen it coming, but it was odd being the only one there under the age of fifty. “Your knees will be as bad as mine someday.” A gimped older man told me. To be honest, it’s super nice going to a concert where the crowd is too old to stand up. It means I get to stay seated and no one will stand up to block my view.

The show had two parts, Fog Hat opened, but the only song I knew was “Slow Ride” and then I finally got to see my all time favorite life defining band come up on stage. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a more chill concert where everyone sang along to each song. It was great! I left Wendover at 1 am headed back to Salt Lake after checking off a major bucket list item. Years went by and I bought a new guitar and even named it Susie after a name that has been referenced in several B.O.C. songs and continued to collect their albums for my vinyl hobby.

I know you’re waiting for my answer. But the issue is we still have one more album to go. I don’t know how I missed it, and I think the first time I heard about it was a review about a song called “Florida Man” by B.O.C. Having not heard of it I turned to Spotify to discover I had completely missed a brand-new album dropped October 2020 called appropriately The Symbol Remains. It was summer of 2021 before I even got a chance to listen to it. I was floored by the whole thing. My #1 band stuck on forever tour releasing an album after 19 years? Heaven sent! The artwork of their giant logo crashing down upon ancient ruins with Saturn floating in the middle. The opening song “That Was Me” is a rockin’ jam bout the mysterious person(s) who vandalize and wreck chaos in our suburbs. Then “Tainted Blood” a dramatic operatic tale about a vampire whose vampire wife dies from drinking poisonous blood.

“Edge of the World” became an instant hit with me as it resonated an X-Files-esque warning of governmental conspiracies and alien abduction. B.O.C. was pulling it off again, even better, they were able to adapt and modernize their music to the 2020 cultural landscape with songs “The Machine” about how addicted we’ve become to our phones and “Florida Man” a song referencing the meme of how Florida men are cursed and always up to something ridiculous in the news. In between those two is “Train True (Lennie’s Song)” a super catchy song that matches the rhythm of an old chugging steam engine roller. There is also “Stand and Fight” another song that gripped me with its heavy metal tones and lyrics about well… standing and fighting. The next song “The Alchemist” is very operatic like “Tainted Blood” but is about an alchemist who curses an old town and kidnaps their prince to torture the king. My last favorite is “Secret Road” is about the end of the word isn’t the apocalyptic explosion we’re used to hearing about, but a slow whimpering death with a warning for bad people to repent and that there is a secret road we can go down to be come wheat instead of chaff.

So there. We’ve listed out every album and their top songs and epic themes. Looking back, I’d say it’s a close tie between two of them. I really like Fire of Unknown Origin. It’s mystic and haunting songs and incredible artwork. However, I would like to give the honor of #1 Blue Oyster Cult album to The Symbol Remains. That’s right boomer. I don’t care if it isn’t one of the original albums, but here’s why I love it so much. It’s not often a band returns from a 20 year hiatus and can pull of the same sounds and keep their niche. This album is heavier than most and what I really love is the echoes from other songs that can be heard. Fore example you can hear the pianos of “Flaming Telepaths” weaved within “The Alchemist”. Aside from past sounds it still has it’s own style and opens up with such a headbanger “That Was Me” the album also takes classic sounds and boosts them. It’s a big sound, with big themes. Vampire romances, alien abduction, and they even come sliding in to the modern times with “Florida Man” and “The Machine”.

I know a few bands that have tried to incorporate the idea of phones into their music and quite frankly… they’re cringe. But B.O.C. clearly still know what they’re doing. With the bigger, better, and louder songs “That Was Me” “Edge of the World” and “Stand and Fight” you feel like you’re on top of the world, and the world itself is a giant dust cap that covers the amplified speakers to music filled with such ferocity, while on the flip side they have the most chill sounds with “Secret Road”, “Box In My Head”, and “Fight”. I also absolutely love their back up singing. It drives up the catchiness and groove and also plays into past albums leaving you to feel like you did the first time you heard “Burnin’ for You”.

As B.O.C. grew from their origins in the early 70’s through the 80’s the music around them grew too. Synthesizers got huge, and don’t get me wrong, like I said B.O.C. knows, and always has known, what they’re doing.

The synths in Fire of Unknown Origin are amazing, but what’s nice about The Symbol Remains album is we’re back to basics. Solo and rhythm guitars, regular rock drum kits, bassist and some piano. The Symbol Remains goes over the top, without having to be over the top in excessive use of instruments of post-production sounds. I give it a 9/10

Please see my albums ranked below:

1. The Symbol Remains
2. Fire of Unknown Origin
3. Spectres
4. Secret Treaties
5. Blue Oyster Cult
6. Heaven Forbid
7. Cultosaurus Erectus
8. Agents of Fortune
9. The Revolution by Night
10. Mirrors
11. Tyranny and Mutation
12. Curse of the Hidden Mirror
13. Imaginos
14. Club Ninja