# Blue Öyster Cult



## Vronsky (Jan 5, 2015)

I started listening BÖC not so long ago, my first album was Blue Öyster Cult (1972). I continued with Tyranny and Mutation (1973) & Secret Treaties (1974), IMO their first three albums are the best (in other words, the albums they recorded before their commercial success). I find some similarities between BÖC and Thin Lizzy and Boston but I think there's difference between BÖC and bands like Rainbow, Deep Purple, Whitesnake etc. I'm interested, is there any fans of BÖC on TC?


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## The Deacon (Jan 14, 2018)

"Cities on Flame" rules.

Pre - BOC is as good as the first lp.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Strange Magic started a BOC thread two years ago so hopefully you won't mind if I largely replicate the same post.

BOC were one of my favourite bands from my younger years but I wasn't a fan of everything they did during their 71-81 heyday. They were unorthodox and they were versatile - at least three of the band were multi-instrumentalists and all five of them composed at some point or another.

The 'black and white' period of the first three albums is my favourite - the tinny production of Sandy Pearlman actually gave the music a kind of otherworldly quality which dovetailed perfectly with the often unorthodox subject matter contained in the lyrics.

The live _On Your Feet or On Your Knees_ brought the curtain down on their 'black and white' period, but, rip-roaring as the performances were, I found the sound woeful - weedy production worked in the studio but in a live setting it should have been in your face, and it definitely wasn't.

After this, _Don't Fear The Reaper_ was their calling card but, evergreen as the song is, I still regard it as more of a clever Byrds pastiche than anything else. The rest of their 70s output was spotty - the somewhat more conventional _Agents of Fortune_ and _Spectres_ albums had their weaknesses but the best from both would have made for a killer album.

_Mirrors_ from 1979 is the album few liked as it seemed to be an attempt to show that they could compete in the MOR radio-friendly world of bands like Foreigner and Joe-Walsh-era Eagles, although tracks like _The Vigil_ and _The Great Sun Jester_ showed they could still cut it in the obscurity stakes. I actually saw them on that tour but sadly they weren't allowed to bring their eye-watering light and laser show to the UK.

The following two albums, _Cultosaurus Erectus_ and _Fire of Unknown Origin_ were again flawed but both had some great stuff on them. After that, the slide - after a decade with the same line-up drummer Albert Bouchard was kicked out in 1981 and they then went through a slow but sure fall from grace as new developments in the world of hard rock/heavy metal overtook them.

Favourite album? _Tyranny and Mutation_, definitely.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Duplicate post.


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

The first three albums are the best but, the Deacon is right, the album they recorded when they were called the "Stalk-Forrest Group" (about 18 months before the 1st BOC album) which is titled "St Cecilia" is as good as any of those. Maybe even better. Elektra shelved it and it wasn't actually released until 2001 but tracks like "Donovan's Monkey", "Raggamuffin Dumplin'" and "Arthur Comics" are classics, sort of like a faster, harder version of the Doors. In fact, BOC occasionally played the last track live for many years. Good luck finding an original copy though.


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