Blue Öyster Cult: The Revölution by Night

 Blue Öyster Cult: The Revölution by Night

1983

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Take Me Away  2. Eyes on Fire  3. Shooting Shark  4. Veins  5. Shadow of California  6. Feel the Thunder  7. Let Go  8. Dragon Lady  9. Light Years of Love


Eek! Despite a few great songs, this is a huge step-down from "Fire of Unknown Origin."  That album sounded so right...The production was slick, yet it still maintained the hard rock crunch...The songwriting was spirited and they sounded so vital...

The sound on "The Revölution by Night" sounds greatly neutered in comparison...Which is odd, because Sandy Pearlman, who produced all their early metal classics is again at the helm, but they seem to be trapped inside some thick 80's gloss...Interestingly enough when Buck's singing, his smooth and even voice sounds right at home...But Eric gets mostly lost among all the gated reverb and  Miami Voice syndrums...

See Eric's got a cool, raspy voice that sounds best when backed by real, gritty, rock n' roll...and there's not much of that here...He sounds really good on  80's rock opener "Take Me Away" which is a collaboration with  early 80's MTV rocker Aldo Nova...



It's got a big, soaring chorus and a chunky guitar riff...If they could have given him some more stuff like this, the record could have worked, but instead he ambles around the echoing canyons of "Feel the Thunder" and the bland "Eyes on Fire."

On the upside, this album has "Shooting Shark"...If you catch me on the right day, I just might proclaim this to be their best song...It sounds odd when you first hear it...It's basically a funky, yet shadowy soft rock song...Full of  finger-poppin bass guitar (courtesy of America Idol's Randy Jackson, no less) and smooth sax...But when that chorus hits it's just so damn perfect that it seriously makes me wince...It's hard to believe the song is over 7 minutes long...The time flies right by and I always want to hear the chorus one more time...They probably should have gone all prog/krautrock on that one and just made it fill up an album side...I also enjoy "Veins," which has some cool hooks and an intriguing "Did I kill somebody?" premise..

 Side one of the album mostly works for me, I think if they could have held up the same quality for the second side, I would have likely been praising the album, but there's really not much here that grabs me... "Dragon Lady" and "Let Go" at least have some energy, but the lyrics on the latter are a real hindrance...Now think about this...It took some real balls to toss these  "You got the power, we got the key! BOC!" lyrics on the same album as the gorgeously lyrical "Shooting Shark." 

Did Albert's departure from the band really hurt them this bad? It's somewhat unbelievable...If you're a die-hard fan of the band, you'll learn to enjoy it like I did, but even I can't pretend this is anywhere near the high-standard they'd set for themselves...

Amway, the cover is very cool...I tried to emulate the mysterious, late-night,, street-light vibe  (although in a much more cartoonish (and amateurish)  manner) for the inside lyric sheet of my band's 2012 album "TA-80 Will Bury You."

After this album they put out 1985's "Club Ninja" which I cannot find a copy of for some reason...I've searched high and low in every record store across the country but can't seem to get my hand's on it...I've listened to it online, and I can't say it's much of an improvement on this, but it does have "Dancin' In the Ruins" which I'm obsessed with...


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Man, what an incredible album cover...But I didn't invite you here to drag you through my feverish fantasies about eventually scoring a copy of "Club Ninja." I invited you here to drink a couple beers and rock out to "The Revölution by Night." So let's check out "Shooting Shark, by Blue Oyster Cult...

Oh yea, what kind of beer do you drink while listening to Blue Oyster Cult?

Why, Cully Stout Beer, of course...Except there's one problem...I can't find even a single shred of evidence that Cully Stout Beer ever existed...So we're running a contest! Whoever is able to provide evidence of Cully Stout Beer's existence wins the kingly privilege of giving me a ride into work tomorrow...

So let's check out "Shooting Shark, by Blue Oyster Cult...