Blue Oyster Cult: Spectres
1977
Columbia Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Godzilla 2. Golden Age of Leather 3. Death Valley Nights 4. Searchin’ for Celine 5. Fireworks 6. R.U. Ready 2 Rock 7. Celestial the Queen 8. Goin’ Through the Motions 9. I Love the Night 10. Nosferatu
CD Bonus Tracks: 11. Night Flyer 12. Dial M for Murder 13. Please Hold 14. Be My Baby
I kind of feel I might be doing the world a huge disservice by offering my opinions on records...Again, my opinion on this record is 100% the opposite from the rest of the world's for some reason...I think "Spectres" absolutely smokes "Agents of Fortune." It pulls off the whole slick pop-rock direction so much more effectively...But others seem to see it as a "sell out" or the moment BOC jumps the Shooting Shark...
Maybe I'm just more of a power pop fan than your average Blue Oyster Cult fan...I for one don't think the State Fair is going to explode just because Blue Oyster Cult doesn't play "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"...I'd much rather hear the insanely catchy "Fireworks"...
I suppose the big draw here though, would be FM radio standard "Godzilla"...As a kid obsessed with "Godzilla Week" on the local TV station, hearing BOC's "Godzilla" on the radio was a big treat...The monstrous riff was actually Godzilla-worthy...I've heard this song a million times, but I can't help but still enjoy it...
(I must find this shirt at all cost...)
From the multi-part epic "Golden Age of Leather" to the creepy album-closer "Noseferatu," every second of the album is catchy and fun...And the production is great..They sound very comfortable in this big, arena setting, but still never lose sight of the weird, twisted roots....Stadium rock with a knowing, devilish gleam in its eye...
It's hard to believe I slept on this one so long...I could never find it for some reason...Although, I wasn't looking too hard, since everybody kept telling me it was "Agents of Fortune"'s inferior little brother...And I never got into "Agents of Fortune" too much, so I wasn't exactly dying to hear a lesser version of it...Finally I dug up a vinyl copy at FYE and have been head over heels in love with it ever since...
This is a pretty big statement, but I'm not afraid to say that this is my second favorite Blue Oyster Cult album...Yes, you heard me right...My second favorite! There...that was very brave of me...
Oh, yea, a lot of people seem to be confused by the song title "R.U.Ready 2 Rock." I always hear it slagged as being a dumb title with a bizarre and meaningless abbreviation, but I'm pretty sure it's in reference to the classic play "R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots)" which was a popular play from the 20's that's significant for giving us the word "Robot."
And robots are awesome, therefore, the song is awesome...Let's take a moment to look at some robots...
(Here are some robots with dinosaur heads...I bought one of these in a Florida flea-market circa 1986...)
(Here's C-3PO sportin' a mean hard-0n...Looking to bang some fine, young trash compactor or something...)
I highly recommend the vinyl version (cause you can actually see the hidden Kronos logo...) but you might want to pick up the CD version, too...This one has the best bonus tracks..."Please Hold" is one of their finest pop songs and they do a must-hear cover of "Be My Baby"...So now you can dirty dance w/ Patrick Swayze while listening to Blue Oyster Cult...
Unfortunately, you "Havana Nights' fans are out of luck...There's no Black Eyed Peas covers here...
Okay, enough with the Swayze...Let's check out "Fireworks" by Blue Oyster Cult...
No comments:
Post a Comment