Reviewed:
- Blue Öyster Cult (1972)
- Tyranny and Mutation (1973)
- Secret Treaties (1974)
- Agents of Fortune (1976)
- Spectres (1977)
- Mirrors (1979)
- Cultösaurus Erectus (1980)
- Fire of Unknown Origin (1981)
- The Revölution by Night (1983)
- Club Ninja (1985)
- Imaginos (1988)
- Cult Classic (1994)
- Heaven Forbid (1998)
- Curse of the Hidden Mirror (2001)
- The Symbol Remains (2020)
- Ghost Stories (2024)
BLUE ÖYSTER CULT 1972 (Columbia)
- Standouts: 'Transmaniacon MC', 'I'm On the Lamb But I Ain't No Sheep', 'Then Came the Last Days of May', 'Before the Kiss, A Redcap', 'Screams', 'She's as Beautiful as a Foot', 'Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll'
Ah, now here's a band I've been kinda semi-listening to since my college days, but never actually delved into their discography until at least a decade onward. I've had '76's Agents of Fortune in my collection since I was at least 16, and until 2020, it was the only Blue Oyster Cult album along with Secret Treaties I actually owned. Anyhow, this band sometimes get thrown in with the heavy metal scene of the 70's - bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy etc.. Reality is that they're not really a metal band at all, they were just about metallic enough to be associated with the scene at the time, since metal was still in it's early beginnings. And that may be why I picked up Agents of Fortune all those years ago, but never bothered with anything else for such a long time. I was a huge metalhead at that age, and I suppose I expected something heavier, despite really liking '(Don't Fear) The Reaper'. To me, BOC have always done their own thing, blending hard rock, heavy metal, psychedelia, blues... even the odd pop sensibility here and there - nobody sounds quite like them at the end of the day. Maybe this is a dumb thing to say, but I sort of consider them to be like the American Uriah Heep - they don't sound anything like the Heep of course, but like them they're often jumbled in amongst other 70's metal bands despite not really being a metal band and having their own distinct sound.
This 1972 debut is excellent, put simply. 'Transmaniacon MC' is an awesome opener. Weird, trippy, drug-induced rock n' roll! Eric Bloom handles the vocals on it, as well as the majority of the album for that matter. He's never really had a great voice per say, but I love his singing simply because he sounds cool! He's got tons of charisma and is instantly recognizable. 'I'm On the Lamb but I Ain't No Sheep' is a little more upbeat and is built around this really cool, groovy blues riff. It even has a bit of a boogie beat at the end of the song. Lead guitarist Donald 'Buck Dhama' Roeser sings on 'Then Came the Last Days of May'. Buck would go on to sing many later BOC tracks, and his vocals are distinctively different to Bloom's, and he really suits the slower, sleazier, balladish 'Then Came the Last Days of May', another rock solid tune. 'Stairway to the Stars' is a little less memorable than the first three tracks, but is still a decent enough boogie-blues rocker. 'Before the Kiss, a Redcap' is great - it actually has a ton of rockabilly influence in it. It's one of the reasons I got into this band - they can surprise you, and in a good way.
'Screams' is extremely cool. Talk about eerie! It's clearly heavily influenced by 60's acid rock but has this spooky, creepy kind of atmosphere and all these weird keyboard tones in the background to accompany the guitars (well, assuming they are keyboard tones that is). 'Screams' eventually fades out into the equally weird, trippy and quirky 'She's as Beautiful as a Foot' (what a title!). These two songs back-to-back are a major highlight of this record for me. The heaviest song on this album is 'Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll', which is built around some kick-ass guitar riffs. It's also probably the most famous song on the album, and is a die-hard BOC classic, but honestly, about 75% of this record is classic material. I guess the last couple of songs don't quite stand out as much for me, but again, they're still decent. 'Workshop of the Telescopes' has some interesting guitar work in it - sometimes the band like to play what at first sounds like a conventional riff, but then out of nowhere you'll get some odd jazz chord in there, and it gives a lot of these tracks a unique feel. 'Redeemed' is a lighter way to close the album, and sort of reminds me of the Steppenwolf album At Your Birthday Party for some reason.
Yeah, I like this album a hell of a lot. There's no duff tracks on here at all, but there is a small handful of tunes that aren't quite classics in my mind. Still, this is a very solid debut overall. One thing that I really enjoy about it is it's strange, unsettling atmosphere. Even the rockers still have an odd, eerie atmosphere about them. Like Sabbath's debut, no other album sounds quite like Blue Oyster Cult's first record, nor would anything else the band would record later on either.
Adam's rating: 9/10
TYRANNY AND MUTATION 1973 (Columbia)
- Standouts: 'The Red and the Black', 'O.D.'d on Life Itself', 'Hot Rails to Hell', '7 Screaming Diz-Busters', 'Teen Archer', 'Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl)'
A great follow-up to the debut, and the second of three albums to feature a distinctly black and white album cover. Some changes were made for the music on this one - they were still finding their feet after all - although it's still unmistakeably Blue Oyster Cult of course. The production is arguably better and more professional this time around, and overall the album is a lot less atmospheric. I loved the spooky and psychedelic feels of the first record, but I guess it didn't need to be replicated for a second time. Tyranny and Mutation sounds just fine to me, with more of an emphasis on rockin' if anything. I mean, the album's still pretty weird, just not necessarily eerie anymore.
The songs are, once again, pretty damn great overall. The album starts off with a blazing speed rocker, 'The Red & the Black'. I'd maybe even go so far as to call it proto-punk, in a way. It's awesome, naturally. 'O.D.'d on Life Itself' is a bit more inline with the debut, a fine and dandy, bluesy hard rock track. And great title and lyrics too. There's another punky hard rocker in 'Hot Rails to Hell'. But it also has some great chorus melodies to accompany the hard-edged nature of the riffs. And later on in the track, it sort of morphs into a surf rock for a brief time! It really is creative to say the least. '7 Screaming Diz-Busters' (whatever the fuck that means!), is chock full of all that unusual, jazzy, yet hard rockin' goodness that you've come to expect from this band. Like I said in my review of the first album, BOC's guitar work was always kinda unpredictable, and that's one of my favourite aspects of this band. There's a lot going on in '7 Screaming Diz-Busters', I dunno whether to bang my head or just get lost in the music! This is also the longest track on the record, I can only assume the fact '7' is in the title has something to do with the fact the song is exactly seven minutes long.
Things go back to basics a little on 'Baby Ice Dog', which is a little less crazy than the last couple of tracks. This is probably one of the weaker tracks on the album for me, but is still very solid. It's a nice pop rock track, and has lyrics written by the legendary Patti Smith. Smith would subsequently go on to write and even perform vocals on a handful of future BOC tracks. 'Wings Wetted Down' is a little moodier and I can hear a little bit of Sabbath in some of it's riffs at times. 'Teen Archer' features some of the best guitar and keyboard soling on the record, while the album's closer, 'Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl)' (another strange song title!) reminds me a little of 'Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll'. Well, that stompin' opening riff does at least. The rest of the track is a sleazy slow-burner, and I really like it.
I'm gonna go right ahead and stick this one just below the debut, but in reality it's more-or-less on par. Tyranny and Mutation may be lacking the atmosphere of the first record, but makes up for it simply because the tunes themselves are even more unusual and interesting, and also just as entertaining. This is one of those albums that was ahead of it's time. The guitar work in particular still manages to be unpredictable in the best way possible. I do think the second half of this album is definitely a tad weaker, but the first half is unbelievably good.
Adam's rating: 8.9/10
SECRET TREATIES 1974 (Columbia)
- Standouts: Everything.
Ahh, yet more early-career Blue Oyster Cult greatness! Secret Treaties is the third classic album in a row. It kicks off with 'Career of Evil', an awesome psych-rocker with lyrics written again by Patti Smith. Once again the band manage to weird-out and still rock all the same! 'Subhuman' is slightly less weird; a strong, bluesy rock track with some memorable arrangements and hooks. It's followed-up by one of my all-time favourite BOC numbers, 'Dominance and Submission'. This is an arse-kicking, punky anthem with a super-infectious main riff. It's another of those unconventional riffs, in that it has the odd jazzy chord in there, but works perfectly. And all the vocal hooks are spot-on, especially the quirky mid-section. Fantastic song, this time with drummer Albert Bouchard handling the vocals.
'ME 262', which is named after the Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter plane (and also the plane on the album cover) is another excellent song that is once again ahead of it's time. It has a ton of punk rock tendencies in it, and remember, this was pre-punk. Gotta love the fun, fast upbeat heavy rock of 'Cagey Cretins' too, with it's sporadic riffage. 'Harvester of Eyes' has a bit of a southern rock feel in my opinion. This is maybe the only song on here that I'm not hugely fussed about, but even so, I still dig it. I am fussed about 'Flaming Telepaths' though, the vocal melodies are wonderful, and I love the overall 'grandness' of this song.
This record ends with 'Astronomy', arguably the most famous and popular song on the album. It's a proggy, melodic epic that Metallica decided to cover for the Garage Inc. album in 1998, but that's another story. 'Astronomy' is absolutely essential BOC-listening and is probably 99% of peoples' favourite track from this album, but mine will always be 'Dominance and Submission'! Whatever. Secret Treaties manages to be even stronger than Tyranny and Mutation.
Adam's rating: 9.2/10
AGENTS OF FORTUNE 1976 (Columbia)
- Standouts: 'This Ain't the Summer of Love', 'True Confessions', '(Don't Fear) The Reaper', 'E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)', 'Sinful Love', 'Tattoo Vampire', 'Morning Final'
By the time Agents of Fortune arrived, Blue Oyster Cult were a big deal and playing massive shows. This was a Platinum-selling record for the band, and obviously the fact it's got '(Don't Fear) The Reaper' contributed to it's success. I guess I may as well get 'Reaper' out of the way now. You know it, I know it. It's a legit classic that's still regularly played on classic rock radio to this day. Is it overplayed? Well, it most definitely is, but damn it's more-or-less one of those perfect tracks for me! The vocal melodies, the guitars, the lyrics... the cowbell (needs more cowbell...)!! I just cannot turn it off whenever it comes on! Of course, some people thought the band were encouraging suicide with the lyrics, but in reality they're simply telling you not to fear death. It's inevitable.
With 'Reaper' out of the way, onto the rest of the album. The opener, 'This Ain't the Summer of Love' is a short but sweet gut-punch of 70's heavy metal. By contrast, it's quickly followed-up with 'True Confessions', which is actually a very poppy number. But it's a decent, bouncy little track with some nice hooks. 'E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)' is a sci-fi tinged classic. The riffs are weird - heavy, bluesy, very BOC-like. And the chorus will have you singing along! 'The Revenge of Vera Gemini' is classy as hell. It's another song that Patti Smith was involved on, only this time she actually sings duet vocals with drummer Albert Bouchard. Love this track too. And 'Sinful Love' has an infinitely catchy chorus. Aside from '(Don't Fear) The Reaper', I'd hazard a guess that one of the other reasons this album sold so well is because there's definitely a greater emphasis on hooks this time around. The songs overall, are catchier on Agents of Fortune than any of the first three records. This can often prove to be a red flag for some bands, but for this album, it works. Every track on here still sounds like Blue Oyster Cult albeit with more polish and instrumentation, and they're not trying to weird you out quite so much this time. Having said this, the up-tempo rocker 'Tattoo Vampire' could have easily fit on either of the last two albums, which is of course, a good thing.
I enjoy the spacey jazz-rock of the largely piano-driven 'Morning Final'. This band were always experimental, so it works in their favour. 'Tenderloin' might be my least favourite song on here, but that's not really saying much. The guitar solo towards the end is particularly great. The album ends with a poppy rock, ballady affair in 'Debbie Denise'. Not your typical BOC track, but honestly still pretty damn good with some really nice melodies.
The best tracks on here, 'E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)', 'The Revenge of Vera Gemini', 'This Ain't the Summer of Love' and of course, '(Don't Fear) The Reaper' are among the very best BOC songs. However, they're all found on the first half of the album. The second side is still very good, but that first is just gold! Normally I'm not so keen when a decidedly un-mainstream band decides to throw more pop influences into their music, but in the case of Agents of Fortune, it really does work for the most part. I think the fact they were experimental anyway kind of meant they could get away with it more-so than another band from the same era, like Deep Purple for example. And as hooky as this album can be, the music itself is still undeniably the product of the Cult. What you have is one of their best albums, although I still think Secret Treaties does it a little better for me.
Adam's rating: 9/10
SPECTRES 1977 (Columbia)
- Standouts: 'Godzilla', 'Golden Age of Leather', 'Death Valley Nights', 'Fireworks', 'Nosferatu'
Agents of Fortune was a major success for the band, following it up competently probably wasn't going to be easy. Well, more like reaching the same sales figures wasn't going to be easy. Anyhow, in the end we got 1977's Spectres, which does at least begin with a rock-solid classic in the crunchy, riff-heavy 'Godzilla'. This track failed to chart as a single, yet somehow still became one of the band's better-known songs, and apparently still got a lot of airplay on rock radio. Probably because it's great. 'Golden Age of Leather' is really good too, it does pretty much everything I want to hear from this band, and does it well. Plenty of musical transitions, interesting guitar work, great vocal harmonies - hell, it's classic Blue Oyster Cult once again. And ya know what? I think the ballady 'Death Valley Nights' is a great tune as well. Very nice piano/guitar-driven verses, a heavier chorus with great vocal arrangements. Very nice song.
'Searchin' for Celine' isn't perfect; it's kinda poppy and the beat is borderline disco, but it's not obnoxiously poppy. I still enjoy it for the most part. The band dabbled with pop on Agents of Fortune, and honestly, during this mid-70's period, most of the pop dabbling worked for the most part. Of course, this wouldn't always be the case with certain later works, but overall this track is still pretty good overall. And let's be honest, Agents of Fortune was very successful - you can't blame them for wanting to get a little poppy at times on this follow-up record. It's also the case with 'Fireworks' - the melodies are really nice and smooth enough to qualify for radio airplay, but the song overall still sounds unmistakeably like Blue Oyster Cult. So that one gets another thumbs-up from me. 'R. U. Ready 2 Rock' on the other hand, has one of the dumbest song titles (and spellings) in rock history. I honestly have no clue what was going through their heads when they came up with those lyrics. Musically though, it's really not bad. Not great, just a cheesy, fun, good-time rock n' roller.
'Celestial the Queen' isn't really a favourite of mine. It has this weird, almost baroque-like aura going for it, but then again, maybe that's a good thing. I mean, weirdness is definitely a criteria for this band. 'Goin' Through the Motions' is maybe a bit of a filler number, but I can still find myself singing along to it 90% of the time. I must admit 'I Love the Night' is a bit of a generic soft rock piece too, but again, I still quite like it! I think the most important thing is that it still sounds like a product of Blue Oyster Cult. Thankfully, the closing track is another classic - 'Nosferatu'. It's an atmospheric, occult rock number that I guess is influenced quite heavily by '(Don't Fear) The Reaper' - and that can't be a bad thing. This is epic, gothic stuff.
Good album overall. A fairly significant step-down from all previous efforts, but still rather good for the most part. There's some sketchy ideas here and there ('Celestial the Queen', 'R. U. Ready 2 Rock' etc.), but I can still listen to every track on here and get some enjoyment out of them - even the sketchier ones. Plus, there's a handful of essentials on Spectres: 'Godzilla', 'Golden Age of Leather' and 'Nosferatu'. These are great songs. It's just a shame that the rest of the album is good, but not great. The creativity's not quite there this time (aside from those standout classics I just mentioned that is), but even so, the bulk of the album is still decent.
Adam's rating: 7.7/10
MIRRORS 1979 (Columbia)
- Standouts: 'The Vigil', 'I Am the Storm'
I had to approach this one with caution due to it's overall reputation, which is of course, not so great. It's probably the most hated of the band's 70's works, so I wasn't expecting to be impressed by it. It does start off quite enjoyably, with 'Dr. Music'. Cheesy song title and crap lyrics - and lyrics are a big deal because Blue Oyster Cult, to me, were often far more creative and memorable than their rivals in the lyrics department - but the music itself is rather good. Just a fun, straightforward, upbeat pop rocker with some nice riffs and surprisingly good usage of female backing vocals. And to be fair, I sorta like 'The Great Sun Jester' too. You can hear some new wave synthy keyboard sounds seeping into this track, that being the big thing in music around 1979, but the song has enough BOC-ness about it to still interest me at least.
I'm not exactly a fan of 'In Thee'. This is a really mellow, Eagles-ish soft rock track with absolutely zero of the traits that made this band great in the first place. Honestly, if somebody else had recorded it, or if it was some sort of Buck Dharma solo project, I'd probably dig it (up to a point), but as it stands, it sure ain't worthy of the BOC brand. The title song is marginally better, but is hardly worth writing home about. The lead guitar work on it is quite nice, but the rest of the song is just generic pop rock, and again, the new wave influence is creeping into it. 'Moon Crazy' - I could do without this one. 'The Vigil' is thankfully much more comparable to the band's earlier material. It's long, riff-heavy and features several great musical transitions that the band do so well. It's just a shame that the overall glossier production of Mirrors takes away from it's greatness, somewhat. Still, very good track. Same can be said for 'I Am the Storm', which could have easily sat quite comfortably on Agents of Fortune. A deep cut for sure.
Unfortunately, the last couple of tracks don't conclude this album in a good way, sadly. I mean, 'You're Not the One (I Was Looking For)' is extremely smooth pop rock that honestly sounds nothing like Blue Oyster Cult. Had someone played this to me with zero context, there's no way in hell I'd have ever guessed it was the same band that recorded an album like Secret Treaties or Cultosaurus Erectus. And as for 'Lonely Teardrops', it's another sleeper of a song; throwaway 70's pop rock. Boring.
There's really no reason for anyone to go out and pick up a copy of Mirrors, save for the die-hard fans of course. 'The Vigil' and 'I Am the Storm' are worth hearing, and there's a couple of others like 'Dr. Music' and 'The Great Sun Jester' that are okay too, but the majority of this album is a failed experiment. They set out to make a chart-topping pop rock album, with glossy production and fancy new wave elements, and it just doesn't work overall. That said, Mirrors is far from one of the worst albums in my collection. They didn't embarrass themselves (unlike certain later projects...), even if it doesn't work for the most part. There's nothing on here that is so awful I have to turn it off or skip it, it's just that pretty much all the worst aspects of this record mean that the band don't even sound like Blue Oyster Cult at times. And who wants that?
Adam's rating: 5/10
CULTÖSAURUS ERECTUS 1980 (Columbia)
- Standouts: 'Black Blade', 'Monsters', 'Divine Wind', 'The Marshall Plan', 'Hungry Boys', 'Fallen Angel', 'Lips in the Hills'
After the failed glossy, contemporary dabbling on Mirrors, the band teamed up with legendary heavy rock producer/engineer Martin Birch and returned the following year with Cultosaurus Erectus. This is a huge improvement on Mirrors, frankly. Obviously Martin Birch did wonders for the sound on this thing; I'd say it's my favourite-sounding BOC album in the production department, not surprising really if all those Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden albums that Birch produced are anything to go by. He basically removed any of the keyboard synths (keyboards are still present here, but are used for atmosphere and effect more than anything), female backing vocals, and any other of the issues that plagued Mirrors and made them revisit the sounds of their first three albums albeit with beefed-up production. They even toured with Black Sabbath in support of Cultosaurus.
As for the songs, they're a return to form. Hell, even the album cover is an improvement. What is that thing? Some kind of cosmic, extraterrestrial dinosaur? Either way, it's surreal. Uhh, yeah, so onto the songs: 'Black Blade' is one of my all-time favourite BOC tracks. It's weird, heavy, atmospheric and oddly catchy - these are the ingredients that I loved from the first handful of records. I really like that trippy, creepy transition in the middle of the song too. Classic stuff. 'Monsters' is equally weird - it's a functional heavy rock song with strange jazzy breaks and elements, even a bit of sax. And that's what you came for! Strange, unorthodox heavy rock that somehow still manages to be tuneful and hooky. The eeriness doesn't end on 'Divine Wind' either, a fine mid-tempo, bass-heavy, plodding number.
'Deadline' is a bit lighter with those keyboard tones in the background, and also more conventional structurally. But it still has an aura of weirdness about it, and does not sound out of place with the rest of the songs. 'The Marshall Plan' is kind of stupid lyrically, but again, the music itself is excellent. 'Hungry Boys' is an upbeat rock n' roller and 'Fallen Angel' somehow manages to remind me of The Who. This is the only track bassist Joe Bouchard sings on, and it's a nice and straightforward rocker with some poppish elements that breaks up the album quite well. It's followed-up by the fast heavy metaller, 'Lips in the Hills'. This is one of the best songs on the record for me. The last track, 'Unknown Tongue', is solid if unremarkable.
All in all, this is a fantastic record. 'Black Blade', 'Monsters' and 'Lips in the Hills' are easily three favourites for me, and the rest of the album is more than decent too. I will add that I think there's a couple of 'good, not great' tracks, but they don't really affect the overall outcome too much. I've gotta say, I wanted to give the album a 9/10, but when I looked at the rest of the scores I've dished out, I still think Agents of Fortune is marginally stronger, and I gave that one a 9. That said, I think Cultosaurus Erectus sits firmly in line with the first two records.
On a side note, I have two CD copies of this album. Why? Because I hate the packaging of the first version I bought! It's one of those crappy cardboard sleeves, as if it's supposed to replicate an LP sleeve. I fucking hate these things! CD's are so much smaller than vinyl records, just having them in a printed card sleeve just doesn't work! My original copy's packaging bothered me that much I ended up buying an actual jewel case version off eBay in the end. Now I just need to do the same thing and update my stupid copies of the Clash's first album and London Calling!
Adam's rating: 8.9/10
FIRE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 1981 (Columbia)
- Standouts: 'Fire of Unknown Origin', 'Burnin' for You', 'Veteran of the Psychic Wars', 'Sole Survivor', 'Heavy Metal: The Black and the Silver', 'Vengeance (The Pact)', 'Don't Turn Your Back'
The band took a slight misstep with Mirrors. I mean, I guess you could argue that prior to Mirrors, Spectres was a little disappointing too. But with Martin Birch producing Cultosaurus Erectus, I think it's safe to assume most fans felt as though this band were back on track again in 1980. So in 1981 they followed up Cultosaurus with Fire of Unknown Origin, again produced by Birch.
This record produced a major hit for the band. Obviously that song was 'Burnin' for You'. I must admit, this is an excellent track, though I don't know if I'd call it one of my absolute favourite Blue Oyster Cult songs. It's just a nice and straightforward hard rock song, with some great pop-induced hooks. Again, I do really like it, it's just not quite an all-time fave of mine (although obviously I agree it's a classic tune). The opening title track is cool as well though. Sometimes heavy keyboard/synth usage can be a turn-off for me, but it works on this one simply because they add more of a bizarre and dark atmosphere to the rest of the music. This is prime BOC. Same can be said of the militaristic 'Veteran of the Psychic Wars'. This number is big, heavy, and features all these marching band-like military drum rhythms. And again, the added use of keyboards really add to the atmosphere, which is what you want on a BOC record! Yeah, this track is fuckin' awesome. Apparently a few of the songs on this record were written in mind for the animated 1981 film Heavy Metal, but only 'Veteran of the Psychic Wars' actually made it onto the soundtrack. Uh, I've never actually seen the film, but I thought I'd just throw that fact out there. Yeah.
Getting back to the songs, 'Sole Survivor' has a great chorus. It's kind of a dark song with a poppy chorus. Works really well for me. Same goes for the stompin' metal anthem 'Heavy Metal: The Black and the Silver', which would have worked quite well for the crowds to singalong to. 'Vengeance (The Pact)' is awesome - it even has a fast, Iron Maiden-like galloping heavy metal section near the end. Man, and 'After Dark' is really good too! It's a quirky, odd little rocker with a really great guitar solo going for it. Maybe 'Joan Crawford' is my least favourite song on this album, but even so, that's not really much of a diss at all. This one sounds like it could fit on Agents of Fortune to be fair. 'Don't Turn Your Back' has a sort of jazzy rhythm. And maybe I'm talking complete bollocks right now, but there's something about the overall tone of this track that reminds me the Police's 'When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around' (yeah I know, it's a fucking long song title...) from their 1980 album Zenyatta Mondatta. And yes, that is a compliment because the Police rule too.
In terms of issues I have, my main complaint is just the overall lack of ambition in the songwriting department. There's no real 'epic' songs on here or the predecessor, but on the plus side, at least the album is very consistent overall. So while there might not be any tracks on here that really blow me away, they are at least all very good. Same thing can be said for the previous record.
When all is said and done, Fire of Unknown Origin is yet more classic Blue Oyster Cult. The production is every bit as good as Cultosaurus thanks to Birch's contributions, and the songs are great once again. These two albums don't really do anything drastically different to what the band were doing on the first three records, yet still manage to have their own distinct sound, which is a good thing. Oh, and lyrically both these albums are among their best. Sci-fi nerds will really get a kick out of 'em! Damn, I don't think I've given the same rating score to so many releases from the same band, but I find that BOC have multiple records that are excellent, just not quite superb! If I had to rank this band's discography, I'd be having a hard time deciding what goes where right now!
Adam's rating: 8.9/10
THE REVÖLUTION BY NIGHT 1983 (Columbia)
- Standouts: 'Take Me Away', 'Feel the Thunder', 'Let Go'
After two very strong records with Martin Birch, the band team up with another legendary producer for The Revolution by Night - Bruce Fairbairn. And opening track, 'Take Me Away', is as good as anything from either of the last couple of albums (well, alright, maybe not as good as 'Black Blade'). Either way, it's a fast, heavy, punchy, sci-fi inspired opener in the classic Blue Oyster Cult vein. A real gem, but probably the only genuine classic on here sadly.
I think 'Shadow of California' is pretty good too. It definitely has some classically moody BOC-style ideas in there, even if the production is ageing badly (which I'll get to soon). 'Feel the Thunder', despite the stupid title, I quite like as well. It has a little too much of an 80's-like beat, but there's some appropriately dark weirdness going on (as there should be from this band), as well as some all-round decent guitar work from Bloom and Roeser. I'd say that 'Let Go' is an underrated rocker as well. It has a little bit of a 70's Elton John vibe with that upbeat piano, but it sounds good to me overall. 'Dragon Lady' - I like the guitars on this one, but some of the pop beats get on my nerves at times. It's okay overall.
Unfortunately, before I picked this album up, I'd heard it doesn't exactly have the best rep among the band's discography. Even with Fairbairn producing, there's a fair share of questionable material to sit through here. 'Eyes on Fire' is the first red flag, and it's only the second track. It's just a generic 80's power-stadium-arena-rock-type anthem. For some reason, everyone seems to go on about the seven minute number, 'Shooting Shark', as if it's one of the best things about this record. Why?! Well, alright, the lyrics (again co-written by Patti Smith) are great, the bass playing is cool... and maybe if you took away the big, reverb-drenched overproduction you'd have a classic BOC track, but that's exactly the problem - it's overproduced. It has that typical '80's pop rock' sheen, and while this can work for, oh I dunno, an 80's pop arena rock band, it's not what your average BOC fan wants! Honestly, I think this is a good song at core, I just can't emphasise how important production can be though. 'Veins' on the other hand, is just garbage on all levels. If Survivor wrote this, hen it'd probably work. But as it stands, 'Veins' is an embarrassing, synth-heavy pop track that's aged horribly. 'Light Years of Love' is an embarrassingly stupid, smooth ballad that ends this record. The less said about it the better.
I was looking at my rating for Mirrors and thinking "is Revolution by Night a worse album?". Spoiler - I don't think so. There's more tracks on here that I actually like compared to Mirrors' track listing. However, the songs that are bad, are pretty damn bad. And the production is certainly far worse-sounding here than on Mirrors. I mean, overall I'd still say this is an above-average record; I like more than half the tracks, but as I said, the production really doesn't do them any favours. Should you get it? Probably not. Give this one a listen on Spotify instead.
Adam's rating: 5.7/10
CLUB NINJA 1985 (Columbia)
- Standouts: Meh. Possibly 'Shadow Warrior'.
Ahh jeez... what is going on here?! The band may have released five albums during the 80's, but this is unquestionably the most typically 80's-sounding of them all. We heard this on The Revolution by Night, that much is true, but on Club Ninja it's been taken to the extreme. You know the drill: synths, tons of keys, big reverby production and just an overall 'radio rock' kinda dated sound. The first three songs on Club Ninja weren't even written by any of the band members! 'White Flags' really doesn't get things off to a good start. It's a poppy arena rock song with all the problems I just mentioned before. 'Dancin' In the Ruins' manages to be even worse. Horrid, power ballad-esque melodic rock. If I wanted to hear something kinda similar-ish (only done well) I'd listen to Magnum's Wings of Heaven. 'Make Rock, Not War' is just embarrassing. It barely even sounds like Eric Bloom is singing on it, I can only guess just how uncomfortable he must have been recording it. This is some wannabe-Night Ranger cheesy bullshit.
Okay, well 'Perfect Water' I guess I kinda enjoy. It's not even remotely BOC-like in the traditional sense of course, but it is at least a well-performed soft rock number that has some nice vocal and guitar melodies throughout. But to call this one a 'classic' would certainly be a lie. I just find it listenable is all. 'Spy in the House of the Night' - I got nothin' to say about this one. 'Beat 'em Up' is just Eric Bloom trying to act tough, but ultimately failing miserably thanks to the shiny production. It wants to be a hard rock song, but it really isn't. 'When the War Comes' has some alright guitar parts on it, but there's something about the overall rhythm of this song that reminds me of Queen in the 80's for some reason. You'd think that'd be a compliment, but BOC are not Queen and yet again, this is another song I just don't dig. 'Madness to the Method' is one of the most uneventful and dull attempts at an 'epic' the band ever pulled off. It's nearly seven and a half minutes long, that much is true, but this is certainly no 'Astronomy'. At least the guitar soling is nice on it.
The only song I 'like' - and I use that term loosely - is 'Shadow Warrior'. Maybe. Some days at least. It's passable melodic heavy rock.
Man, listening to this album in full was actually quite challenging. Put simply, it's piss-poor. There's just nothing on Club Ninja that makes me want to revisit it. I was aware that this record was not a particularly well-received one in the band's discography, so it's not like I had high hopes on first listen. I only really bought it for collection purposes, but even so, I thought there would at least be one hidden gem on here. At least Mirrors had a couple of classics hidden in there, and honestly that whole record has aged better than this one. Club Ninja on the other hand, is Blue Oyster Cult trying to impersonate either:
a) Billy Idol
b) Europe
c) Foreigner
d) Survivor
e) Journey
f) Magnum
g) REO Speedwagon
h) Night Ranger
i) all of the above
...and it just sucks overall. And even though I actually like some of those artists I just listed, I certainly don't want BOC to try and sound like any of them. I love Blue Oyster Cult because they write weird, unconventional songs, but also manage to draw me in with their hooks and rock me all the same. No-one else sounds like them. This album however, is just generic, keyboard-drenched 80's arena rock. Just about the only thing weird about Club Ninja is the fact Howard Stern does a spoken-word introduction on 'When the War Comes Home'. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing unprofessional or amateur about this record, it's just not what I (or presumably anybody else) want to hear from this particular band.
Adam's rating: 3.5/10
IMAGINOS 1988 (CBS)
- Standouts: 'I Am the One You Warned Me Of', 'In the Presence of Another World', 'The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria', 'Blue Oyster Cult'
This album originally began as an Albert Bouchard solo project. He actually left BOC in 1981, and Imaginos was intended to be the first of a trilogy of concept records - it ended up being some twenty years in the making. Meh, still sounds like a Blue Oyster Cult record to me, although it does feature a ton of guest musicians including Joe Satriani, Kenny Aaronson and Robbie Krieger of the Doors. There's a massive Wikipedia page about this record and the entire lyrical concept, and I really can't be bothered to go into details. Honestly, I don't really care for concept albums. Telling a story via an album is not something I'm entirely opposed to by any means - as long as the songs are good, I'm completely cool with it. However, I don't actually care for storytelling in album format. If the story is good, but the music sucks, then to me the album is still bad full-stop. Anyhow, some people don't really consider Imaginos to be a true BOC album for all these reasons, but to me it is... so yeah.
The first track, 'I Am the One You Warned Me Of' is great stuff - riff-heavy rock, something that had been missing since Fire of Unknown Origin. Yeah, it's very 80's-sounding because the production is still very much big and reverby, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing if the songs have been pulled off decently. 'In the Presence of Another World' is a big, moody, atmospheric epic song that sounds like a natural progression for this band. It's like some of the more proggy moments from the 70's on a grander scale. 'Del Rio's Song' is a solid pop rocker with some nice hooks that I can get into. It didn't need to last five and a half minutes, but whatever. One of my favourite tracks on the album is - here goes - 'The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria' (fucking hell!). This is an outstanding, epic rock song that features Joe Cerisano on vocals (either I'm dumb and uneducated or I'm allowed to admit that I'd never heard of this guy either...), as well as an awesome guitar solo from Joe Satriani. When Satch touches anything with his guitar, I can usually dig it. Anyway, classic BOC this number is. I do find the self-titled song, 'Blue Oyster Cult' to be a little overrated however. I like it enough that I consider it to be a standout - it sticks with you, but I just find it to be kinda repetitive too. 'Imaginos' itself I enjoy overall too, even if it and 'Blue Oyster Cult' kinda blend into one for me.
I will admit that 'Les Invisibles' is somewhat sketchy however, and that's partly because of the big 80's sounds of this album. The keyboards are off-putting, but I do enjoy the bass work on this one. The song as a whole however, is mediocre to me - although not quite as bad as what you heard on Club Ninja. Also, the re-recorded 'Astronomy' was pointless. Some songs are just classics and any sort of rework usually ends up doing a disservice. Well, okay, the version here isn't outright horrid and it's cool to hear Buck Dharma singing it, but it is inferior to the original in just about every single way. The backing "hey!" vocals piss me off too. 'Magna of Illusion' is okay I guess - the guitar leads are nice, but there's something about this track that just doesn't quite settle well with me.
Imaginos seems to have a cult following, with some die hard fans even hailing it as the band's finest hour. Seriously?! I mean, this is a decent album an' all, but it comes nowhere near works such as the debut, Secret Treaties and Agents of Fortune for me, nor would I stick it in the same ballpark as stuff like Tyranny and Mutation, Cultosaurus Erectus or even 2020's frankly awesome The Symbol Remains for that matter. I'll admit that I've only listened to Imaginos a handful of times thus far, but it still has a very dominating 80's production that affects these songs both positively and negatively for me. Luckily there's more to like about this record than not, and it is certainly far stronger than The Revolution by Night and Club Ninja, but I'm struggling to call it 'essential'. You've gotta hear this one for yourself.
Adam's rating: 7/10
CULT CLASSIC 1994 (Fragile)
- Standouts: I mean, every song on here is a classic - but listen to the original recordings instead.
An entirely pointless collection of all their best-known songs, re-recorded for the 90's. It's just the band playing through their 1970's greatest hits, and for the most part I hate these kinds of releases. I just finished re-reviewing the Suicidal Tendencies discography, and re-recording old songs is something those guys do all the time for some reason, so I wasn't exactly looking forward to hearing BOC's Cult Classic.
I have fuck-all to say here, but I'll try to sum this thing up. Cult Classic sucks. There's no advantage whatsoever to any of these redoing's - Buck Dharma in particular sounds bored when he sings the newly re-recorded '(Don't Fear) The Reaper', like even he's aware of how pointless this project is. The production isn't bad in itself, but it's missing all the quirks and imperfections of the old records that gave them all their charm. I never had an issue with any of the original albums' sound quality in the first place. Obviously I can't bash the songs themselves either because they're all brilliant at core, it's just the fact the band felt it was necessary at all to re-record them that baffles me. It's not like they'd hired some new dedicated vocalist and wanted to give these old classics a new sound and dimension - they literally just went into the studio, sat down and played through a typical live setlist, or rehearsal session. So yeah, I don't know why this exists. It's only worth grabbing a copy if you're trying to collect their entire discography, but as for actually listening to it, don't bother.
Adam's rating: 3/10
HEAVEN FORBID 1998 (SPV)
- Standouts: 'See You in Black', 'Harvest Moon', 'Power Underneath Despair', 'X-Ray Eyes', 'Damaged', 'Real World', 'Still Burnin''
Wasn't too sure what to expect from this record... Blue Oyster Cult in the 90's, the dark ages for classic rock/metal. A time when alternative rock and grunge was dominating the scene, and we heard plenty of dodgy material from the older bands trying to adapt to the climate of the time. Fortunately, Heaven Forbid kicks off with the Bloom-fronted 'See You in Black' as soon as you press play - damn, what a way to start off the album! This has gotta be one of, if not the heaviest song this band have ever written. It's raw heavy metal, plain and simple. To contrast the heaviness of 'See You in Black', it's followed up with the melodic hard rock of 'Harvest Moon' (no relation to the Neil Young song or album) - this is another excellent song with some outstanding lead guitar work. I also like 'Power Underneath Despair', which is also quite a melodic, but still heavy track with an an almost arena rock-like coating - it actually works rather well this time however, unlike the shite you heard on Club Ninja. 'X-Ray Eyes' is full of cool guitar chops, and is kinda poppy in a good way. It's catchy, but still manages to rock in it's own way.
'Hammer Back' is a solid, relatively simplistic straight-up hard rock number. Nothing fancy going on with it, it just does the job. 'Damaged' is a really fun, funky, organ-tinged rocker that sounds like it's come straight out of the 70's. Almost reminds me musically of David Coverdale/Glenn Hughes-fronted Deep Purple, which is awesome. 'Cold Gray Light of Dawn' isn't really a standout for me, but it's still quite a good, atmospheric and dramatic rock piece in it's own right. The band even sink their teeth into country rock (well, almost) on the acoustic-driven 'Real World' - and they pull it off! The pop rocker 'Live for Me' is stepping into filler territory for me, but considering how many great songs there are on here, it's not such a huge deal. The melodies are nice on it, that much is true. 'Still Burnin'' (most likely a reference to 'Burnin' for You'...) is far better though, a really strong, heavy and energetic number. Heaven Forbid ends with 'In Thee', a nice and simple acoustic ballad. Feels a bit like Buck Dharma doing a singer-songwriter kinda track. Not quite a standout, but again, a nice change of pace.
This CD was far better than I was expecting. Many other bands that really made their name in the 70's and 80's were releasing all their worst crap in the 90's (well, Cult Classic didn't exactly help things...), but Blue Oyster Cult actually bagged an extremely competent and frankly underrated record with Heaven Forbid. I guess I was kind of unsure about the big 80's-sounding, reverby production at first, but given that this album was released in 1998, it's actually quite refreshing to hear a record from this era that sounds this way. While it doesn't quite make the top of the pile, it's still a genuinely great and diverse album that's certainly well worth checking out if you liked any of their other works.
Adam's rating: 8.1/10
CURSE OF THE HIDDEN MIRROR 2001 (Sanctuary)
- Standouts: 'Dance on Stilts', 'Showtime', 'Pocket', 'One Step Ahead of the Evil', 'Eye of the Hurricane'
This album apparently didn't sell all that well and we subsequently didn't get another Blue Oyster Cult record until 2020. The band were still active and touring, just not putting out records. Not too sure why this thing sold poory; well, to be fair, nu metal was the big thing in the early 2000's. BOC were dinosaurs, I guess. 'Course, things have changed again in the last fifteen or so years, with literally tons of classic bands selling really well, including BOC. Anyhow, I've been diggin' this album a fair amount. The first track, 'Dance on Stilts' is certainly an inspired and lengthy, rockin' opener. It's definitely a lot more mature and focused than a lot of their older stuff, but then again the majority of the band would have been in their 50's by this point. 'Showtime' too, is a focused rocker with some reggae-inspired guitar parts. Sounds cool to me. 'The Old Gods Return' is a nice and modern hard rock track with some nice grooves as well as some musically-moody segments here and there. They released a single from this disc, 'Pocket', which has a few riffs that sort of remind me of Thin Lizzy's 'The Rocker'. 'Pocket' is a relatively upbeat track overall, but given the overall more relaxed mood of this album, is still quite subdued. I do think this is one of the best songs on the album.
I get Led Zeppelin vibes from the retro 70's metaller 'One Step Ahead of the Evil'. This is another very solid track, and one of the heaviest on the album. 'I Just Like to Be Bad' sounds like vintage BOC with a modern production job. I enjoy the melodic pop rock of 'Here Comes That Feeling', and the smoother ballad 'Out of the Darkness' is a nice change of pace from the rest of the numbers on here. I guess 'Stone of Love' borders on filler and is not really up to much musically, but I still find it to be listenable overall, if a tad too long. 'Eye of the Hurricane' is a heavy, almost gothic-like number. Probably one of my favourites from this CD. The final song on the album, 'Good to Feel Hungry' ends things on a kind of funky, bluesy note.
One of the biggest positives with this record is the production; it's pretty much flawless to me. Every instrument can be heard clearly, but it's not so modern and glossy that it lacks any kind of natural energy either.
Like Heaven Forbid, I'd say that Curse of the Hidden Mirror is one of the forgotten Blue Oyster Cult records. It really doesn't have many Spotify plays, and it's a shame really, because it's a consistently solid album. I wouldn't say it's a great record like the last one (though it comes close to being great), and I feel this is because overall there's nothing all that exciting or weird going on with these tracks, meaning I don't really have much to say about most of 'em. The bulk of the album follows a similar tempo and for the most part, a similar style too. But thankfully, these are good tracks from start to finish. I guess all this comes with age. Being ambitious at this point probably wasn't a priority; they just wanted to release a decent record, and that they did.
Adam's rating: 7.8/10
THE SYMBOL REMAINS 2020 (Frontiers)
- Standouts: Basically everything except for maybe 'Florida Man' and 'Secret Road'.
To be honest, this is the album that reinvigorated my interest in Blue Oyster Cult. I've had Agents of Fortune in my collection forever, and Secret Treaties has also been in there for a long time too. But it wasn't until this unexpected comeback album came along last year that I decided to start actively seeking out more of BOC's back catalogue.
Obviously I was impressed then. The Symbol Remains was my favourite album of 2020 (alongside Deep Purple's Whoosh!). It's full of interesting, creative and diverse songs, which is what I like to see on a record from this band. It kicks off with the hard-hitting heavy metal of 'That Was Me'. Damn, those are some heavy riffs! But in true Cult tradition, it also has a short reggae breakdown in the middle! Nice! 'Box in My Head' is a really nice, soulful soft rock piece. I dig 'Tainted Blood' as well, which has new member Richie Castellano on vocals (one of three songs with him singing) - well, when I say 'new', he's actually been in the band since 2003, it's just that this is only album he's actually played on thus far. Anyhow, 'Tainted Blood' is an excellent, powerful hard rock ballad and Castellano is a great vocalist. As much as I love Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma's vocals, Castellano is considerably younger and you can hear it in his voice. My favourite track on this album though, is song number four, 'Nightmare Epiphany'. This track's almost swing-like beat is insanely catchy. And that surf rock guitar riff that comes and goes is fucking awesome! Everyone's playing on this song is excellent, which is why it's probably my favourite song of last year. There's another solid hard rock ballad in 'Edge of the World'. The chorus is especially memorable and easy to sing along to. The intro to 'The Machine' always manages to confuse me for a couple of seconds, being a sample of an iPhone ringing and vibrating! I don't even have an iPhone anymore, I switched to Android last year! As for the actual music on this song, it's an upbeat rocker and the riffs have a kind of AC/DC quality to them, which is cool. 'Train True (Lennie's Song)' is another fun and fast song, very rockabilly-influenced.
The hard rockin' 'The Return of St. Cecillia' is very 70's-esque; the organ work in particular reminds me a lot of Deep Purple, which can only be a great thing. It's followed by a superb Bloom-fronted heavy metal anthem, 'Stand and Fight'. This is the heaviest song on the album, and I even find myself comparing it to a band like Accept. Maybe 'Florida Man' doesn't quite click with me like any of the previous tracks did, but it's still not bad on the whole. It's kind of a pop rocker, and while the majority of the song sounds pretty good to me, I just don't really like the way Dharma sings the chorus. Guess it can't all be great. Thankfully, the weird, proggy epic metal of 'The Alchemist' more than makes up for this. This track just screams classic BOC. It's one of the best tracks on the record. Same can't really be said for 'Secret Road', which is fine I guess, just a little unremarkable. It's a mid-tempo melodic rock song, solid hooks, just nothing special. Excellent guitar solo towards the end however. I really like the rough punkyness of the second-to-last song, 'There's a Crime'. And 'Fight' ends the album with a catchy, hooky rock track.
Any added criticisms? Well, it is kinda long. It lasts a tad over sixty minutes in total, so it's a hell of a lot lengthier than, well, pretty much anything they made in the 70's and 80's, and fourteen tracks is a lot to sit through. So I don't always want to listen to this record in full, even if 90% of the songs are superb. This really is a minor, very subjective complaint because overall The Symbol Remains is probably one of my favourite albums of the last ten years. That is a big deal, frankly.
I really was surprised at just how good this record is when I bought it on release last year. It pretty much just takes all the best elements of the band's previous works, sticks them together and polishes them with a superbly crisp, yet natural-sounding production job. It has hard rock songs, heavy metal songs, proggy songs, songs with rockabilly elements, songs with pop elements... the works. And they're good songs too. Sure, the album's not perfect from start to finish, but it's about as good as it possibly could be overall - especially when you consider how old Eric and Buck are nowadays. The nineteen-year absence of Blue Oyster Cult records clearly did wonders for their songwriting, as this album proves.
Adam's rating: 9.1/10
GHOST STORIES 2024 (Frontiers)
- Standouts: 'So Supernatural', 'Soul Jive', 'Money Machine'
2024's Ghost Stories is apparently the final Blue Oyster Cult studio album... but in some ways isn't actually new, strictly speaking. No, it's an album of old, previously unreleased songs spanning 1978-1983, as well as a track from 2016. When I heard the band were releasing a new album in April 2024, I was initially very excited. 2020's The Symbol Remains was a fantastic comeback, and seemed to be widely acclaimed among fans and critics alike. When I found out that Ghost Stories was a collection of oldies however, my interest waned somewhat; I still pre-ordered the album (because I just can't help myself!), but it's kind of difficult to be excited about albums like this. It's still regarded as their final studio record, but you could also arguably call it a compilation. And I haven't regularly bought compilations since my teens!
It's a real shame that Ghost Stories is supposedly the final studio album from this band. They were on such a high with The Symbol Remains, it baffles me that they didn't go back into the studio and follow it up with another brand new set of songs.
'Late Night Street Fight' has a swingy, bouncy kind of groove. Catchy... not exactly rockin', but pretty good. 'Cherry' is a simple, straightforward rock n' roll cut with some almost punk-like vocal "woahs". Again, nothing special - but solid. 'Soul Jive' is a funky little ditty. Definitely worthy enough to have been included on whichever album they were working on at the time. 'Gun' is a fun and riffy rocker. I think it has some commercial appeal, and is very hooky - but this only works in it's favour. Same thing goes for the upbeat 'Shot in the Dark' - it's a bit of silly fun at the end of the day. I like it, and I certainly like it more than 'The Only Thing'. This track is something of a ballad, and not a particularly good one. I like the keyboard/organs on it, but it's so tame and tepid that you can easily understand why they never released it back in the day. I do enjoy the heavy guitars of 'Don't Come Running to Me', but the synths leave something of a bitter taste, making the whole song something of a mixed bag. I can only assume that this was a leftover from The Revolution By Night?
A few covers did slip out of this release. The first is a cover of the Animals' 'We Gotta Get Out of This Place'. I can take it or leave it. It's a great song, so it's almost always listenable, but it's also been covered a million times by other artists, and BOC do nothing to improve upon it even if it is still okay for the most part. Their take on MC5's 'Kick Out the Jams' too, is okay... but not much more. The original is a sloppy yet groundbreaking slice of proto-punk from the '60s. BOC's version is much tighter and cleaned-up. It's still fun in some ways, but yeah... just nothing particularly note-worthy. The last cover is their rendition of the Beatles' 'If I Fell', which they recorded in 2016. Meh. It's entirely acoustic, and it could have worked as a bonus track for The Symbol Remains or something, but as it stands it's just... well, meh!!
The best song on the album has to be 'So Supernatural', which if you ask me is classic BOC - it has those weird, unsettling guitar licks they do well written all over it. It makes you wonder why they didn't put this out all those decades ago. I like 'Money Machine' a lot too. The is full of great hard rock riffage, nice keyboard/piano work and memorable vocal lines. Maybe not classic BOC like 'So Supernatural' is, but very good none-the-less. If I'm not mistaken, I think almost every band member performs lead vocals on this disc too? That's cool. And they certainly worked their magic in the studio to make the album sound good sonically... it might be made up of 95% old recordings, but it does at least sound good.
In the end, Ghost Stories rather disappointed me. It wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't their last ever studio record. If it had come out not long after The Symbol Remains as a bit of fun for the fans whilst we waited for a brand new set of tunes, I'd be more in favour of it... but no. I think about 2/3 of the album is good - nothing great as such (apart from 'So Supernatural'), but solid. The rest is just okay (apart from 'If I Fell' that is. Bleh). The whole project reminds me a little of UFO's swansong, The Salentino Cuts. That disc was a mediocre covers album, and shouldn't have been the last studio album we'd ever see from them. Maybe with more listens, Ghost Stories will grow on me, but it really does feel like many of these songs were never originally released because they were never that good in the first place. In terms of all the brand new 2024 releases I've picked up so far (Magnum - Here Comes the Rain, Judas Priest - Invincible Shield, Saxon - Hell, Fire and Damnation, and also the Black Sabbath box set Anno Domini 1989-1995 if we're counting it), this one has gotten by far the least amount of plays so far this year.
Adam's rating: 5.5/10
