Artist: Blue Öyster Cult
Label:Columbia/CBS
Release Date: 1977
Rating: 3 Skulls
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Title: Spectres Artist: Blue Öyster Cult Label:Columbia/CBS Release Date: 1977
Rating: 3 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Redwolff:
1977 was not a fantastic year for metal, in general. Yes, there were the shining stars of budding real metal, but most of what came out in that year was more "hard rock" than anything else. That is nowhere truer than on this album, BÖC's Spectres. I guess what I'm trying to say, in the nicest way possible, is that this is really kind of a crap album, in hindsight, despite the fact that it starts off with the fantastic song "Godzilla" - which is actually why I bought this album more than anything else, and almost made it worth the "Nice Price" tag. "Godzilla" has been one of my favorite songs since it came out in my childhood, and never fails to cheer me up, no matter what. I just have to think about a rubbery Godzilla roaming around downtown Tokyo (replete with toy Jeeps and B&O scale shrubbery) and peering in at screaming "passengers in subway cars" to get a good mood started. The album goes quickly downhill immediately afterward.The title of track two, "The Golden Age of Leather," makes me shudder before the music even starts. It sounds like it's going to be a paean to leatherboys. The beat is pretty rockin' for the majority of the song, except for the bridge starting at the 3:30 mark - where the song suddenly turns into the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations". Thankfully that is short-lived. As if that song weren't embarrassing enough, check out track six: "R. U. Ready to Rock", the sung answer being "Yes I am!" [You know what they should have said? "Yes, I am, if Frank Sinatra says it's OK." 'Cause Frank calls the shots for all those guys.]
Other songs on this album are really not bad, but could never be called 'metal' because they are too soft, or too slow, or use too much harmony, even for 'melodic metal'. "Nosferatu" is a nice tune, as is "Death Valley Nights" and "Fireworks". Acceptable background music for the workplace, for example, as there is really nothing offensive about any of them. But the general impression I get from this album is that BÖC were listening to a lot of Boston at the time of recording... perhaps they were the Spectres haunting them. This album is saved from complete obscurity and 1 skull-ness only by its first track.
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