"Naked, exposed like fine rock 'n' roll"
The late, great Allen Lanier's words from True Confessions, track 2 on Blue Oyster Cult's platinum selling triumphant 4th studio elpee Agents Of Fortune. Released in May of '76, the band were riding on the crest of a wave. The first three elpees had established them in the words of the press as 'thinking man's heavy metal', growing in sales and momentum along the way. Constant touring was the key. 130+ live shows in '74 was replicated in '75, the difference being they came to Europe for the first time playing an extensive run of 23 shows consolidating the success of recently released double live set On Your Feet Or On Your Knees.
Buck describes the first 3 elpees as 'the black and white period'. After completing gig commitments on January 30th after a show in Mount Prospect, Illinois with support from Bob Seger and Rory Gallagher, they settled down in New York's famous Record Plant studios and got to work. Some tracks had been prepared and recorded at the tail end of '75 and during January ETI and Sinful Love had been tested onstage, possibly Reaper and others too.
1976 was the dawning of the age of new technology. With some down time, each band member went away and wrote and recorded at home using new state of the art TEAC 4-track tape machines. Whilst never afraid to use outside lyricists, different members came to the fore, collaborating individually as well as composing solo. Albert brought 5 of the final 10 tracks, including The Revenge Of Vera Gemini and Debbie Denise written with Patti Smith, then beau to Allen Lanier. Only Eric had no annotated contribution to the writing pool. And the fact all 5 get a lead vocal is testament to the brave new widescreen technicolour world Blue Oyster Cult were striding confidently into.
Agents Of Fortune is a huge step forward, in terms of production, songwriting and adding that technicolour landscape to their burgeoning catalogue of cerebral favourites. It is far more reflective than anything BOC had released, some echoes of Side Black from Tyranny and Mutation and even the California Stalk Forrest Group sessions, but is underpinned by classics. There's even a nod at the future Imaginos for me, probably due to Albert's large presence in the songwriting process.
The big tracks are obviously This Ain't The Summer Of Love, ETI, (Don't Fear) The Reaper and Sinful Love. To this day ETI and Reaper are set staples, but aside from the rawk there's so much to discover among the reflective material.
The 2001 expanded legacy remaster gives us 4 extra tracks. Firstly there's an embryonic 'Fire Of Unknown Origin' (Eric is co-songwriter on this if not any of the 10 tracks that made the elpee). It's a laidback lounge backing to a track Albert sings Patti Smith's lyrics. Sally is another Albert/Patti collaboration that Albert's The Brain Surgeons have performed live. It's a nice 60's kitsch piece with a stun guitar lick and some nice Hammond organ. we also get Buck's original home demo to Reaper. The gist actually sounds close to the finished version, polished sound quality notwithstanding. It's a laidback prototype. And finally is an unreleased Allen Lanier song Dance The Night Away, a reflective piano ballad.
The Revenge of Vera Gemini, Tattoo Vampire and Morning Final are faves of mine, carrying on a songwriting style that seems to fit perfectly as a soundtrack to some Stephen King novella, more questions than answers and that floating in the air meaning and interpretation. In short, they were maturing as both songwriters and musicians. And while ETI is a colossal piece of Sci-Fi noodling and imagery and Summer Of Love a sneering dismissal of the long lost and crumbled hippie ideal, they all pale in the shadow of Reaper.
How many bands and artists can boast a true 'classic'? A timeless piece that crosses genres and ego constraints. Sure, many are now a bit tired of it. Familiarity breeds contempt they say. BUT, listening to it as a stand alone track it really does shine. We all know it by heart. As Andy Dufresne muses, you carry the music in your head, heart and soul. And Stephen King uses it in The Stand. And apart from the wonderfully understated guitar motif and perfect harmonies, the lyrics set it apart from the rest. Like so much that was to come in the future, there's double meaning and deliberately clouded interpretation. And then Buck's sturm und drang solo. Beautifully crafted, with such drama, it perfectly throws you sideways before returning to the main theme with one sustained note as the band roll into the distance.
The elpee hit 29 on billboard and 26 in the UK, making platinum US sales along the way. Reaper made 12 US and 16 UK, but has been in all of our heads and hearts for 40 years now with gazillions of radio plays to boot.
The 40th Anniversary show performing the whole thing in London was something else. Please check out my review of that too...
Side One
This Ain't The Summer Of Love 2.20
(M. Krugman/A. Bouchard/D. Waller)
True Confessions 2.57
(A. Lanier)
(Don't Fear) The Reaper 5.09
(D. Roeser)
E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) 3.42
(D. Roeser/S. Pearlman)
The Revenge Of Vera Gemini 3.53
(A. Bouchard/P. Smith)
Side Two
Sinful Love 3.29
(A. Bouchard/H. Robbins)
Tattoo Vampire 2.41
(A. Bouchard/H. Robbins)
Morning Final 4.30
(J. Bouchard)
Tenderloin 3.40
(A. Lanier)
Debbie Denise 4.23
(A. Bouchard/P. Smith)
Bonus tracks on expanded CD edition
Fire Of Unknown Origin (original version) 3.30
(A. Bouchard/P. Smith/D. Roeser/J. Bouchard/E. Bloom)
Sally (demo) 2.40
(A. Bouchard)
(Don't Fear) The Reaper (demo) 6.20
(D. Roeser)
Dance The Night Away (demo) 2.37
(A. Lanier/J. Carroll)
Agents Of Fortune is a huge step forward, in terms of production, songwriting and adding that technicolour landscape to their burgeoning catalogue of cerebral favourites. It is far more reflective than anything BOC had released, some echoes of Side Black from Tyranny and Mutation and even the California Stalk Forrest Group sessions, but is underpinned by classics. There's even a nod at the future Imaginos for me, probably due to Albert's large presence in the songwriting process.
The big tracks are obviously This Ain't The Summer Of Love, ETI, (Don't Fear) The Reaper and Sinful Love. To this day ETI and Reaper are set staples, but aside from the rawk there's so much to discover among the reflective material.
The 2001 expanded legacy remaster gives us 4 extra tracks. Firstly there's an embryonic 'Fire Of Unknown Origin' (Eric is co-songwriter on this if not any of the 10 tracks that made the elpee). It's a laidback lounge backing to a track Albert sings Patti Smith's lyrics. Sally is another Albert/Patti collaboration that Albert's The Brain Surgeons have performed live. It's a nice 60's kitsch piece with a stun guitar lick and some nice Hammond organ. we also get Buck's original home demo to Reaper. The gist actually sounds close to the finished version, polished sound quality notwithstanding. It's a laidback prototype. And finally is an unreleased Allen Lanier song Dance The Night Away, a reflective piano ballad.
The Revenge of Vera Gemini, Tattoo Vampire and Morning Final are faves of mine, carrying on a songwriting style that seems to fit perfectly as a soundtrack to some Stephen King novella, more questions than answers and that floating in the air meaning and interpretation. In short, they were maturing as both songwriters and musicians. And while ETI is a colossal piece of Sci-Fi noodling and imagery and Summer Of Love a sneering dismissal of the long lost and crumbled hippie ideal, they all pale in the shadow of Reaper.
How many bands and artists can boast a true 'classic'? A timeless piece that crosses genres and ego constraints. Sure, many are now a bit tired of it. Familiarity breeds contempt they say. BUT, listening to it as a stand alone track it really does shine. We all know it by heart. As Andy Dufresne muses, you carry the music in your head, heart and soul. And Stephen King uses it in The Stand. And apart from the wonderfully understated guitar motif and perfect harmonies, the lyrics set it apart from the rest. Like so much that was to come in the future, there's double meaning and deliberately clouded interpretation. And then Buck's sturm und drang solo. Beautifully crafted, with such drama, it perfectly throws you sideways before returning to the main theme with one sustained note as the band roll into the distance.
The elpee hit 29 on billboard and 26 in the UK, making platinum US sales along the way. Reaper made 12 US and 16 UK, but has been in all of our heads and hearts for 40 years now with gazillions of radio plays to boot.
The 40th Anniversary show performing the whole thing in London was something else. Please check out my review of that too...
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