Short Reviews [Blue Oyster Cult - 1994 - "Cult Classic"]

With the signing of BOC to Italian label Frontiers Music, 2020 is going to see a host of reissues, a new studio album and some live albums from a band who have been around for more than 50 years. First one off the rank is a remastered (and new artwork) version of the 1994 compilation where the band revisited some of their classic songs and re-recorded them. At this time in their career founder members Buck Dharma and Allen Lanier were both there, along with Eric Bloom (hands up those who didn’t realise he wasn’t actually their original singer?). They were joined on this release by Jon Rogers (bass, backing vocals) who joined in the mid-Eighties and Chuck Burgi (drums, percussion, backing vocals) who had also been in the band a few years by this time. I have always felt that certainly within the UK, BOC have been viewed in many ways as a one-hit wonder, but only by those who don’t understand their hard rock history and have never invested time in discovering the band. One of the very first live albums I ever bought was ‘On Your Feet Or On Your Knees’, and certainly the first band I ever bought was theirs (it was deep blue I recall, and my dad hated it). I finally got to see them in 1985 when they were touring supporting ‘Club Ninja’ (supported by Girlschool no less), and although the set wasn’t all I wanted it to be, I was still entranced by what I saw and heard that night. The guys were always adept at switching vocals around between them, and mixing loads of different styles, and this compilation shows that very well indeed. Is this a set I would have compiled? No, I can’t imagine any set without either “Hot Rails To Hell” or “Cities On Flame (With Rock and Roll)”, but that’s just me. One can also niggle that it would have been nicer to have the original songs as opposed to re-recorded ones, but hey, this album was originally released more than 25 years ago and now it is being made readily and easily available again so we should all be thankful. Fans of THAT song will be pleased to know it is here twice in slightly different versions, as is “Godzilla”, and all in all this is a great introduction for those who thought they only ever recorded one song.