So next on the list is uniquely classified 'intelligent-heavy-metal' band: Blue Öyster Cult. This is a band who I first got in to in the first year of my undergrad, and completed their discography at the end of my third year, so I consider them partly to be the soundtrack to my first degree.
I wrote a brief bio of the band for my other blog, but having now read an actual biography of the band (Agents of Fortune by Martin Popoff) I realise I got some of the details wrong.
For these purposes, the following will do: BÖC were a band somewhat pulled together by producer and poet Sandy Pearlman and were meant to be Columbia's version of Black Sabbath.
The lyrics for the majority of the band's early catalogue were written by Pearlman and another friend of the band; rock critic Richard Meltzer (who allegedly came up with the umlaut for the O in Öyster). However the music was all written by the band, either individually by members or as a whole.
Although many musicians have played in BÖC since the main line-up broke up, I'll mainly only talk about the main line-up:
Eric Bloom - Vocals and 'stun' guitar
Donald 'Buck Dharma' Roeser - Vocals and lead guitar
Joe Bouchard - Vocals and bass guitar
Allen Lanier - Vocals and keys
Albert Bouchard - Vocals and drums
St Cecelia: The Elektra Recordings (1969/2001)
Having said I'll only talk about the main line up, we actually start with a line-up which had a bassist named Andrew Winters instead of the younger Bouchard brother.
This album was originally recorded in 1969 when the band were called the Stalk-Forrest Group (and/or Soft White Underbelly), but for reasons that still aren't clear Elektra decided not to release the album. It was later officially released in 2001. I've put it here as its historically correct place, however given that it wasn't released until decades later, their 1972 self-titled album will be referred to as BÖC's 'first' album.
So, is it any good? Well the production sounds a little hollow, but some of the songs are extremely interesting, and surprisingly proggy for 1969. What is very noticeably missing, though, is any hint of the hard-rock/metal sound which would later become a main feature. Donovan's Monkey might come close, but not quite.
Many of the songs on this album would later be reworked as different (usually better) songs for future albums. For example I'm On The Lamb would later be rerecorded for their self-titled debut as I'm On The Lamb But I Ain't No Sheep (and then re-recorded again as The Red & The Black for their second album), and Arthur Comics and Gil Blanco County would be combined and stripped of lyrics to form Buck's Boogie much later on. As a side note, as will become apparent, BÖC wrote the book on how to interestingly name songs.
As a whole, this is more a historical novelty than a 'good album' to listen to in my opnion.
Blue Öyster Cult (1972)
Having changed their name and replaced their bassist, the classic line-up was created. Given that Columbia (owned by Sony) signed them on the base of being told that they could be their answer to Vertigo's (owned by Universal) Black Sabbath, BÖC had to metal themselves up. The tension between trying to sound like a metal band, writing songs the band themselves liked, and trying to write songs which got them radio play is a continuous problem which plagued the band throughout its history, as we will see.
Back to the album though, we open with one of my favourite BÖC songs of all time: Transmaniacon MC. A blistering guitar riff with lyrics (Pearlman) about bikers and the tragic concert at Altamont where four people died (Hell's Angels were the hired security). Then Came The Last Days Of May (Buck Dharma) is a beautifully touching song about two drug dealers who got killed trying to cross a state border. Cities On Flame With Rock and Roll (Pearlman) is also a personal favourite; a classic slow metal song depicting an apocalyptic landscape following a war between Marshall and Fender.
It's not all good, though. Screams is whiney nonsense. She's As Beautiful As A Foot is as ridiculous as that title suggests, and musically toys with George Harrison-esque Indian influences. Redeemed isn't bad per se, but would sound more at home with a different band.
All in all, a decent first album, but by no means a home run.
Tyranny and Mutation (1973)
This is more like it. Possibly the closest the original BÖC line-up ever got to metal, this is a speeding assault almost all throughout.
Opening with the second reworking of I'm On The Lamb, The Red & The Black, one can clearly feel the band going for it with all they've got. For this re-recording: the tempo has been doubled, the guitar riff slightly altered and turned up, and Albert Bouchard is drumming for his life. 'It's all right'.
OD'd On Life Itself and Hot Rails To Hell (written entirely by Joe Bouchard) keeps it up, and soon became live staples. The fourth track is another favourite: 7 Screaming Diz-Busters, whatever that means. One of their first more proggy songs, 7 contains several tempo changes and clearly separate sections. When played live, it could run to 14+ minutes and sometimes included a spoken word section in the middle about making a deal with the devil for a record contract, because of course it does.
The second half of the album may not be as quick, but it's no less intense. I almost want to say the second half is a bit 'groovier'. One can sense in Baby Ice Dog and Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl) some minor jazzy influences. For Baby Ice Dog, Patti Smith wrote the lyrics. In fact, she wrote quite a few lyrics for the band, before she became a famous artist in her own right.
One of the fun things about BÖC, I think, is that there isn't a clear lead vocalist. Although Bloom certainly sings the most and is usually billed as 'lead vocals', everyone in the band has songs to sing.
Secret Treaties (1974)
The last of the three inventively titled 'black and white' albums, Secret Treaties, is notable in part for being the only album to not feature a single vocal performance from Buck.
The opening track, Career of Evil, is the subject of a few fun trivia facts. Written by Patti Smith, it had to be rerecorded for radio because the line 'I'd like to do it to your daughter' was considered too risqué for 1974. The re-recording not only changed the line in question to the more awkward fitting 'I'd like to do it like you oughta', but also removed Albert Bouchard as co-vocalist, letting Bloom do it solo. Finally, the track was used as the inspiration for the JK Rowling (Robert Galbraith) novel of the same name, which itself was littered with BÖC references as apparently Rowling is a big fan. Go figure.
Of much more serious controversy was the song ME 262 (Pearlman) which was about a WWII air battle told from the perspective of Nazi German pilots. Though a fun, fast-paced rocker musically, the lyrics led to the band being branded as Nazi sympathisers for quite a while (those wanting to join in the narrative managed to squint their eyes enough to consider their Kronos-inspired logo to be a swastika in disguise). Think what you will, but given that half of the band is Jewish I'd say the Nazi-link is completely overblown. Or perhaps just blame Pearlman.
Other clear highlights are Flaming Telepaths (Pearlman) which is about alchemy and consciousness, and probably the band's greatest epic: Astronomy. Re-recorded and covered several times (most notably by Metallica on Garage Inc), this is possibly one the songs that came closest to 'full prog', but restrained itself just enough to ride the line between genres.
The rest of the album is good, but there aren't any clear standouts or pitfalls.
Agents of Fortune (1976)
Sometimes a band has such a big hit with one song, that you expect the album from which that song came from to be their most popular and best. Not quite the case here.
(Don't Fear) The Reaper is one of the great all time classic rock songs. Written completely solo by Buck, it's hard to dispute the song as one of BÖC's best. Immortalised by the Saturday Night Live sketch (More Cowbell anyone?) and included on dozens of rock compilations, The Reaper will likely never die, even though it's not afraid to.
In all honesty, I can only recommend one other song on this album: ETI (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence). The only Pearlman song on the album, oddly, it's a spacey rocker about the mythical 'men in black' who turn up after alien events to wipe your memory (a much more obscure reference in the 70s than it is now after the 3 MiB films).
Middling songs include This Ain't The Summer of Love (a hard rocker whose lyrics are just repetitive enough to annoy), The Revenge of Vera Gemini (a Patti Smith lyric about a devilish woman), and Tattoo Vampire (seemingly about a man who spends the night with a tattooist/vampire and then gets a tattoo to commemorate the occasion? I don't know, it's hard to interpret).
True Confessions, the first Lanier sung song, is forgettable pop - though its existence means that this is the first album to have every member of the band having a lead vocal. The final 3 songs all feel like they could have been much better, but somehow never musically match the ambition of the lyrics.
Spectres (1977)
Now firmly established as one of the biggest live bands of the era, BÖC became known on the touring circuit for their elaborate laser shows, hence the laser effects on the album cover. This album seems to indicate an acknowledgement of their touring status, as most of the songs on this album sound as if they've been written with live performances in mind.
Opening with perhaps BÖC's second or third most known song, Godzilla, Spectres is one of their most well rounded albums. A mix of fast paced rockers, slow metal songs, and some poppier numbers, Spectres showcases the best of each aspect of BÖC.
Golden Age of Leather is an explicitly 'live' song, with an opening sing-along portion, and the lyrics concerning drinking and partying (albeit with an apocalyptic/biker/Mad Max-esque spin). Fireworks, RU Ready To Rock and Goin' Through the Motions round out the live sounding songs, all being relatively upbeat sounding (though Goin' Through the Motions' lyrics aren't what you'd call 'positive').
Death Valley Nights, Searchin' For Celine and Celestial The Queen each have a proggy/spacey feel to them. I Love The Night is a Buck song, musically in the vein of Then Came The Last Days Of May. It's a very pretty song, and is especially well suited as the soundtrack to some self-reflection while starring at the starry night sky.
Nosferatu ends the album as a slow, dark and moody song about the title individual. Overall, a very good BÖC album, though one can't help but miss some of the more alien/space themed lyrics of previous albums.
Mirrors (1979)
Often thought by fans to be one of the poppiest (and therefore worst) BÖC albums, Mirrors would lead to the band losing a great many fans. And I have no idea why.
Of the 9 songs only 3 could be said to be truly pop songs. In Thee, You're Not The One (I Was Looking For) and Lonely Teardrops are all slightly misplaced attempts at making songs for radio. The latter two are filler at best, but In Thee is actually a very good acoustic-driven love song. Possibly the only Allen Lanier written song I genuinely like, but no matter how good a song it is, it just doesn't sound at home on a BÖC record.
Perhaps pop criticism could also be directed towards the two singles: Mirrors and Moon Crazy. But neither are particularly more poppy than any of the prior singles, and both sound like relatively generic 70s rock.
Dr Music and I Am The Storm are the more metal-ey songs on the album. Dr Music is quite good, and is made better live, but if you want a BÖC song about windy weather, wait for Eye of the Hurricane on Curse of the Hidden Mirror.
Elsewhere we have two very proggy songs. The Great Sun Jester would be the first lyrical collaboration with celebrated sci-fi author Michael Moorcock and, although a reasonably interesting song, pales in comparison to The Vigil. An epic 3-part musical journey over a relatively short 6 minutes, it tells the story of a person who longs to be taken far away from planet Earth by aliens, but the aliens are ultimately disgusted by humans and so decide not to help - a strong contender for my top 3 BÖC songs.
Cultösaurus Erectus (1980)
This is quite a moody album. Not as much as the next, but after BÖC lost some kudos with their (apparently) poppier previous album it feels as if they lurched in the complete opposite direction.
Opening is the fantastic Black Blade. The second Michael Moorcock collaboration: it's about Moorcock's famous fantasy book series about the evil sword, Stormbringer, and its owner, Elric of Melniboné. It's reasonably proggy, with several separate sections and some heavy effects usage. Elric and Stormbringer would later be the topic of an entire concept album by Hawkwind in 1985, but BÖC got there first.
Later on, The Marshall Plan is the first (possibly only?) song which has all 5 band members getting writing credits. The title is a fun political/music pun, and the lyrics depict a rock 'n' roll hopeful who gets inspired to play guitar on seeing a rock show (and having his girlfriend stolen by a member of the band on stage). A very good live song with some strong soloing by Buck.
Fallen Angels is possibly the closest we get to a pop-song. Released as the second single from the album, it's heavy on the synth and works well as a radio-friendly sounding song that keeps some of the strange BÖC lyrical themes - this one being about a fallen angel trying to escape from Hell.
Lips In The Hills has one of the best opening few seconds of any BÖC songs. A blistering quick guitar riff, with a second guitar accentuating with single note flourishes when Albert Bouchard hits the crashes. After the first 10 seconds it's not as exciting, but I listen to the opener a lot.
All of the other songs on the album are fine, but they're all pretty gloomy sounding and meld together.
Fire of Unknown Origin (1981)
Most of the songs on this album were originally intended for the 1981 animated cult film: Heavy Metal (pretty sure there's a South Park episode that parodies it - Major Boobage). But only one was used, and the rest made it on to this album instead.
As a result of the failed soundtrack attempt, most of the songs on this album are pretty metal, man. Although the first 2 songs aren't actually. The opening title track is an interesting proggy song with lyrics by Patti Smith, with the follow up being one of BÖC's most popular songs next to The Reaper - Burnin' For You. One starts to notice a trend that all of the popular songs are written by Buck. As it stands, Burnin' For You is a very solid radio rock song, and is one of the best songs on the album.
The following 4 songs: Veteran of the Psychic Wars (Michael Moorcock), Sole Survivor, 'Heavy Metal: Black and Silver', and Vengeance (The Pact) are all slow metally Sabbath-like songs. Unfortunately not one of them manages to cash the cheques the titles promise.
After Dark and Don't Turn Your Back are both perfectly meh album filler songs. But Joan Crawford is simply fantastic. Opening with a funeral march-sequel piano, the song concerns the daughter of famous actress Joan Crawford, Christina, being highly distressed on discovering her (allegedly abusive) mother has risen from the grave to continue tormenting her. A music video was created for MTV, though it was banned for some provocative catholic imagery, if I remember correctly.
The Revölution By Night (1983)
It is here where BÖC followed suit to all other bands and adopted that '80s sound'. Though synth had been part of Allen Lanier's playing for a while, on this album it became much more prominent. That 80s drum sound, you know the one, is all over this record as well.
Luckily, perhaps, because synths were nothing new to BÖC, they didn't become inawed by them like many other 70s-era bands entering the new decade (see ZZ Top). However the original line-up were no more, with Albert Bouchard having been sort-of fired prior to entering the studio. The rest were the same though.
We open with a straight-forward rocker, Take Me Away. Lyrically very similar to The Vigil from Mirrors, it seems that Eric Bloom just really wants to be abducted by aliens doesn't it?
Shooting Shark is worth mentioning, as a very un-BÖC-sounding song. Written by Buck and Patti Smith, it seems to be about a lost love - but others seem to think it's about drugs. Who knows? Musically it's poppy and funky, with a baffling appearance by Randy Jackson on bass - brought in because Joe Bouchard couldn't do slap. There's a great saxophone solo as well, because why not.
Shadow of California is a great rocky-prog song. I particularly like it because in the middle and in the outro the vocals are placed a tiny bit out of synch with the rest of the song, creating a weird feeling of knowing that something's wrong, but not being able to quite put one's finger on what exactly it is. And even once you work it out it feels disconcerting.
I feel kind of bad that I can't really pick out any other songs on this album. Eyes on Fire and Veins are both very good songs, and the rest are all good too - just not particularly memorable. Let Go, however, is worth briefly discussing as being one of the cringiest songs BÖC recorded. A trite song about rebellion and rock 'n' roll with a chorus that literally goes: 'B, O, C, you can be whatever you wanna be'. More 'Just No', than 'Let Go'.
Club Ninja (1986)
Although Mirrors is often criticised for being too poppy, Club Ninja is generally considered to actually be BÖC's worst record. Unlikely to be related (as he didn't contribute much song-writing-wise), but this is the only BÖC album to not feature Allen Lanier on keys. So only Buck, Eric Bloom and Joe Bouchard of the original line-up left.
Intended to be as a comeback album due to the poor sales of the prior two, the sheer force of the radio-friendliness of the first two songs is extremely jarring. As they stand, White Flags and Dancin' In The Ruins are very good 80s rock songs. Heavy on synth and 80s drum sound, the choruses just ask to be sung along to. There is definitely a perception and expectation problem with BÖC - despite having had poppy songs on almost all of their albums after the Black and White trio, BÖC fans seem to feel like the radio-friendly attempts are betrayals of their sci-fi metal roots. Well, I like these two songs even if they're a bit out of place.
Unfortunately, the rest of the album is a bit of a wasteland, except for the Buck masterpiece, Perfect Water, which deserved so much more than being placed in the middle of this pretty bad album.
Make Rock Not War is a silly as it sounds, Spy In The House At Night feels like a radio-friendly attempt that failed miserably. Beat 'Em Up is lyrically awful.
The last 3 songs at least try to reach loftier proggy heights, but none hit the mark. When The War Comes has some particularly embarrassing 'Ooga chaka's in the pre-choruses.
Imaginos (1988)
Where do I start with Imaginos. On Wikipedia, each BÖC album page contains only a few paragraphs which have a few mentions of lyrical meanings if you're lucky. Imaginos, on the other hand, has about 9 sections of detailed description of the recording process and lyrical themes.
Briefly, this was originally Albert Bouchard's solo album, wrote using an epic poem written by original lyricist Sandy Pearlman. After many years of recording and the record label being unhappy with Albert's vocals (and overall product), the label rebranded the album as a BÖC record and asked Eric, Joe, Buck and Allen to record some overdubs to make it feel more authentic. Officially, then, this album is a BÖC record with all 5 original members.
However, we know better. Different people claim that BÖC had varying levels of involvement. Albert has claimed that it's mostly his original album with Eric and Buck adding some vocals and Buck doing some solos. Sandy Pearlman says that Eric, Buck, Joe and Allen had much more input and some songs were rerecorded in their entirety. Who knows?
Lyrically, this concept album is impenetrable from the get go. Chiefly, this is because the record label re-ordered the songs so that they were released out of chronological order story-wise. According to Martin Popoff in his book, no one really knows why this happened. I'd suggest it was to make sure not all of the metal songs were next to each other etc. I've since rearranged the songs on my iTunes to be in the original intended order. But if you want to know the story, go to Wikipedia. It's about some immortal guy, aliens and an alternative history.
So what does it sound like? Well, it's very proggy and very metal - which made certain fans very happy. Personally, I think it sounds very much the mess that the recording process suggests. Interestingly, the song Blue Öyster Cult is a slower and slightly poppier version of Subhuman from Secret Treaties - but I'd say stick with the original. Astronomy was re-recorded as well, sounding mostly the same as the original but with some extra effects and solos for good measure, and with Buck replacing Eric on vocals (though I think Buck is overall the better singer, I don't think he's as good as Eric on this song).
For some reason, not all of Albert's replacement vocalists were nixed, and so we have two no-names singing lead on songs. The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria has what to my ears sounds like a bad Brian Johnson impression. While on the aforementioned Imaginos we have some guy who is alright for the verses but seems to just go way off for the choruses and solo bits.
I'm not a fan of this album, but I Am The One You Warned Me Of is quite good lyricaly in an 'I Am The One Who Knocks' kind of way.
Cult Classics (1994)
After a very long hiatus, BÖC somewhat reformed and decided that what would get them back on the scene would be a Greatest Hits where they rerecord their classic songs with modern recording equipment and 25 years of live alterations to the arrangements. Along for the ride were Eric, Buck and Allen from the original line-up. Some people I don't know the names of stood in for bass and drums for the recording and subsequent tours.
So, I think the one question to be asked here is: were any songs improvements over their original recordings?
I think several songs actually are better. ETI, ME 262, Flaming Telepaths (though I miss the music-box intro), Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll and Harvester of Eyes all benefit greatly from the 90s recording technology and by having their skeletons tinkered with.
The rest? Well they're all good but ultimately sound too similar to the originals. Astronomy is probably worth mentioning as this is the third version of the song. It's the longest version, coming it at just under 9 minutes, and sounds reasonably similar to the first version but with the extra soloing from the second version. If Eric had pulled in the vocal performance of his original it would be the best version, but he didn't and so it's not.
Buck's Boogie is also pretty good. As mentioned under the Stalk Forrest album, this is a Buck showcase piece with music ripped from Arthur Comics and Gil Blanco County. Though the first official studio-recorded version of this song on a studio album, there is (to my ears) a far superior version on the 2001 rerelease of Tyranny and Mutation.
I'd say if you want a BÖC greatest hits, get this. It has a great song selection and all of the songs are either the same or better than the original version.
Heaven Forbid (1998)
This is a strong contender for my favourite BÖC album - just look at that awful artwork. This first album in a decade containing new and original material is peculiar in many aspects. As Albert and Joe had been primary songwriters for much of BÖC's life, all ties with Sandy Pearlman had been left behind, and Allen was never very prolific; BÖC was now very much the Eric and Buck show. But Eric had never contributed as much as Albert and Joe, and Buck usually had only one or two songs per album - so they had to rise to this new challenge.
Replacing Pearlman as primary lyricist was sci-fi and horror novelist John Shirley (he later went on to dabble in comics too such as Constantine and Batman), whose lyrics appear on 8/10 of the new songs.
We open with a song many of my friends will have heard - See You In Black. They'll have heard it because it's my ringtone, chosen because of it's blisteringly loud guitar solo intro. The opener has a very odd time signature (three bars of 3/4 with the fourth in 2/4), which the main riff expands on (that runs three bars of 4/4 with a final bar of 3/4... so is that 15/16?). Musically, this may be the closest BÖC got to something like 'speed metal'. Lyrically, it's about a man who wishes his lover's husband was gone so that they could be together: 'I'd like to see you in black, it'd make me feel like your husband's dead'. I just love this.
We follow with the only solo Buck-written song, Harvest Moon. A fantastic proggy song that I pretend is about the video games of the same name, but which actually seems to be about colonised land being haunted by the ghosts of the natives that died there.
Power Underneath Despair, Hammer Back and Cold Grey Light Of Dawn are all very good dark sounding metal songs - though Eric's voice on the third can't quite hit the notes it wants to. X-Ray Eyes, Damaged and Live For Me are all slightly slower straight-forward rock numbers sung by Buck, who is clearly more confident in his vocal abilities now that he has to cover songs that would normally be sung by Albert or Joe Bouchard. Still Burnin' also fits this description but is worth singling out for being a spiritual sequel to Burnin' For You from Fire of Unknown Origin. It's not as good, but damn if that opening riff and drum beat aren't catchy.
Real World has one of the catchiest, funkiest acoustic guitar intros of any song I've ever known, and lyrically feels like Buck is giving a tongue-in-cheek response to Eric's constant abduction fantasies: 'The real world is bizarre enough for me'.
We finish with a live version of acoustic pop number In Thee from Mirrors... Perhaps Buck or Allen didn't think it got enough attention the first time around?
I love this album. It's more polished and well thought out than much of their early material, and doesn't have any obvious filler like much of their later material. The lyrics with several hidden obscured meanings may have gone, but the sci-fi influences certainly remain.
Curse of the Hidden Mirror (2001)
The final studio album BÖC have released, and unfortunately it's looking ever more likely that it will be their last. Eric is now 72 and his voice has, by any gauge, left him. Buck can still sing pretty well, but is also nearing 70. Given that it's been over 15 years, I'd love them to go in to the studio one last time, but if this is to be their last album, it's a fantastic one to go out on.
John Shirley returns as resident lyricist, but unlike the previous album this time around the new bassist (Danny Miranda) and drummer (Bobby Rondinelli) were also involved in some music writing. There are some other names on the writing credits (including Richard Meltzer, longtime BÖC lyricist, on one song), but it's still primarily the Buck and Eric show (deliberately in that order this time, as Buck is much more prolific here). Eric's voice is also noticeably not as good as it used to be, but damn it he tries.
Dance on Stilts is the opener. Sitting somewhere between a classic BÖC 6+ minute prog song, and one of Buck's classic pop numbers, it feels like two different songs mashed together which a clear stop-start break in the middle. Biographer Martin Popoff isn't a fan, but I am. Buck's soloing in the latter half is as intricate as ever (if a bit jam-ey), and I just love the former half's riff.
Most of the album fits the mould set by Heaven Forbid - being about 50/50 slower metal songs and straight-forward rockers. Particular favourites of mine are Pocket and Stone of Love from the latter camp (Martin Popoff puts Pocket in the 'pop' pile because of the guitar sound, but I think the overall effect is more in the vein of mainstream 80s rock), and Eye Of The Hurricane from the former. Here Comes That Feeling Again is probably the only straight up poppy song, and is the worst song on the album.
I'm a little disappointed by the closing song too, It's Good To Feel Hungry, as it feels a bit of a novelty throwaway. Certainly the opening 3 minutes are a bit of a lackadaisical jazzy sound, but then the final minute breaks in to a rockier sped-up guitar section. Unfortunately I can rarely be bothered listening all the way through to get to the good bit.
But overall, this is a great album. Not quite as good as Heaven Forbid in my book (AllMusic considers Curse a much better effort, but opinions are subjective so who's to say who's right?), but definitely good enough as a final album. Let's just say that I'm glad they've finished on this rather than Club Ninja or Imaginos.
The Symbol Remains (2020)
What does Blue Öyster Cult sound like?
Do they sound like the moody stoner rock of Workshop of Telescopes and There Came the Last Days of May (and indeed the entire St. Cecelia album)? Are they a sci-fi take on Black Sabbath, like on Veteran of the Psychic Wars and ETI? Are they early progenitors of speed metal through The Red & The Black and 7 Screaming Diz-Busters, or groove metal through Transmaniacon MC? Did they just put out straight-up, no nonsense rock 'n' roll, like Hot Rails to Hell and Take Me Away? Perhaps it's psychedelic rock, with Flaming Telepaths and Wings Wetted Down? Or was it 80s synth rock due to, well, all of Club Ninja. No, it was definitely prog after The Vigil, Astronomy, and Black Blade. But what about the Alice Cooper-like spookiness of Nosferatu and The Revenge of Vera Gemini? And where's the acoustic soft rock of In Thee and Real World?
Actually, no, what with (Don't Fear) The Reaper and Burnin' For You, aren't they just radio-friendly rock?
The answer to all of these is, of course, yes.
I've been thinking about all of that a lot while listening to this new album. I've spent many a play-through thinking 'does this really sound like BÖC?'. But... it does. Because BÖC don't sound like anything. As I read in one review, they've pretty much made a career of doing whatever the hell they like.
Which brings us onto their first album in almost 20 years. And I absolutely LOVE it. Eric and Buck are still here, but sadly Allen Lanier passed away a few years ago. Danny Miranda on bass, who appeared on the previous album, is also still here. That leaves two to be introduced: Richie Castellano (a bit of everything, but mainly guitars and vocals) and Jules Radino (drums). This line-up has basically been fixed for about 15 years (with a few bassist rotations until Danny returned). And they are a tight unit.
Song-writing (or, at least, lyric-writing) has always been an odd subject for BÖC. Sci-Fi author John Shirley returns for 5 songs, and critic Richard Meltzer returns for 1. The rest are a mix of Eric/Buck/Richie (and a few others), and one by Jules.
So what do we have? A LOT. A hour long, 14-song behemoth of an album, with songs which almost sound like they were written to represent every aspect of their 50-year long career.
Lets go by genre. Hard songs first.
That Was Me opens the album, and is a love letter to Career Of Evil, mixed with I Am The One You Warned Me Of, with a touch of The Rolling Stones' Sympathy For The Devil. Crunchy hard-rock with a sinister edge. Stand And Fight is, lyrically, a bit meh. Hints of Beat Em Up and When The War Comes from Club Ninja - it's basically about warring nations. Musically, it's a Motörhead song, which is a new one. But it has a pretty great solo and breakdown. There's A Crime is probably the nearest to just 'straight-up rock song', and is nice enough but doesn't leave much of an impression.
Finally, what is probably the best song on the album, The Alchemist. Written entirely by Richie, it tells the story of the (to be honest, not-very-good) HP Lovecraft story 'The Alchemist'. A brooding and twisted tale of revenge, with an absolutely fantastic section-break in the middle that triples the tempo and lets the guitars blaze. An HPL-inspired song is exactly the sort of thing you'd have expected BÖC to have done 30 years ago, but it was worth the wait.
As an aside, it's worth pointing out here that Eric is SEVENTY FIVE. So why does his voice sound better on this album than the previous two which were 19 and 22 years ago? I think it's because he's adapted to it. Much like Alice Cooper, Eric has leaned into the sinister, gravelly aspects of his voice. And they fit so well with the harder and darker songs on the album.
Weird Buck songs? We've got plenty. Box In My Head is exactly the sort of radio-friendly rock that filled his 80s solo album. I didn't like this song initially, but it really does grow on you (as does much of the album, actually). Now, what the hell is Train True (Lennie's Song) about? A twangy country-blues rocker that contains the excellent line "Feelings, feelings, are somewhat symptomatic of societal abrasions that conform electric static", which sounds both more and less deep the less and more you think about it. But it doesn't half get into your head. Then there's Fight, a Buck song which was released for free on Soundcloud for a short time back in 2017. A similar style to Box In My Head, so quite fun but an odd choice to close the album.
What's this? Social commentary and memes?
Edge Of The World is a song about people who get obsessed with internet conspiracy theories, and sits kind of oddly as a BÖC song. Especially one sung by Eric, who has spent 50 years singing songs about aliens and government coverups of landings. The Machine, sung by Richie, is a song which takes great delight in making fun of people who are constantly stuck to their mobile phones.
Another interlude. Richie has a great voice. But is it a bit too clean and professional-sounding for BÖC? Perhaps not, as his work on Tainted Blood is great (more on which later). I think it just stands out a bit oddly. He's a bit too good.
Rounding out the memes is Florida Man. The obligatory acoustic song; building off of Real World from the previous album, which argued that we don't need to adventure into outer space as the real world is bizarre enough. Florida Man basically has some fun with the 'florida man' meme, which comes from the strange and hilarious headlines which come out of Florida. Google it, it's very funny. My main criticism is that I think it's actually quite difficult to work out what Buck is singing in a lot of the lines - perhaps he could have been mixed a little higher?
Before the next group, I kind of think that Secret Road is an outlier of a song. If there was one song on the album I think could have been cut, it's this one. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that it doesn't really add anything. Every song on this album has a unique and interesting personality... except this one. To me, at least.
The final group is occulty/spooky songs. The Alchemist could have gone here, but it's also noticeably heavier.
Tainted Blood is a brilliant little epic of a song. Richie's much more powerful voice is put to great use, singing an impassioned power ballad about a vampire who recently lost his partner of 200 years. Another one that gets in your head. Nightmare Epiphany is more difficult to pin down. A jaunty piano-driven song with some surfer-rock riffs, it's filled with dreamy/nightmare-ey imagery, and seems to conclude with the female protagonist waking up, then finding the man (in real life) that she seems to have fallen in love with during the dream.
The final song to talk about is The Return of St. Cecelia. A reference to a song from the St. Cecelia album, which was about a weird patron saint of music. This one is about the saint's return (possibly from the dead? It's unclear). Musically it's surf-rock in an 'outta left-field that probably should be expected at this point' way. And WHY didn't this song end the album? I've seen a lot a talk about how this song completes the circle that started in BÖC's first (initially unreleased) album, and I just don't see why it's mid-album instead of at the end.
So that was a very long overview of The Symbol Remains (and I'd not be a BÖC nerd if I didn't point out that the title is a line from the song Shadow of California). I really really like this album. Or do I? As an album, it's all over the place. I grouped the songs by genre/theme to discuss them, but in terms of song order they're all jumbled up. It gives a nice variety to the album, but because it's so diverse it's hard to conceive as this selection of songs a part of something larger. Every song has its own distinct personality and identity, but as such the album itself... doesn't. Except that it does - the identity is a celebration of BÖC's career, with stop-offs at every single station along the way.
In a way, the parts are greater than the whole. And it's exactly that upending of expectations that makes BÖC one of the most interesting bands that ever have been.
