Spectres [Remaster] (CD - 1977)

Blue Oyster Cult: Joe Bouchard (vocals, guitar, bass); Eric Bloom, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (vocals, guitar); Albert Bouchard (vocals, drums, harmonica); Allen Lanier (guitar, keyboards).

Additional personnel: Newark Boys Chorus.

Producers: Murray Krugman, Sandy Pearlman, David Lucas, Blue Oyster Cult.

Recorded at The Record Plant, New York, New York.

Composer: Blue Öyster Cult.

Blue Öyster Cult: Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser, Eric Bloom, Allen Lanier (guitar); Joe Bouchard (bass guitar); Albert Bouchard (drums).

Blue Öyster Cult scored big with Agents of Fortune and its now-classic rock hit, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." It took the album into the stratosphere and the band's profile with it; it put them in the visible pop space they'd tried for years to get to. But upon arrival, they found that kind of success difficult to respond to. Not only did the Cult want to respond, they wanted to cement their place. Spectres is not the masterpiece that Agents of Fortune is, but it didn't need to be. However, upon hearing Spectres again, the album offers proof that the commercial and creative bent of Agents of Fortune was still in place at certain moments, and the band laid out a major single in the opening cut, "Godzilla," a tune -- however silly it may be -- that is every bit as memorable as "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." It's not the only big number here either: "Goin' Through the Motions" and the truly spooky "I Love the Night" by Buck Dharma also scored. The former track is a wonderful blend of Tommy James & the Shondells, Boston, and Mott the Hoople's roots rock glam attack. Written by Eric Bloom and Ian Hunter, it's a stunning single. It sounds less like the Cult than anything they'd recorded, but as a classic rock & roll single it succeeds in spades. And "I Love the Night" (with its guitar part resembling "Reaper" for a moment) is one of rock & roll's truly strange and seductive love songs. There is more spook and darkness here, of course, in the album's closer, "Nosferatu." As a closer, "I Love the Night" may have been a better choice, but this track has all those layered harmonies, a reverbed piano, Dharma's power chords, and lyric fills that never lose their sense of menace and once more, a story. BOC were the only band in their league, walking the line between AOR rock and metal, and offering such detailed narratives. Spectres also contains tunes that were ready-made for touring, which is what the Cult did immediately after, resulting in the wildly successful live album Some Enchanted Evening. In sum, the only reason Spectres is not regarded as a classic is because it followed Agents of Fortune. Other than the false funk of "Searchin' for Celine," it's flawless as a finely tuned tome that begins with sci-fi humor and ends with gothic horror -- all of which can be hummed to. ~ Thom Jurek

Released during the year that punk broke, Blue Oyster Cult's sixth album was the important follow-up to the hugely successful AGENTS OF FORTUNE. SPECTRES found the group continuing to craft material that mated a trademark guitar-driven sound with intelligent lyrics. Although many short-sighted critics labeled the band heavy metal, this Long Island quintet was far more creative than this classification would suggest.

Although guitarists Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma dominate many of these songs with high-flying solos, the pristine harmonies of songs such as "Golden Age of Leather" and "Fireworks" are an often forgotten facet of Blue Oyster Cult's sound. Allen Lanier's keyboard contributions to SPECTRES are occasionally overlooked despite the fact that the album contains some of his best work. Lanier's influence can be heard on everything from the anthemic "R.U. Ready 2 Rock," a song where rollicking eighty-eights trade off with heavy guitar riffs, to the synths that make "Celestial the Queen" sound like the Who with a new wave edge. The band's fascination with the occult and monster movies is represented by the menacing, mid-tempo "Nosferatu" and "Godzilla," the later a grinding classic that should have been resurrected for the '90s remake of the classic sci-fi film. minimize