BOC: Heaven Forbid and Responses
aseibert@raex.com
aseibert at RAEX.COM
Thu Apr 16 02:29:22 EDT 1998
This review and the scathing fanboy response :) is from a local weekly
called SCENE.
Their webpage is at: http://www.clevescene.com/
I did a cut and paste job here so if it looks funny on your screen I
suggest you
just go to the SCENE page to read them. The review is in the April 2nd
issue and
the letters are in the April 9th issue.
Blue Oyster Cult
HEAVEN FORBID
CMC
Sure, the youth market is a large chunk of the music
industry, but must every single band cater to that audience?
Especially such a well-weathered group as Blue Oyster Cult,
whose first studio release in 10 years, HEAVEN FORBID, is a
thinly veiled ploy to breathe new life into the aging rockers.
There
are moments of the old Blue Oyster Cult, such as "Harvest
Moon" and "Real World," complete with the expected mystical
references and haunting back-up
harmonies that caused them to be among the first hard rock
bands accused of Satanism, but
unfortunately these are not the dominant tracks on the disc.
Opening the 11-song album is "See You In Black," a
disappointing tribute to the sound that
destroyed metal in the late '80s. Apparently, they missed the
reason why reliance on single-note
bass lines and superficial lyrics about death went to the
wayside, along with shouted and growled
vocals, though they give it a second shot on HEAVEN FORBID
with "Hammer Back."
One assumes they thought, with the advent of Ozzy
Osbourne and Slayer, that their sound
needed to be more evil to keep up with their own once-glorious
reputation, producing one of those
odd twists of irony that has the forefathers of a rock
movement then copying their own progeny. The
current youth market is not likely to be fooled, nor is the
loyal fan base of devotees Blue Oyster Cult have relied on
through their last decade of silence.
Sprinkled between these high and low points are a couple
of solid cuts, such as "X-Ray
Eyes" and "Live For Me," which have the more classic rock
sound one would expect from Buck
Dharma, Allen Lanier and Eric Bloom (sans the Bouchard
brothers), topped with equal parts Blue
Oyster Cult to generic rock and roll, best exemplified by
"Damaged." With these songs, Blue Oyster
Cult have done a fine job of producing more of that early '80s
look-ma-we-can-still-play sound
which so many of the '70s' biggest acts wallowed in. And being
the bulk of the album, the
overwhelming sensation the 45 minutes leaves you with is of
the mediocrity of these songs, hardly
what was once to be expected from Blue Oyster Cult.
Ten years is probably too much time off, and one
questions the wisdom of trying to recapture
what a group had almost 30 years ago, after such a long lull
in their creative processes.
Long before MTV, BOC were heralded as one of the most
visually oriented bands on the
scene, but the group manages to disappoint even with this.
The cover for HEAVEN FORBID is in the ilk of high school
metalhead art students trying to
push the limits of something no one else gets (or wants to
get), leaving the viewer not scared or
shocked, but rather disturbed at why the notion ever made a
cover in the first place.
The best advice to the band, at this point, seems to be
"Don't fear the reaper." For the fans,
their money would be best spent on a "Harvest Moon" single,
should the record company deem it
worthy of single release. As for HEAVEN FORBID -- well, cover
to cover, the title sort of says it
all. If not Heaven, then someone should have forbidden it.
David Powers
-----------------------------------------------------
FEEDBACK
-----------------------------------------------------
Fight The Powers
Mr. David Powers' review of the new Blue Oyster Cult
album HEAVEN
FORBID is way off base and definitely out of touch.
The tracks "See You In Black" and "Hammer Back" are
as hard hitting and
current as any songs being released today by heavy metal
bands. They are not ... "a
disappointing tribute to the sound that destroyed metal
in the late '80s." Then
apparently bands like Metallica and Megadeath [sic] are
complete disappointments
also, even though they have great popularity. Just
because BOC haven't had a new
studio release in 10 years doesn't mean they aren't
current with their sound and song
writing. Don't hold that against them, as the delay in
the new release was not totally
their fault.
Mr. Powers is definitely out of touch with
statements like "The current youth
market is not likely to be fooled, nor is the loyal fan
base of devotees Blue Oyster Cult
have relied on through their last decade of silence."
First off, the youth market is liking
this album, once they finally get a chance to hear it.
Some examples have been record
store employees and young patrons buying this album when
it is played on the store's
sound system, saying, "Who is this?" and immediately
buying it. Several of the
"Devotees" have witnessed this personally. Don't sell the
younger people short, they
recognize good music once they hear it.
Secondly, the devotees are buying this album up and
saying it is some of the
best BOC that has ever been put out. They should know as
most of them own
everything BOC have released. This group is more
subjective than one might give them
credit for, if the album was lacking they would be the
first ones to say so, and they
haven't. Lastly, the band definitely has not been silent
for 10 years, they have been
actively touring and performing for at least the last 8
years. A little research would have
shown this.
HEAVEN FORBID is more than worth purchasing. For
your information, a lot
of record stores are selling out, because they didn't
stock enough, and they are having
to reorder. Sure foolin' 'em again.
Jon Harper
General Manager
Harper's Guitars
Apple Valley, California
Still Blue In The Face
David Powers' review of the new Blue Oyster Cult CD
leaves me feeling like
he'd rather hear the sound of his own voice than the
sounds of a great rock band
making a great rock album. While most CDs by today's
hottest artists have one decent
tune and 40 minutes of filler, all ten of the new songs
on HEAVEN FORBID show
why this band was - and apparently always will be - one
of the most underrated bands
of all time.
"See You In Black," "Hammer Back" and "Power
Underneath Despair" rock in
an accessible way that most metal bands today can only
dream of. "Harvest Moon"
and "Live For Me" are classic BOC tunes in the vein of
"Don't Fear The Reaper" and
"Burnin' For You" - the band's only minor radio hits -
melodic stories punctuated by
searing guitar work.
I am a longtime Blue Oyster Cult fan, and I can tell
you I am not disappointed
by this release. Anyone who has followed this band knows
that they never stopped
touring, and that their live shows continue to be the
best bargain in rock and roll. Why?
Because when you see this band live, you discover that
they are a band with real
musicians whose songs actually sound even better in
concert than they do on a CD.
HEAVEN FORBID rocks. I suggest that Mr. Powers give
it another listen. Put
it on the ol' CD player and crank it up a little bit. If
he'd still rather listen to Shinola,
well then I'll just have to file his review under
"consider the source."
Ralph Vizcarra
Long Beach, CA
Enough Already
David Powers is way the hell off base with his
review of BOC's HEAVEN
FORBID. The real fans of Blue Oyster Cult love it. If you
don't believe me, check out
AOL's BOC folder and read the postings, David. And they
haven't taken 10 years off,
they've toured steadily since their last new recording.
Say whatever you want to, we've been looking forward
to this disc for a long
time and consider it great.
Sean Eddy
Portland, MI
--
L8r,
Alan
--
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