BOC: Another positive HF review

[brian halligan]

> This review was in the Rochester, NY edition
> of TymeOut Magazine.  Re-typed with all errors
> intact...
>
-Brian
-------------------------------
> By Ralph W. Tetta
>
> It's amazing how classic rock radio can
> sometimes serve as an echo of our past lives,
> when a song comes on the radio in the car
> and suddenly you're whisked back into your
> childhood or adolescence faster than a U.F.O.
> can disappear from a radar screen.  Blue Oyster
> Cult, the five-piece rock band formed at University
> of Stony Brook in 1967, is one of those bands, with
> numerous top 40 singles and rock classics to their
> credit that will probably continue to be played on the
> radio long after they (and we) are gone.  You know
> the marching order; "Burnin' For You," "(Don't Fear)
> The Reaper," "Cities on Flame With Rock & Roll,"
> and "Godzilla."  Blue Oyster Cult forged it's way through
> three decades of rock 'n' roll, with dozens of albums to
> it's credit, all the way up to the concept album "Imaginos"
> in 1988, and then, after having played huge stadium tours
> opening for the likes of Black Sabbath (featuring Ronnie
> James Dio) and Alice Cooper, the band broke up.
> Drummer and Bass Player Albert and Joe Bouchard
> grew tired of touring, and pursued other projects, while
> Lead Vocalist Eric Bloom, Lead Guitarist Don "Buck
> Dharma" Roeser and Keyboardist/Guitarist Allen
> Lanier continued to play rock concert night clubs and
> "The Cult Brothers," and them sometime in the mid 1990's,
> grew tired and decided to call it a day.
>
> The story doesn't end there, however, and the band
> and a record label called CMC International became
> involved with each other.  CMC, already critcally
> acclaimed for dusting off 1980's hard rock heavyweights
> such as Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Judas Priest, Saxon,
> got behind Blue Oyster Cult and proudly released their
> comeback CD, "Heaven Forbid," minus the Bouchard
> Brothers but featuring hard rock drummers Bobby
> Rondinelli and Chuck Burgi and new bassist Danny
> Miranda.
>
> "Heaven Forbid" is a perfect throwback to Blue Oyster
> Cult's melodic yet dark song writing style, crafting songs
> with pop hooks and vocal harmonies while mixing in the
> dark lyrics that have made the band a fan favorite to hard
> rockers for three generations.  The album begins with a
> track called "See You In Black," a love song directed at
> a spousal-abused woman.  Bloom sings on that if she were
> dressed in black, he would know her husband was dead,
> and he could save her from her band marriage.  Not exactly
> the love theme from the Titanic, but BOC never traded in
> pithy pop imagery anyway.
>
> Other topics that are touched upon by the Cult's unique
> style are hand-gun control (they're against it,) drug
> addiction as a rite of passage for rock 'n' rollers (they're
> against it,) the victims of drunk driving (they're against it,)
> a song about a man out of prison and his quest for
> venegance for the man who sent him there, and a 1950's
> horror film called "The Man With X-Ray Eyes" (they like it).
> Bloom's voice is strong and sure as he soars over the
> melodic guitar playing of himself, Dharma and Lanier, and
> at times, the signature sound will call up visions of Don
> Henley's "Boys of Summer" and other times, Ozzy
> Osbourne or Don Dokken.  Musically, the Cult touch
> everything from speed metal riffs (a first for them) to the
> subtle acoustic guitar of the album's closing song, "In Thee."
> This album should appeal to anyone who enjoys the X-Files,
> the supernatural, heavy metal, or any sort of unexplained
> phenomena as a substitute for the shoegazing angst of
> modern rock or the insipid pablum of contemporary top 40.
>