Blue Öyster Cult - Secret Treaties
1974
Rock
There are bands everyone knows, then there are
bands everyone knows (notice the sarcasm green). For example, when people think of Black Sabbath, they think of "Paranoid", "Iron Man", "Black Sabbath", "War Pigs" and "Sweet Leaf". They neglect the remainder of their catalog, and, in doing so, miss out on one of metal's richest, most sacred bodies of work.
Such is the case with Blue Öyster Cult. Everyone's heard "Burnin' for You" and "(Don't Fear) the Reaper", but that's about the extent of their exposure. In reality, while those are certainly two of the band's best cuts ever, they're not
the best, and they demonstrate only a small fraction of what they're capable of. Pop-rock was always one of their specialties, no doubt, but they also delved into groovier rock, some metal and even prog on occasion.
As a matter of fact, their best disc ever,
Secret Treaties, doesn't have either of those songs on it. The most easily recognizable song on it is probably "Astronomy", which was covered by Metallica for their
Garage, Inc. LP in the nineties. More importantly, as good as the Metallica cover is, the original stomps all over it, retaining the amazing chant-along chorus and spectacular outro but adding great keyboards to the mix as well.
The common thread between all the songs here is that, whether or not they're groovy, slow or upbeat, they all feature insanely catchy choruses. Furthermore, they're all very original-sounding, and never become blurs alongside each other, avoiding the trap most rock albums fall victim to. This is especially impressive considering most of them aren't all that busy or fast, qualities one normally associates with classic rock choruses. "Dominance and Submission" and "Harvester of Eyes" are two good proofs of that, I think, the way the vocals creep by so inconspicuously but still hook so firmly.
Although BÖC would go on to greater success in the 80's,
Secret Treaties remains their masterpiece to this day. It's also one of the easiest albums to get into you'll ever hear, and it finds a way to draw you back time and time again, no matter how long a break you take from it.
Rating: 10/10
Stand-Outs: "Harvester of Eyes", "Flaming Telepaths", "Astronomy"