“Rossignol’s curious, albeit simply titled book, the Origins of a World War, spoke in terms of secret treaties, drawn up between the Ambassadors from Plutonia and Desdinova the foreign minister. These treaties founded a secret science from the stars. Astronomy. The career of evil.”Secret Treaties (1973)
Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser - lead guitar, vocals
Eric Bloom - lead vocals, keyboards, stun guitar
Albert Bouchard - drums, vocals
Joe Bouchard - bass, vocals
Allen Lanier - keyboards, rhythm guitar, all synthesizers
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Career of Evil 3:59
Subhuman 4:39
Dominance and Submission 5:23
ME 262 4:48
Cagey Cretins 3:16
Harvester of Eyes 4:42
Flaming Telepaths 5:20
Astronomy 6:28
Total length: 38:35
2001 CD remaster bonus tracks
Boorman the Chauffer 3:13
Mommy 3:32
Mes Dames Sarat 4:07
Born to Be Wild 3:40
Career of Evil (single version) 3:00
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“…an endless cycle of write the album, record the album, tour the album.” That, my friends, is a direct quote from Eric Bloom in regards to the ‘black and white period’ of the band. Albert Bouchard has said that the first three albums are all one big blur to him. When asked, Buck Dharma opined that they are all part of the same book and
Secret Treaties is the final chapter. So the formula remained the same: Write while on tour, rehearse in hotels, go back to NY and record, head back out on the road, rinse and repeat. Pearlman and Krugman mixed the album while the band was on tour using the same techniques as previously and the thin sound really upset the band. They vowed to always be in studio for the mixing from here on out.
Something had changed though. The guitars were still aggressive but what would become the signature, smooth Blue Öyster Cult tone began to surface. The humor and horror were right out front but perhaps with a bit more flair. Instead of pounding you in the face with the opening tracks and then going out with a whimper, the album builds up to the heavy rockers and then goes out in a climactic epic fashion not explored previously. Besides, read the song titles above. In order. That’s the coolest set of song titles that ever existed, Mang!
The album got rave reviews all over the music industry and sold very well hitting number 53 on the Billboard 200 in 1974 eventually being certified gold in 1992.
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Albert and Patti got together on
Career of Evil and finally created a perfect realization of her vision. This laid-back, jazzy number catalogs the musings of a villain as he plots a life of mayhem and terror. Eric sneers out equal parts ominous nonsense and direct threats that bounce along happily with Allen’s Hammond organ and Buck’s soaring atmospheric guitar. Columbia wanted to release this as a single but made the band change one of the lines for the single. The album version is unedited. This is a true BÖC classic that still sounds fresh to me after all these years.
Without pause--ladies, fish and gentlemen--
Subhuman gradually picks up the pace with this Pearlman imagined anthem to the Blue Oyster Cult themselves. The chugging guitars during the verses showcase the ‘smooth but heavy’ signature tone I mentioned earlier and they compliment Buck’s lead sound perfectly. Eric dials back on the vocals enough that he even sounds a little like Buck. There are some progressive elements to this song that I think many of the forum members could really sink their teeth into. A great song and it translates very well to a live setting. Many years later, the song will get lengthened and re-imagined on
Imaginos.
A ticking clock at the end of the previous track sets the pace for
Dominance and Submission. For many fans, me included, this is where the dagger spiked rubber hits the fuckin’ road. The strange lyrics (about the onset of world domination by rock and roll, beginning with the arrival The Beatles in America) are belted out by Albert. There’s a completely awesome call and respond section where the other members of the band mechanically harmonize ‘dominance’ while Albert’s ‘submission’ gets increasingly intense and insane. The big, heavy metal finish with Buck ripping out some smokin’ leads abruptly ends this awesome biker tune.
ME 262, in my mind, is a send-up of the Beatles
Back in the U.S.S.R: It has that traditional Chuck Berry-ish rock n’ roll vibe but with some heavier guitars. Think of it as a kind of Beach Boy rockin’ homage to Nazi pride. The juxtaposition of the warlike lyrics and the happy rocker is hilariously inappropriate and I never really come to the end of this song feeling as clean as when I started. “Hitler's on the phone from Berlin, Say's I'm gonna make you a star!” Seriously?!
The band got in a bit of trouble for this one, being labeled anti-Semitic. Hello? Sandy Pearlman? Murray Krugman? Folks just weren’t paying attention.
Ok, on to side 2.
Cagey Cretins is a short, cartoonish, Albert written hard rocker to a Meltzer lyric. Presumably it’s a tribute to idiots who somehow cause mayhem and get away with it. Many fans are annoyed with the “ooo, cagey” backing vocals feeling that it makes the song unnecessarily silly. I, on the other hand, wouldn’t want it any other way! Again, funny and ominous is a vibe I love and is part of what keeps me coming back to BÖC year after year. This is one of the few songs that have co-lead vocals with Eric taking the verses and Albert the chorus. They should have used this combination more, IMO. It rocks.
It’s difficult to describe the
Harvester of Eyes; Part Motown, part metal, part funk, part
Silence of the Lambs, with a seriously heavy blues ending. Yup, that about does it!
A music box opens up the quasi-progressive piece
Flaming Telepaths. With music written by Eric, Albert and Buck that brilliantly captures the darkly spiritual mood of Pearlman’s lyrics. There are more twists, turns and rhythmic changes than one normally finds with this band but ones that you always felt were waiting to be explored. There’s an elegant maturity to the music that gives the lyric more weight and beauty. It also segues perfectly into…
…another piece of the Imaginos puzzle that is
Astronomy. Building on the mood of the previous track, a soft symbol counts out a tense rhythm while a jazz piano quietly paints a dark canvas for the verses. There’s a palpable mood here that invokes a moonlight stroll beside a nearly silent beach.
The clock strikes twelve and moon-drops burst, Out at you from their hiding place, Like acid and oil on a madman's face, His reason tends to fly away. Sublime! The song traverses a few hills and valleys before triumphantly soaring to the finish. It really is, basically, a simple song but executed in such a way that it became BÖC’s epic. Now, from the viewpoint of a prog-forum like DTF that’s nearly laughable but there is no denying the epic feel of this seven minute album closer. Let’s call it a mini-epic.
When the band began rehearsing
Astronomy and playing it live prior to recording Albert would sing it from behind the kit. When they got in the studio he attempted to sing it, “about a hundred times and got worse and worse each time. Finally Sandy asked Eric to sing it and he did it perfectly in one take.” I can’t imagine that, the voice of
Cities on Flame and
Dominance and Submission singing this gorgeous tune? Na.
With all due respect to Stephen King, Buck Dharma, Albert Bouchard, Sandy Pearlman and Metallica,
This is THE arrangement.
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I’ll leave the 2001 bonus songs from the remastered CD to the discussion since this post has already gone on too long. If anyone is interested in my take on them let me know.
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The artwork for this album is nothing special in my book. It was produced by the CBS/Columbia art department and depicts the band posing in front of an ME 262 fighter jet. A skeletal pilot is in the cockpit. Eric is holding the leash of several German Shepherds that are aggressively menacing the camera. The back cover shows the jet in motion (taking off?) with the dogs slaughtered on the tarmac. The band didn’t really like the cover and I don’t blame them.
This is a go-to album for me and many fans of the band. I find no weaknesses in the song selection and the 2001 remaster fixed many of the glaring sound issues of the original LP. Not only do I think this is an essential part of a BÖC fan’s collection I’d even stress that it’s an essential part of any rock music fan’s collection.
Topic: Blue Öyster Cult Discography: Curse of the Hidden Mirror (Read 43798 times)
