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What you have before you is my fourth (a.k.a. 4th) entry in [link> MMQE's 'Rocktoberfest' carnival.
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As mentioned previously, my primary theme in this blogfest is "Underrated", as in songs I feel are underrated, primarily because they're also rather unknown by the masses in these (strange) times we're living fighting through.
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The songs I'm featuring in this installment are kinda-sorta Halloween themed. Think of Full Moons & Things That Go Bump In The Night.
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It's odd that, with my declining memory, I am still able to recall the tiny details I am about to yak out...
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It was 1977 and I drove to downtown Santa Monica to purchase from the Wherehouse Records store the LP 'Their Greatest Hits: 1971-1975' by The Eagles. It just so happened that the employee at the cash register was a guy I'd known from high school ("SAMOHI, dear old SAMOHI, queen of the setting sun..."). We started yakking music and he told me that I had to get the new Blue Oyster Cult (BOC) album 'Spectres'.
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The only song by BOC that I was familiar with at that point was '(Don't Fear) The Reaper'. Of course, EVERY teenager knew that giant hit. And I had always liked that song, except for the fact that I felt it needed more cowbell. 😉 (Yip, I wrote that.)
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Well, I took that fellow SAMOHI student's word for it and shortly thereafter I bought the 'Spectres' album. Hokey-Smoke!! I fell in love with it and I nearly played the grooves off'n it. What I discovered later, after purchasing every BOC album ever released, was that BOC had really toned down their original heavy metal sound as the years went by; they added all kinds of harmony & melodic hooks, so the early Metal Heads felt that BOC had "sold out". But I LOVED the "sell-out" version of BOC (I saw them live in concert twice). The earlier rackety stuffs was not my mugga beer.
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I have often said that I think Buck Dharma was the most underrated guitarist of the classic Hard Rock era. Whereas so many of the Hard Rock guitarists were playing the same similar lead lines over and over and over and over, Buck Dharma had a unique ability to tailor or stylize his lead guitar licks in accordance with the mood being conveyed in different songs.
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Below are examples of what I mean by that description. These two tunes display the versatility of Buck Dharma's guitar playing and how he added so much atmosphere to the BOC tracks.
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MOON CRAZY (1979)
by Blue Oyster Cult
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I LOVE THE NIGHT (1977)
by Blue Oyster Cult
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Those two songs came from the albums 'Spectres' (1977) and 'Mirrors' (1979), which were my very favorite BOC albums. I hope they didn't scare you too badly.
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~ STMcC
DogGtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation
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POSTSCRIPT:
Both of these songs seem new to me and maybe they could be. I've liked BOC since before "The Reaper" song. I saw them in the ballroom of the University of Tenn. student center which was a weird place to see them, but still the concert was amazing.
ReplyDeleteLee
R. LEE BOID ~
DeleteThe first time I saw BOC in concert (at The Forum in Inglewood) they had their full laser light show going and it was pert-dern exciting stuffs!
I don't remember the exact song, but at one point Buck Dharma started to play a ripping guitar solo and immediately a laser beam shot out from the end of his guitar and blasted the ceiling of the place. Pretty impressive, memorable show and great rockin' stuffs.
~ D-FensDogG
I had an idea this would be tough...great songs! I figure I'd be hung up on the moon; crazy as I am. But then I got over it - ha! "I love the Night" is going on my playlist - and probably going to roll around in head for a week. Hauntingly lovely.
ReplyDeleteNever saw the band in person, but they were quite popular with the crowd I ran with.
dIEDRE ~
DeleteI played the helck out of that 'Spectres' album and knew every single note of every single song! It was definitely my favorite BOC album.
I was certainly thinking of the song 'Death Valley Nights' the one time I drove through Death Valley. That was before cell phones, I was alone, and hoping upon hope that my old car wouldn't break down there.
The one thing that I always found curious about that album was that the first track on Side A was 'GODZILLA'. I always liked it, but I thought it was a no-brainer that the first song on the album should have been 'R U READY 2 ROCK'. I mean, seriously, whoever had the final say in the album's song sequencing definitely dropped the ball on that!
~ D-FensDogG