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Home , Albert Bouchard, Bar Bar Bar, Bob Kulick, Buck Dharma, Charlie Huhn, Chuck Burgi

Morning Final No. 7 When I first started reporting the status of 7” releases, BAR I had some inquiries as to the whereabouts of all the 12” releases..as If I had forgotten something!!...well, fret no longer, cause this is the issue of the Twelve Inchers. HOT AIR With only two markets pressing the big singles, the US and UK, there have been at least a few neat col- from hollywood lectibles for the die-hards out there looking for some by melne more rare stuff to listen to. The first 12” singles were pressed in 1975 when unleashed and DJ’s needed special longer ver- sions of the otherwise too short radio hit singles, which Well Albie! This issue has an answer averaged a mere 3 minutes per tune. In the eighties, to the many inquiries on the exploits of though, the record companies realized they could BÖC’s most prolific member, Albert woo the consumer with all kinds of , edited ver- Bouchard, and a profile of the newest sions and B-sides to make the sale of 12 inchers a lucra- öyster, Chuck Bürgi! As you receive this tive business and no longer the exclusive terrain of pro- issue, rest assured that your editor is motion or DJs. beginning a lengthy, much-needed va- In 1972, though, had already cation in the homeland of Minnesota. released the Live Bootleg EP for radio stations and crit- After so many years in southern ics/reviewers to whet their appetite for Tyranny & Mu- , it’s time for a dose of real win- tation. In a sense this is a forerunner of the 12” single, ter! (Noble words now, but we’ll see an EP, with four songs presented in the 12" for- when the blizzards hit). In the öyster mat. camp we have hope for a new album, as It wasn’t until 1978 and Spectres when Columbia rumour flies of writing sessions among the issued the first B.Ö.C. 12” single. The great (It’s Not Ray- members, so keep your fingers crossed. mond Burr) “ Live” had a picture sleeve of the (albeit black and white) Green dude trashing Tokyo from the original movie. The B-side was the studio ver- sion culled off the album. This was also released in an identical 7” version, so it was a neat introduction to collecting Big Disco Singles on our band. Some Canadian Bootleggers quickly copied this rare release and it was available for a year around the ews Flash: N world on various traders/dealers lists. The pirate copies are easy to spot, they have no CBS Gold stamp on the back cover. I think that it is harder to find the actual The live CD and video are released in Europe as of the first week of Goldstamp copy from Columbia than the pirate ver- November! The European version will contain the song "Born To Be Wild," sion, but there is basically no difference, so I assume which won't be contained on the American version. Hopefully this means any of the copies will do the same trick with this rare the U.S. release won't be far behind. live cut. Spectres also brought the boys around the world for We've received word that is releasing a double-live CD of a the tour of 1978, and CBS UK began a trend and put June 16, 1981 BÖC performance at the Bond's International Casino in out a limited edition 12” of “(Don’t Fear) The . A limited number of these may be available through the fan Reaper/R.U.Ready 2 Rock” to commemorate the U.K. club. Tour. At the cheapo price of 99 pence, they couldn’t go wrong. The great on this one is a red Thanks to all of you who sponsored an Eastern European Fan! We've skeleton holding a scythe on a black background, just received a letter from our first actual Russian, who loves BÖC! and on the back the album covers for Agents & SINGLES Spectres. package, minus the stencil and full-length version. Both covers list the U.K. It wasn’t until 1981 when we got to see the next 12” release, tour dates on the back. which was the pre-release for . A four-cut November of 1985 was once again time for a U.K. tour, so the brand new selection of what would possibly be the singles, it held “Burnin’ cuts “White Flags” and “Rock Not War” off the forthcoming album Club Ninja For You/Joan Crawford/ Sole Survivor/Veteran Of The Psychic were released. Once again, CBS tried to cash in on the previous single by Wars”. To this day is still playing all of these songs live, including the full length album version of “” as the B-side. The except Sole Survivor, which they sadly enough never played live. cover was the same on both 12” and 7”, The Ninja Death Star in the shape of As with all the American 12-inchers, (excepting Godzilla live) this Kronos. comes in a plain black cover with a hole cut to show the label. In The U.S. Columbia held off on the release until the band returned from CBS England waited until the band toured Europe again in Europe for the first U.S. single, “Dancin’ In The Ruins.” By 1986, the record August of 1981, then they released “Burnin’ For You” but backed industry had come to the conclusion that DJ’s weren’t capable of reading, it up with two choice live recordings from Westwood One, “Dr. so they started placing the same song on both sides, so that no matter what ” from the same show that is the Black & Blue Movie, and side you threw on the turntable, you’d be playing the intended radio cut. A “Flaming Telepaths” recorded live at The Bond’s International second single was pressed, this time “Perfect Water” with of course the same Casino in New York just weeks before winding up on this disc. B-side.

SINGLES Picture cover is a great close up of Greg Scott’s extra terrestrial Perfect Water became the last 12” single to be released from the Vinyl cultsters from the cover of Fire Of Unknown Origin. Era in the States, but England still had more plastic to melt into 12” shapes, so After the band had played the Country Club in Reseda (Los Angeles) for “Astronomy” & “Magna Of Illusion” were released on 12”, 7”, California with Robbie Krieger on “Roadhouse ,” things were uncertain and CD format with, would you believe it, “The Reaper” (again!) thrown in on as to what was going to be the next album. Since Buck was doing Flat Out, it the 12” and CD to boost the sales. was decided to send out this live recording to Radio stations, so test pressings The picture sleeve is an awesome shot in Black & White of an electrical of a full length version as well as an edited shorter, more radio oriented mix storm over the sea, and a really classy shot to put on a record cover. But wait were pressed. a minute, it’s not over yet...The band went across that Sea to promote the Later, when it became clear that E.T.L. was going to be released, album, and of course a special tour package was put together. Columbia pressed a revised version of this 12” with one more added song on The same cover now housed a remixed dance-oriented version of the B-side to give the Radio programmers a choice of songs to play. With this “Astronomy,” called “Wild Mix,” which is like an assemblage, selecting bits addition, a live version of “Veteran Of The Psychic Wars,” was also released and pieces of the tracks while keeping the beat going. It has a bit more of promo videos for each of these two songs to promote this upcoming Live Albert’s original vocal thrown in, which makes it interesting. Side two holds effört. that rare Radio Only version of “Astronomy,” here called the Wild King Mix, 1983 bore us yet another 4 track Promo EP in the US, this time after the which is the album version with a spoken introduction by . release of the album The Revölution By Night with a long & a short version of Surprisingly the second song on side B remained “Magna Of Illusion.” (what— “Shooting Shark” backed with “Take Me Away” and “Eyes On Fire.” no Reaper?) CBS England Picked “Take Me Away” as their choice of a first single in the U.K, and this time they too released it in the 4-Track EP style, trying to cash in once more on “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” and “Burnin’ For You.” The same 7” additions: I thank my friend Simon Wilson from Australia for supplying me live version of “Dr. Music” that was released previously graced the B-side, with 3 rare White Label Promo singles released by CBS Australia. Although although by this time it had actually been released on the E.T.L. album, mak- rumour has it there are 6 singles pressed in Australia, I have so far only seen 3 ing it not such a hot collectable Item. The cover is straight off the back cover actual singles, and all three are promo only copies. It makes me wonder if drawing from the Revölution album. any stock copies were ever made for regular sales to the public, or if CBS Early 1984 had yet another Tour Of The U.K. for the band, and as with all Australia only put out singles for radio or promotional purposes. previous tours, CBS released special tour support singles. In this great pack- The releases I have are “Fallen Angel/Lips In The Hills” CBS BA BAR age was “Shooting Shark (Extended Version)/Dragon Lady". In fact, the song 222718, 1980; “Burnin’ For You/Vengeance (The Pact)” CBS BA was the full length version off the album, clocking in at 7:07, so it really wasn’t 222879, 1981; and “Dancin’ In The Ruins/Shadow Warrior” CBS BA an Extended version at all, just a sales tactic. The neatest thing about this 3441, 1986. None of these releases seem to be accompanied by package is that it included a special B.Ö.C. stencil with Kronos Logo. Now anything as fancy as a picture sleeve, but simply put out in CBS eager fans could race off with a can of spray paint to deface buildings and Stock sleeves, looking like the British releases. If anybody can sup- other structures with the band’s name and logo. They also released a 7” ply me with any further added attractions for this column, please by all means send me a xerox copy of what record you have, and I will use Here follows a list of all 12” singles, CD singles and Cassingles. this in upcoming issues. USA: 12” RELEASES: All 33 1/3 rpm(ALL PROMOTIONAL RELEASES ONLY) With the death of Vinyl and virtual end of 12” promo singles, there remains 1 “The Blue Öyster Cult Bootleg EP” the new formats, 3 inch and 5 inch CD singles. 3” singles have not yet scored "The Red & The Black/ Buck’s Boogie/ very well in the market except in Japan, so we haven’t seen too many of Workshop Of The Telescopes/Cities On Flame" them. (special rubber stamped paper sleeve COLUMBIA AS-40 (1972)) One such item was printed up, though, for the Old Gold Hall of Fame 2 ”Godzilla Live/Godzilla” COLUMBIA AS-447 (1978) (picsleeve) series, and it contained “Burnin’ For You/(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” (1987). Having never seen an actual copy of it, I will have to hold off on any further 3 ”Burnin’ For You/Joan Crawford/Sole Survivor/ information, but I have seen it advertised a couple of times in Goldmine Veteran Of The Psychic Wars” (special sticker on cover) COLUMBIA AS-986 (1981) magazine ads. In the US, Columbia started making their promo CDs in time for the release 4 ”Roadhouse Blues/Roadhouse Blues (short) COLUMBIA XSM-170053/4-1A (1982) of Imaginos. They actually made two radio-only CD singles: “Astronomy” and 5 ”Roadhouse Blues/Roadhouse Blues (short)/ “In The Presence Of Another World.” Veteran Of The Psychic Wars” The “Astronomy” disc provides four versions of the song—a long and a (special sticker on cover) COLUMBIA AS-1441 (1982) short version, and then the same two versions with the now-legendary spo- 6 ”Shooting Shark (Edit)/Shooting Shark/ ken Intro by Stephen King. The disc itself is what is considered a picture disc. Take Me Away/Eyes On Fire” COLUMBIA AS-1772 (1983) It’s an all-black background with the Imaginos Logo. The Jewel box insert is almost the same as the , but with “Astronomy” lettered in the 7 ”Dancin’ In The Ruins/Dancin’ In The Ruins” COLUMBIA CAS-2263 (1986) lower left corner. (with sticker on the cover) The second CD release, a short and long version of “Presence” was called 8 ”Perfect Water/Perfect Water” COLUMBIA CAS-2341 (1986) “The Next Chapter....” The short version actually sounds quite good for a (with sticker on cover) butcher job, and is as such something different for the die-hards. This disc is also a Picture disc, silkscreened with a picture of the Castle photographed CD SINGLES: by Simon Marsden that appeared on both the Innersleeve of the album and CD booklet. This one doesn’t come with any kind of a insert-it is plainly pack- "Astronomy(long/short; and long/short with intro) COLUMBIA CSK-1218 (1988) aged just the CD in a Jewel box. Both of these two Columbia pressings are "In the Presence (long/short) COLUMBIA CSK-1327 (1988) quite hard to find and cost around $15-25 a pop these days. Reaper/Burnin’ 3” CD, Old Gold Series England issued "Astronomy" as a CD single as well as on 7” Vinyl and 12” Vinyl. Funnily enough all of these releases hold the same catalogue number CASSETTE SINGLES: except for the very last digit, which I assume signifies what kind of a release they are. The British CD is packaged in a 5” paper sleeve and is a tiny version "Don’t Fear the Reaper/Burnin’ for You" COLUMBIA CS 13T 68629 (1989) of the 12” single. ENGLAND: 12" singles; All 45rpm (All Come In Picture Sleeves) As a final note on singles, the record industry has now created a silly for- mat for the walkman/boombox crowd, “cassingles.” A cassette with the 1 ”(Don’t Fear)The Reaper/R.U.Ready 2 Rock” CBS 12-6333 2 ”Burnin’ For You/Dr.Music/Flaming Telepaths” CBS A13-1453 same two song programme repeated on both sides...something I always felt 3 ”Take Me Away/Burnin’ For You/The Reaper/Dr.Music” CBS TA-3937 they should have done with pre-recorded too. 4 ”Shooting Shark/Dragon Lady” CBS TA-4117 For Blue Öyster Cult, Columbia issued a cassingle for the Hall Of Fame 5 ”White Flags/Shooting Shark/Rock Not War” CBS TA-6779 Series in 1989. “Burnin’ For You” & “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” comes in a tacky 6 ”Astronomy/The Reaper/Magna Of Illusion” CBS 652985 6 paper cover with a drawing of a Juke box and the band name and song 7 ”Astronomy(Wild Mix)/Astronomy(Wild King Mix)/Magna of Illusion” CBS 652985 8 titles in the center, the stock cover for this series. The back cover is a credit for the two songs on the cassette. This should still be available in select stores in CD Singles this country, so pick one up... "Astronomy/Magna Of Illusion/(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” CBS 652985 2 The Throne, sounds like a seat for a King...Well, the kings of swing are most definitely the drummers of bands. As far as this goes, Blue Öyster Cult has had its share of fallen Kingdoms. The First keeper of the Throne was Prince Omega. From humble begin- nings as Prince of The Stalk Forrest of Oaxaca, he was crowned the First King of the tiny kingdom of Blue Öyster. reigned between 1971 and 1981 when, in August of that year, a storm rippled through his kingdom. While he was away with his consorts for diplomatic visits to other kingdoms in Europe, he sud- denly found himself dethroned, accused of various transgressions and peccadil- loes. He was replaced by the Prince of Lights: Rick Downey. King Rick held a strong King’s seat for almost four years before retiring. Ruling the kingdom during his absence and before a suitable replacement could be sworn in, Sovereign Thommy Price charged the studio realms, but declined the challenge of leading a campaign to the touring war zones. In his place, Ex-King Albert was embraced by the royal subjects as the only one who could do the job, and returned for a short while and indeed did lead his countrymen to a quick victory, but afterwards was once again removed. Long Live the New King, Jimmy Wilcox, brother of King Willie Wilcox of The Of Utopia. Jimmy secured his throne promptly and kept a strong sword by his side until his Cult of the Blue Öysters slowly dissolved in September of 1986. In the summer of 1987, Disguised as Imaginos, King Albert planned to reclaim his right to the throne, but when coronation day was due, he found instead the new monarch of The Cult, Ron Riddle, awaiting the ceremony. His Royal Highness Ron fought a tough battle to prove himself worthy of his seat on the Throne, only to abdicate in the summer of 1991 in search of perhaps a better and more suitable Kingdom to rule. Young aspiring Prince Charles of was then called upon and crowned King Chuck in June, and is now holding court with a bunch of happy fel- low countrymen. And the B.Ö.C. is once again a United Front and could-be con- tender in the world music affaires. This is without a doubt the most played B.Ö.C. song ever, but thanks to the Kingdoms Of The Radio infusion of new feelings brought on by the presence of a new member in the ranks, the song sounds refreshingly good even after all these years. Cleveland Rocks! With Chuck 'n' Buck 'n' the gang My tape has a break during Buck’s solo spot, where the DJ announces his Station Identification, Something I used to dislike with my very early by Bolle tapes, but these days it doesn’t seem that annoying. After all it does help After only five shows with Blue Öyster Cult, new drummer Chuck Bürgi prevent the tape surfacing later as “Live in New York” or something else, had an official “debut” when BÖC hit the airwaves on WMMS-FM Cleve- which is a problem with tape traders who give little regard to the vital sta- land, Ohio, as the station aired BÖC live from the Empire Concert Club on tistics of a recording’s origin. I like to hear the radio stations DJs introduce June 28th. the shows as well as their comments after the show, sadly enough, most WMMS-FM has given us a few very memorable B.Ö.C. broadcasts in the people don’t, so they edit out all the credits and talk. Some people even past, mainly focusing around the Agora club in the seventies. This time go as far as editing out the musical parts of the songs where the DJ might around the recording facilities are much improved and the sound quality is have done a Station Identification! almost as good as any real official live album. The show continues with Eric’s introduction of a real treat—the original This show clocks in at 96 minutes, including Radio DJ intros and outros, version of “Astronomy” with great icebell and small-cymbal work from which fits well on a C100 cassette and makes a nice addition to your live Chuck, along with Jon Roger’s beautiful bass works just before the song tape collection. takes off and magically takes the crowd back to the heyday of The Cult. “Stairway To The Stars” begins and the first curiosity to be answered is Continuing with “Career Of Evil,” now with just a hint of that new feel Ron hearing the new drummer 'King' Chuck and his placement in the Riddle & Jon Rogers created, it has altered slightly again with the addition band...was this going to be convincing or just moderately O.K.? Over the of Buck and Chuck’s new approach. After those Treaties bookends years (and drummers) it’s been up and down for the songs' feels, but im- comes David Roter’s alternative to “Joan Crawford”: “The Unknown mediately Chuck puts forward his best sticking and boogies down a storm. Tongue.” It also feels very fresh and either way Allen gets to rattle the Ivory He gives new life to the tune “Dominance & Submission” as his approach is stuff. pure gut feeling rock & roll. Eric seems in excellent spirits this night “Burning For You” leads off the predictable next half hour, which some- with that original Marlon Brando conviction in his delivery. As Eric greets the times works, and sometimes not...This time, it’s for the sole reason of a new audience of Radio Land he asks, “Isn’t this the home of rock and roll? group member that I pay extra attention to the radio classics of “Godzilla” Cleveland?” and the band takes off on that familiar ride beat of “Before (seriously, though, I never heard this song on the radio) which comes out The , A Redcap,” throwing all suspicions of a dull set out the window. basically the same way, but with an added attraction from Jon’s extend- Buck’s new added lick in this song makes it feel fresh and new, ed bass solo with Chuck adding some exciting drum explosives, and Buck and as they roll into the middle section Buck proclaims “This is the best part filling in with high pitch almost E-Bow sounding glare. of the trip!!” and I do most thoroughly agree. The band sounds so together Chuck gets off to his private exhibition and comes away with a very it’s almost scary...this is only Chuck’s fifth performance with the band and impressive drum solo, although I firmly believe that Ron Riddle’s solos after they possibly sound better than ever before, which makes me want to see adding the double bass drum were among the most impressive drum solos them back here in California again all the more. around, and most people who normally disliked drum solos raved about The show continues with the staple “ETI,” a firm part of the show since “The Riddler’s.” Here Chuck proves himself to be a great drummer, but he 1976, yet it still works perfectly in the set, and with Chuck’s instinctual feel also shows that he’s not accustomed to doing drum solos, especially not for it, Eric sings it like it was brand new. It is unbelievable to think they’ve of greater lengths. played this song just about every show since 1976. The show ends with “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” which benefits heavily “Buck’s Boogie” has followed “ETI” as another set skeleton piece since from the addition of the “mystery” Cowbell, emanating from the dark the band reunited in 1987, (with only the Imaginos tour of ‘89 breaking that depths of the stage. (Phantom of the Cowbell?) Chuck adds icebells to link by inserting “I Am The One You Warned Me Of” in between those this very effectively along with some China splashes. ‘ribs’). Buck’s Boogie has always been a band favorite because even with The encore for the night consists of “This Ain’t the Summer Of Love,” fol- its structured build-up it allows everyone a chance to relax and express lowed by “The Red & The Black” In all, one Hell of a cool show and a themselves. great introduction to our newest Cultster, and an excellent show to listen “Take Me Away” follows, but falls short when compared to the rest of the to, although I’m sure it was even greater to actually attend the show itself. show. After that lull they proceed to to get back on their feet with “Cities Let’s hope there will be more broadcasts of their live shows later on be- On Flame with Rock & Roll,” still a show stopper for most of the audience. cause this one was just a taste of what the future may hold. large following and people love to hear is the most satisfying part of performing to an audience, at the same time, his progressive side yearns for new material, to STICK FIGURES offer the freedom of being totally creative and innovative. a profile of the Cult's newest addition He is indeed a “feel” player, and puts forward a strong emotion to give each song the same strength as if he had recorded these songs from the start himself. and the guy with the umlaut in his name—Chuck Bürgi He tries to stay away from his predecessors’ methods of drumming, but finds Albert’s original parts more of the true stamina to originate from and turn into the After Ron Riddle left BÖC at the end of their last-days-of-May West Coast Tour, new way of enhancing the Cult sound with Chuck Bürgi. the band returned back to N.Y. to a couple of weeks off, and the urgent necessi- ty of finding a replacement for Ron. Fortunately, the solution to their problem was as simple as a phone call when they found New Jersey’s Chuck Bürgi available, ready & willing to do the job. Just prior to joining BÖC, Chuck had been working with Meatloaf’s new band, which also included long-time associate of Chuck’s, (Balance, Skull). Everyone was very happy in their positions until pro- ducer Jim Steinman came into the picture and dropped the whole band in favor of easy going studio session guys. So Chuck found himself in need of a job just as BÖC posted their help wanted sign, and signed on as drummer #6. Chuck, born and raised in Mont Claire, New Jersey (home town of Joe Walsh), is the oldest of four siblings. He has one sister and two brothers, both of whom are living in California and “making it” in their own right as actors. Brother Richard has done a lot of TV adverts, and guest appearances on shows including “Matlock”, “Empty Nest” and “Jake & The Fatman.” Celebrating his birthday every year on August 15th makes Chuck a Leo in accordance with the astrological charts, which should offer him a bright future with whatever he chooses to do, and hopefully B.Ö.C. will be benefitting from all his positiveness. Since his dad had a , Chuck got an early start to drumming. He joined bands in high school and began playing with a lot of people. With a few lessons and playing with the school band, Chuck became seriously turned onto the possi- bility of becoming a professional drummer. Growing up in the sixties, Chuck’s original inspirations came from everybody’s favorite Beatle pace maker, Ringo Starr, and were furthered in the progressive conformed anarchy of Jimi Hendrix’s wild man Mitch Mitchell. After these it was only natural for Chuck to start listening to more advanced jazz drumming. He befriended Jazz veteran Elvin Jones, taking lessons from him and also taking on a job as his roadie. This enabled him to soak up on all the magical tricks that Elvin performed in his truly unique style. Tony Williams, of the original Miles Davis rock style band, gave Chuck new incentives for further exploration and advancements in drumming. After finishing school, he played in a lot of club bands until 1977, when he recorded his first inter- nationally released album for Ex-Larry Coryell guitarist Danny Toan. This led to a touring gig with Al DiMeola, and from there to British pub band , as re- placement for none other than ! With Brand X he recorded an album “Masques,” and got a strong start for a prosperous career as a session man. Chuck uses Pearl drums and Cymbals, and currently plays the full set up Chuck can be heard on albums by Hall & Oates, , , with The Cult, starting off with two 22” X 16” Bass drums, three rack toms of 12’, , , and the family tree branches of Rainbow, 13” and 14” size, and rounds off the kit with two floor toms,16” X 16” and !8” X 16”. & and a dozen other albums and videos. To enhance his versatility in sound, he also plays the lower 4 Octabans. His cym- So, Chuck is of course looking very forward to be in the studio with The Cult, as bal set-up is the “Terry Bozzio symmetrical set-up,” all the Black Colour sound series are we all, since it’s way over due for a Blue Öyster Cult album or any new prod- with two Chinas up front with two 19” Power Crash on the outside, followed by an uct to hit the streets again and bless us with the stuff only these guys can provide. 18” Ride as well as a 22” ride, and rounds it out with a 17” crash. On joining the band, Chuck says he already has a couple of favorites to play, For hi-hat, he uses the 15” sound edge cymbals to give that rich but crisp such as The Reaper, 'Citizen Kane' (Cities On Flame), Dominance & Submission, sound. An assortment of ice bells and small splash cymbals finishes off his kit, and and of course the very musical Buck’s Boogie. He feels playing songs that have a seems to be quite the thing to make B.Ö.C. sound their best. liked “When You’re In, You’re In” so much he had Deadrin- ger work it up and record it on their album Electrocution Of the Heart from last year. Here Deborah sings with a vengeance, like she’s really mad at the world...somewhat different from ’s interpretation on the Deadringer album. Most rockers’ reason for not going anywhere t’nite, comes true with “I Got A Date with My Guitar,” a song of love lost and found solace in a Albert Bouchard & Friends Rock the House! friendly six string. Musically, somewhat insignificant and plain, but all this is remedied by the next tune, “Rain Rain”, with a great chorus and chord pro- gression and a nice lyric to go with it. Another true Albert gem with that Albert Bouchard used to write 90% of all the material for the original Soft inevitable and welcome N.Y. feel to it. White Underbelly, Stalk Forrest Group and Oaxaca. Come Blue Öyster Cult, Albert’s singing on the next song, “A Kiss Is A Promise” is great and it’s a he began getting some competition from the other guys, but remained very strong song. “Bad Habit” guitar clicks in just like some early Angus their strongest card for each album throughout his stay with the band, and Young riff—like “It’s A Long Way To The Top” opening, but Albert is quite even after with the Imaginos album. clever with his ideas and the intro fools the listener into thinking in a straight So, what does a guy who writes that many songs do after his split with his 4/4 rhythm, until the song takes off into a shuffle. It features lots of slide gui- main outlet for his creative forces? Believe it or not Albert still writes and tar work from Albert giving the song a touch of Southern rock, yet still retain- records as many songs on a perpetual path of creativity and hit seeking, ing a shroud of New York. just like us regular folks eat and sleep. Although Albert writes many songs “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye” is a case of Doomsday recitation, and the end himself, most have their beginnings in original lyrics and poems from familiar of the world as we know it, and your typical question of ‘what’s the use names like , Helen Robbins (Wheels), and David when the world is crumbling around us’. Spunky guitar riffs in the basic struc- Roter, as well as Mark Barkan, and rock scribe/Albie’s missus Deborah Frost. ture gives a steady groove, with a great chorus line and bluesy catch In 1987 Albert and Deborah put together a band called Imaginary Play- phrases and a very clever lead guitar. mates and did a couple of gigs around New York. After that initial introduc- Albert plays all the instruments here and is unfortunately forced to use the tion to working together, they started writing and recording. The result was drum machine instead of his natural born talents of divinely inventive and an album—length cassette with 10 songs, out of which eight were written picassoesque rock & roll chops, something I really long to hear from the by Albert & Deborah, one co-written with Mark Barkan and one a cover man I still think of as the major force behind the cult. tune. After working as a session musician around the East Coast, he started his This music reminds me more than anything like a mixture of AC/DC and second project in 1989, again with wife Deborah. Gone was the Imaginary Janis Joplin. Albert’s music here is very simple and straight forward and a Playmates, replaced by Brain Surgeons. Albert and Deborah worked up a tad like the L.A. rock scene Sunset Strip type of guts & blood & sex. new tape of material, seven new songs plus four songs salvaged from the “Time Will Take Care Of You” opens the tape, and if you expect some- first tape. Same memo here with Albert doing all the instruments, and thing older sounding, you’re in for a treat. This sits as strong as anything off Deborah on vocals on most of the tracks. Agents of Fortune, and I’d just love to hear this as a Cult song, but then This tape has a title of Rocket Science and is a collection of some great sung of course by my favorite singer, one E.Bloom. Co-written with Mark rock & roll. Starting off with an updated version of “Soul Jive,” a Patti Smith Barkan and Deborah Frost, Albert has applied his Rock & Roll roots to a new poem that Albert originally set to music in 1976 for the Agents of Fortune facet of his career. A Very catchy chorus turns this tune into something even album, this re-make has some added chords to it. Following this are three of other artists could be covering. the songs from the first tape, slightly remixed, “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye”, “‘Ot & ‘Eavy” (in best Uriah Heep pronunciation style) is rather British in its “Time Will Take Care Of You”, & “Bad Habit,” the last one with a new guitar delivery, sort of reminds me of something from a band like Nazareth with track & new vocal track. that AC/DC simplicity. Next up is a very funny Spanish translation of “Cities on Flame,” simply “Language Of Love” sounds like my vision of that typical New York sound, called “Ciudades En Llamas”. Albert sings it with genuine Kitchen/Pigeon and this music would be like a Patti Smith/ up-tempo ballad, Spanish, it’s a blast, and a sure winner in the humour dept. Continuing on in with a bit of Tom Verlaine thrown in for good measure. a great sense of humour, is Albert’s original demo co-written with David The fourth song is a cover version of Big Brother & Holding Co.’s claim to Roter of “666, The Devil Got Your Mother,” which appeared on David Roter’s fame in Janis Joplin’s classic performance style of “Piece Of My Heart,” per- second album Beauty Of The Island. Albert has this great Metallica feel to formed here with a neat heavy back beat and a soulful vocal by Deborah this version and his vocals are far superior to Roter’s on the released version. to really give it credibility. This would sound great with a full band playing. The song is a small master piece and should really be re-recorded with this arrangement and put on the mar- bly the last thing I expected, but I quite ket...KNAC-FM would love to have like this feel these days. something like this to put on the air. Following is “The Brain From Terra “I Came To Rock” is musically a Incognita,” another Meltzer lyric, derivation on the “ETI” riff, with a twist, worked on by Deborah and musicized otherwise a sort of Motown feel tune by Albert. This too is another Rap kinda with a half time middle eight section thing! Richard Meltzer is one strange allowing some smooth slide works from dude with his often word phrasing and Albert before taking off back into the self invented thought patterns that are theme once more. supposed to attack us readers/listeners Next up are two cover tunes, the first like it was normal street jive...well, I being a Diamond Head song called doubt many of us truly understand “Dead Reckoning,” here sung by what Meltzer is all about. The Brain, is a Albert, making this song actually sound perfect Villain character from a James listenable compared to the very lame Bond movie (any), with a finger on the original version. Deborah sings the clas- button and conniving plans for ruling sic “Ramblin’ Rose” with a fervor that the world to its doom. Quite the cool makes this my favorite version of this tune, and seems as though Albert is song. becoming my favorite rapper: M.C. Al- “When You’re In, You’re In” appears B (Al-Boogie)? again, here in a brand new version. Next up is “The Mad Dude,” Meltzer Styled after the Deadringer version, again with Albert’s music, but this is a Albert gave this song a new life with a fifties style laid back blues-ala-Basie much stronger and heavier approach. type of tune, but what...the rapper Officially ending this tape is a strikes again, Albert is the first person to Meltzer/Bouchard composition called sing rap to this type of stuff, and it’s “Gimme Nothin’,” a ‘Bowie Berlin peri- quite convincing, and I like it a lot. od’ style of tune. Finally of these four tunes we get a re- Bonus track on my tape is another make of “Gimme’ Nothin’” with a David Roter/Bouchard composition, stronger mix and more forward vocal called “D-Train” I don’t know why this from Albert and definitely a great level wasn’t used for Roter’s albums, as it sits mix of everything. just fine along with the other tunes that An added attraction to it all comes were used for his records. in the form of a song included on a 1991 has given yet another new tape of otherwise older demos from approach to the band here, Now call- the 1985/86 period of Albert’s works ing themselves Beat Surgeons, they with Mark Barkan. “Mr.E” has a James put together a tape called Monstrosity, Bond kind of structure to it, and Asian a 4 song demo. This tape opens with a harmonics mixed with the Bond theme. remake of Helen Wheels Band’s open- In 1985/86 Albert wrote several other ing track from their album Survival we songs with Barkan/Gordon, and they here get “Survival Part Two” which is a recorded four hit-oriented tunes for re-write of the original lyric, and set to presenting to other artists to record. a Cool Hand Luke type of relaxed but They were: “Cry, Cry, Cry” based on still Rap beat. I was stunned the theme structures of Michael and amazed as the piece unleashed Jackson’s “Billy Jean” and Annabel itself to my ears, a Rap tune was possi- Lamb’s re-make of ’ “Riders On The Storm.” The result comes out like something of a mix between Maria Excommunikata has neared completion of their first Ultravox and M (Pop Muzik), and a pretty decent pop tune. Albert Bouchard produced LP, Color of Darkness, for “I Guess I’m Not Over You” is a typical Neil Diamond kind of song with a Megaforce Records. This New York-via-Denmark quintet was little bit of 1970’s model Cat Stevens for the voicing. “Don’t Act Like You’re born of the bones of the post-punk scene in Scandinavia In Love” has a Pretenders style with an Eddie Money chorus, is quite catchy with and keyboardist Sine Hjort. After a start with and could easily be a radio hit, performed by the right artist. Danish art group Alive With Worms, she met up with vocalist Last of these four songs, “Animal Love,” is yet another attempt at that Janine Neble, whose classical training helped develop her Gary Glitter “Rock & Roll” drum beat, only this time with my hate theme of astonishing range of tone and emotion. The two of them woah-sha-na-woah- began working together and soon were in search of better woah, off “New opportunities to fuel their collaborations, which led them to Orleans” song—the . Football crowd As soon as they hit the eastern shore, the concept of anthem of the world, Maria Excommunikata transformed into reality as the two so stupid anyone can began performing as a duo. Soon they fleshed out the sing it. Sorry...this one combo with New Jersey guitarist Elizabeth Morgan, drummer gets thumbs down on Christina Kanders, and percussionist Leslie Ward, whose spe- that sad inclusion. It cialty, steel drums, adds an unusual bent to the regular would fit Kiss perhaps, palette of popular instrumental color. but it’s not something I With their sound intact, they swiftly became a hot item on like to hear from AB. the club scene in New York, and came to the attention of “Crusader Of Love” Albert, who jumped right in and produced their first demo is the last song of the AB post Imaginos tape. After the successes that demo begat, Albert introduced works, same team the tape to the progressive Megaforce Records, which imme- (Bouchard/ studio albert diately signed the group, and Albert once again took up the Barkan/Gordon), but reins of production but this time for their debut LP. done much later, in The LP will be a definite departure for Megaforce, which is fact this year. best known as the cradle of development for mega-stars “Crusader” is a dance Metallica, and a roster of other heavy bands including the oriented song, that incredible King’s X. With sounds like anything a heavy dose of minor on radio. Albert sings chords and sparse ar- this rather amusingly, rangements, Maria Ex’s and his band of merry music is best described components with on an alternative/ at- 'Mac Hine' on battérie, I think this is only showing off AB’s huge versatility of mospheric wavelength, song writing techniques. I am positive that Albert will remain on the market with lots of rich melody for many years to come, and as soon as he can get a foot in the right door, and texture, and that is there will be a string of hits penned by our masterful music man. several miles from the In case you are wondering how all these home demos are being manu- well-trodden pastures of factured under normal living situations, all of his creations from 1985 up to heavy metal inwhich the present have all been recorded with Albert as the sole musician, utiliz- most their labelmates ing a Macintosh Plus home computer, Motu, Sonus, Macface, J L Cooper are corralled. PS-1, Roland D-110, Kurzweil K1000, 1969 Gibson Les Paul, 1959 Fender Stratocaster (Pre-CBS Tremolux), ART Multiverb, Pignose, Alesis Microverb, and TEAC 3340s. Vocals are all by Albert & Deborah, with the exceptions of the Barkan/Gordon stuff, which i believe to be by Mark Barkan. In the studio with Maria Exkommunikata...from left...Elizabeth Morgan, Jan Neble, Sine Hjort, Albert Bouchard, Christina Kanders, engineer Paul Special and Leslie Ward CDs on Flame SEE/HEAR:

Just like the CBS Special Products’ On Flame With Rock & Roll, here’s yet öysters on the air another compilation, this time from Italy. This release is only available at the neighbourhood news stands down in old Roma or Padua, or wherever else you might live in Italia. by melne A uniquely weird concept, “Il Grande Rock” (DeAgostini), previously known Here is the final installment of BÖC TV, with the last category of BÖC video appearances: to record collectors as the DeAgostini Series, is a marketing concept where you live-in-concert footage. Only two concerts have ever been released to the public, one in buy a monthly magazine consisting of an installment of pages and a free CD or theatres, the other via television. Both these shows are disappointing for many reasons. Cassette of music. By purchasing all the magazines, you will eventually acquire a Riding the successful coattails of “This Song Remains the Same” were a stable of also-ran complete of The History of Rock & Roll, and a collection of to rock concert films, all released in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. One of these was Black and boot. Blue with and (of course) Blue Öyster Cult. Both bands were under manage- This concept has been very popular in both Italia and España over the ment by , which allowed for this coupling on tour and on film. Captured for years, there have been a couple of series put out this way. In Spain they had “La this film was a 1980 performance at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, on October Storia De Musica Rock” as well as “Gigantes Del Pop” and Italia had their two 17th. This being the first BÖC show filmed for public release, the selection of songs here is pretty interesting, although considering some of the gems from the Cultösaurus album that most popular series of “La Grande Storia Del Rock” as well as “Superstar” by were played during the tour, the inclusion of only one is a disappointment. Armando Curcio Editore. Another problem with this film is the way the editors chose to put it together-they show All of these series offered both /booklets & magazines with their releas- two or three songs by one band and then switch to the other, alternating throughout the es, and they were very cheaply priced at perhaps the average price of U.S. $ whole film. I suspect the purpose behind that was to keep the audience in the theatre for 3.50, making them all sort of affordable, and indeed very collectable. the whole film, instead of having all the fans of one camp desert the theatre after their The B.Ö.C. disc is #25 in this series. The magazine that comes with this pack- band had made their showing. This presentation, however, destroys the film’s continuity, age is normal letter paper size and has 24 pages, pressed together by side glue and for fans who like one and not the other of the bands makes the times while their band so that it can be easily disassembled to fit a binder. The front cover is made to be of choice is not on the screen anywhere from boring to intolerable. The televised concert, known as either the MTV or the Blue Jean Network concert, is a disposable and not part of the actual book. Inside this issue are pages 7-10, 63-74, 1981 show filmed in Hollywood, Florida on October 9. It suffers from being much too dark, 97-100, ending with pages 5 & 6, which are a 1972 calendar with major events making it visually unstimulating, and the song selection is the standard ETL menu that BÖC mentioned in each month. The pages are pre-punched with three holes to con- have served up for most years after the release of that album, which makes it really dull veniently fit your binder. The magazine the BÖC disc comes with was all articles watching it today. This video runs about sixty minutes in length. on 1972 & Glitter Rock, which is interestingly a common phenomena with these Aside from these two publicly-released films, Columbia Records made two promo live series—the free music that comes with the magazine does not necessarily have films- one during the laser era, and one for Mirrors. The first of these was a 16mm film that anything to do with the subject of the month’s issue. mostly spotlighted the lasers and pyrotechnics of the stage show. The Mirrors film was made This Cult disc holds The Original line-up on all of the 10 tracks included , live in front of a small, select audience at Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley, CA. It features three songs, with a special treat of “In Thee” performed with Eric playing acoustic guitar, with typical misinformation. Where the disc credits five of the tracks as if culled which happened in concert only a handful of times. These circulated around the US and from Some Enchanted Evening, they are all in fact from the original studio Europe preceding BÖC’s tours either for television broadcast or other showings to pique records. “Joan Crawford” is the only live track, taken straight off the E.T.L. album, interest in the upcoming shows. Yes, you can even hear the grooves from the vinyl, so I assume they took all this Other existing live video is “bootleg” material. Acquiring these are a gamble because material from either vinyl or cassettes. they vary in quality from lousy to acceptable. Rarely are both picture and sound excellent; The Cover of the package is a stage picture from the Ninja Italian Tour of visualize the guy in the audience trying to hide his bulky video camera from the club staff, 1986 just before Joe Bouchard left the band, and is just like anybody’s home and the resultant product. Several “boot” videos are out on the market. The best of these snapshots from any show, nothing fancy, just another live shot of Eric, Buck & Joe, is Springfield MO 1990, a theatre-in-the-round performance with a priceless moment, where on the intro to Godzilla the BTBW motorcycle intro tape is played instead of the monster at that time the only original members of the band. At least somebody puts out sounds, which causes the whole band to roar with laughter. some kind of product on B.Ö.C, and that is always an added collectable for us Without the volume, the energy and the atmosphere (even the bad parts-i.e. the drunk, hard core fans. screaming bozos and thick curtains of cigarette-smoke), even a great rock performance seems boring on video. That special “something” that is the essence the live experience just BLUE ÖYSTER CULT IL GRANDE ROCK DeAGOSTINI can not be captured on film. None of the live videos available are a real definitive look at COLUMBIA/ MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT CDDEA 2252 (ITALY S.P.A.) Blue Öyster Cult’s finesse in live performance. Nonetheless, these videos can bring back DISC MANUFACTURED IN GERMANY 1991 great memories and can fill the void when the need for a dose of live BÖC arrives unex- TRAX; This Ain’t The Summer Of Love, The Red & The Black, Godzilla, (Don’t Fear) The pectedly. Reaper, E.T.I., Joan Crawford (Live), R.U.Ready 2 Rock, Astronomy, Subhuman, Blue Öyster The new live video/CD is due to be released by the end of the year, we hope, and per- Cult. haps that might fit the bill as a complete, great video of live BÖC. trayed with a different color light coming down from above and highlighting them (which I assume to be a reference to their laser show), and below in silver is the Ampex slogan, “Tape Of The Stars.” I was lucky enough to patronize a stereo store that stocked Ampex tape, and on one of my trips to the store they had a pile of the BÖC posters by the door. I grabbed several, and returned another day for some more. (My only regret is that I was polite and left some for others that might want them. I suppose they got tossed out!) I especially like this poster, it’s one of the classiest of the lot. The next category is Tour posters. Sometimes these can be great, and sometimes so boring Another aspect of memorabilia collecting that is both large and colorful is posters. The major that I can’t be “collector” enough to keep them and I throw ‘em away. Obviously there could problem with poster collections is that there is never enough wall room to display a large collec- be hundreds of tour posters out there, I have eight in my collection, ranging from cool to zzzz, I’ll tion, nor would you want to display them all, for people might think you’re a little bit funny… tell you about the good ones. Nonetheless, an occasional look through a dusty cardboard tube can be quite enjoyable. From the Imaginos tour there is a very nice poster. After the reopening of the historic Fillmore There aren’t a lot of Blue Öyster Cult posters in comparison to the volume of stuff that other West in , they also began again the tradition of making posters for the Fillmore bands like Kiss have, however I have acquired 30 different posters over the years, and know of shows like they’d done in the ‘60s and early ‘70s. Those posters are now very valuable in the rock at least four others that are in other fans’ collections. Posters can be divided into three groups. and art collectible market. The BÖC poster is olive green/dark blue picture of the spooky castle First are “stock posters” which are the ones specifically made to be sold at record or gift stores. from the Imaginos LP, with the concert information printed at the bottom. It measures “standard These are usually a live or posed picture of the band. Another poster source is magazines, Fillmore poster size” which is appx 18 x 24”. which sometimes include fold-out posters, but I’ll throw these in the “stock” category, since they Another nice tour poster is for the German Ninja tour of 1986. On a black background is the are readily available to the public. cover art for Club Ninja, and Tour dates listed in white at the bottom of the poster. The design is The second group are tour posters, which promoters make to advertise concerts in their very nice, and it’s printed on a matte, heavy paper. town. These are almost always rare, because they are made in limited numbers and distributed The poster for a European tour (1985 or ‘86, I’m not sure which one) is OK, it’s colorful but I only to music/record stores and the venue where the show is to be held, and perhaps pasted think the design is below average at best. It is a montage of elements from several BÖC LP cov- up in the dead of night on construction sites around the city. These usually consist of only text, ers. Atop the first album cover graphic is the main cultster from the Fire cover, and the horse but can sometimes have colorful artwork or a picture of the artist. and Reaper from the Some Enchanted cover. Both of the above are standard poster size. The next group of posters are promotional posters. These are made by the record company Now for the final category, and the most fun one. Promotional posters! I have 16 promo and are distributed exclusively to retail outlets for in-store display. These posters are very difficult posters, one for every album except the first two. Usually they are the cover art of the album, to obtain, as I have experienced in countless begging sessions with record store managers. but sometimes there are some variations. (However, many times these paid off!) In-store promotion goods can also include off-beat I have three different posters for . First is the regular poster, which is the cover promo items such as stand-ups, mobiles, or special counter displays. art printed 2x2 ft. Second is a smaller version of this, 12 x 16” with the lettering “Now In Stock” on To my knowledge there are at least six “stock” Blue Öyster Cult posters. I currently have only the top. The last one is the coolest, a 2x3 ft. full color photo of the band doing the five one in my collection, but back in the seventies I did own three others, and other fans have sent with a logo back drop, and lettered “Blue Öyster Cult—the ones most likely to wear the solid iron me pictures of some other ones, too. crown of heavy metal magnificence” a quote attributed to Melody Maker (UK) magazine. “Big O Posters” was one of the main companies that dealt in rock posters in the seventies, Along the bottom is a photo of their three albums. This poster is one of the ones I acquired by and were responsible for at least three of the BÖC posters. Two of these were live pictures, but begging and pleading with the record store manager, and I’m glad now that I had no shame are only average photos of the band. Both are standard poster size, appx. 2 x 3 feet, and are then, cause it’s one cool poster and I’ve never seen it anywhere else. bordered with a red line. For OYF, Columbia made an 18 x 22” poster with the album cover and text along the top The third is a huge photo collage of live shots which measures 4 x 6 feet. It has individual pic- that says “The Cult Lives.” CBS Sweden released a 12 x 16” poster with the logo and a photo of tures of each member and a huge logo in the center. the band printed in blue (not black) and white. Another stock poster I used to have, (three copies, too! I have no idea where they went…) Agents of Fortune was advertised with an 18 x 33” poster of the full cover art. Since this was was an excellent live photo of “the five guitars”, circa 1977. This may have been a “Big O” such a good seller there was another fun item, too, a three dimensional mobile of the cover art, poster but I can’t recall. This poster was standard size as well. and the other LP covers printed on the backside. The last one I used to have was a small 2 x 1 1/2 ft. black and white 1975-era photo of the Starting with Spectres, Columbia began shipping a new standard size promo poster, a giant 4 five guitars, where the band members are standing in something of a geese-flying-south ‘V’ with x 4 feet. These posters are big enough for the living room of the title character of Spectres’ first Buck in the front. cut. In this series are Spectres, Mirrors, Some Enchanted Evening, and all three picture the album The magazine posters we have are from 1975 Swedish magazines, where BÖC got an early cover. Some Enchanted is a bit of an exception here, as it has the three previous albums inset start to stardom when Secret Treaties became their first gold record ever, in Sweden. These in the right corner over the cover art, which is a bad call in the design dept. With cover art that posters were from a magazine called, appropriately enough, POSTER, and are among the neat- beautiful it’s a shame to muck it up for the sake of advertising...(of course that’s what these est posters we have. Both posters are culled from an exclusive photo session in Scandinavia, posters are for!). But such a move wouldn’t have taken away from the Mirrors poster, as a mat- and they are 18 x 24” in size. One is in black & white with a small block of text in the corner (in ter of fact it might have spiced it up a bit…I’ve always found that album’s cover to be plain, Swedish), and the other is a color photo of the band. The ‘ that included this poster also in- boring and the worst of their usually imaginative covers. cluded a really neat sticker with another photo from the session, which the fan club appropri- In 1980 Columbia downsized their promo posters to 3 x 3, probably to cut costs. So, this is the ated for use on our introduction sheet. size of the next few albums’ posters. Cultösaurus, Fire of U.O, and Revölution B.N. are all this size. Here I’ll throw in the “Miscellaneous” dept.—there are a couple of posters that defy my three However, the RBN poster is the BACK cover art instead of the front. In addition, Columbia made categories. One is the Rockbill, which served as a tour programme for the 1979 Mirrors tour (see a giant size poster for Cultösaurus Erectus, which measured 3 x 4 feet, and has the cover art, last issue’s tour programme directory), the other was a poster for Ampex Tape, which had an ad which is the top third of the poster, and a lot of the back cover pictures and the funny text campaign in 1979-80 which featured several groups endorsing their tape. Blondie was one I about Prof. Von Pearlman’s astonishing discovery. remember, and Blue Öyster Cult. These posters were large, deluxe versions of their print ads, My favorite promo poster of all is the one for my least favorite BÖC album, ETL. This is a 30 x which are paintings of the artists. The BÖC one is very well done, each band member is por- 20 poster of Gregg Scott’s wonderful cover art, with the album title tastefully centered on top. The poster is in black and white (without the unappealing blue tint that was on the album) and 5,000-odd shows the ETL title box is in the nice pastel blue and pink like the LP. I had kind of been hoping after Fire, ETL, and RBN that Scott was going to become the BÖC art director and do all their album covers and other necessary graphics, since I liked his work so well. I wished that even more when the Club Ninja album came out with its blatant “this is a heavy later… metal band” album cover art. Columbia is now getting more stingy with their promo budget, so the poster for Ninja is only 2 x 2 feet, and is just the cover art. They also printed up some name banners in blue and white with the album and band name in the lettering style of the LP. (This is the Ninja cover’s saving grace, the calligraphy is great). Last LP is of course Imaginos, which yes, actually did have a promo poster. It is 2 x 3 feet, with the album cover and text, the “Bedtime story for the children of the damned” that appeared in the print ads. A good source, actually the only source I know of for locating old promo posters is Goldmine Magazine. And that’s a wrap on the poster memorabilia, happy hunting! a live report by Athena-Rhiannon McBride and Keith Schaffer Zaxx II, Springfield VA, January 23 1992 A full house converged at Zaxx II January 23 to worship the ancient sym- bol of Kronos — personified as Blue Öyster Cult. Everyone there was, without a doubt, on their feet or on their knees. The show, just booked a week and a half before the band’s appear- ance, received very little advance advertising. In fact, the City Paper even listed the wrong date! Despite this, the club was jam-packed with the faithful. BÖC fans have proven time and again to be some of the most loyal to their band. The energy of the crowd mixed with the power of the music and cas- caded through the club with enough force to ignite a star. Blue Öyster Cult are not currently on a full-scale tour — The Zaxx II gig was an isolated performance for the purpose of trying out new material. Four new songs were introduced: “Out of the Darkness,” “Demon’s Kiss,” “Harvest Moon” and “Power Underneath Despair.” Two of these songs will be featured in the soundtrack of an upcoming movie and the others will be on BÖC’s new album, which will be recorded this summer. The consensus of all present this night was of unanimous approval of the new material. Of course, BÖC also performed a knockout set of their classic material while at Zaxx. The band concentrated mostly on earlier material, pretty much ignoring the Mirrors, Club Ninja and Imaginos albums. The set opened appropriately with Stairway to the Stars, but was fol- lowed by a mechanical glitch as ’s microphone refused to work at all during Before the Kiss, a Redcap. The mic in question never did come fully up to par making the rest of the set a little muddier than it should have been, but the set was brilliant nonetheless. BÖC provided a triple assault of the band’s three biggest radio hits played back-to-back: “Godzilla,” “Burnin’ for You,” and “Don’t Fear The Reaper.” Other gems included “Dominance and Submission,” “ETI,” “Cities on Flame,” “Take Me Away,” and “Unknown Tongue.” The crowd, however, went wildest over the eerily moody “Last Days of May” from the band’s first album. Blue Öyster Cult set the groundwork in the Seventies for the heavy metal of today, and the new material they previewed proved that they’re still fore- runners in their field. The four new songs are as bone-crunching (if not more so) than anything currently seen on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball. With these new songs, BÖC will be slingshot back into the mainstream of popularity in today’s Poster magazine of Sweden is the source of this outstanding early photo of the band... rock world. Now here's five snappy dressers!