Blue Oyster Cult

"Career of Evil" combines Sabbath with TV theme cheese in a way no one thought of before, and if it were the only good song here, it might be OK to file BOC away. But the menace of "Harvester of Eyes," the weirdness of "Flaming Telepaths," and the boogie epic "ME 262" make Secret Treaties no less than mandatory.

The Blue Oyster Cult shares certain traits with that other New York cult band, the Dolls: an
appropriate image for the outpouring of urban (and seemingly bottomless) frustration, an
offbeat sense of humor and an ability to rock with grandeur. Although theyÆve been
together as the Soft White Underbelly and then the Stalk Forrest group since the late
Sixties, commercial success has come only with the adoption of a new name and... More >

Sometime over the past year, while I wasn't playing their records, I began to wonder whether a cross between the Velvet Underground and Uriah Heep was my idea of a good time. The driving, effortless wit and density of Buck Dharma's guitar flourish in this cold climate, but Eric Bloom couldn't project emotion if they let him, and I'm square enough to find his pseudo-pseudospade cynicism less than funny. Subject of "Dominance and Submission": New Year's 1964 in Times Square. (Grade - B)