Frontiers Music [Release date : 13.12.24]

The third time’s the charm.

In 2022, Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser and Eric Bloom, plus “new boys”, Richie (Band Geeks/Jon Anderson) Castellano, Danny Miranda and Jules Radino celebrated their 50th Anniversary as the Blue Oyster Cult, by playing three consecutive nights at the Sony Hall in New York.

Each night, one of their first three albums.

Third in the “black and white” trilogy, Secret Treaties, came on the last night.

Thom Jurek : “Secret Treaties is the purest distillation of all of BÖC’s strengths.” (Allmusic).

Eric Bloom : “Secret Treaties has been the basis of our live act since we released it. It’s an album we feel strongly about…it’s held up beautifully” (Music Radar).

‘Career Of Evil’ is the right way to get a gig started, never mind a studio album. Used as the basis of JK Rowling’s third adult murder mystery (as Robert Galbraith), it draws deep from a well of existential lyrics, written by as yet undiscovered beat poet and punk (ish) singer, Patti Smith.

When the Byrdsian, psychedelic blues of ‘Subhuman’ gives way to ‘Dominance And Submission’, they’re really having fun, especially on the call and response chorus. The Crowd sound like they’ve been rehearsing for months.

Other biggies, like ‘Harvester of Eyes’ and ‘Flaming Telepaths’ get deeply embedded in the band’s stratified sound, creating a carelessly layered, organic, overlapping resonance, where everything bleeds into everything else. It’s electrifying.

The audience are loving every moment. This is the night they’ve been waiting for. You can feel it. You can hear it.

The gig’s second half and the boxset’s second disc is a joyous, juke box set of songs.

The Black Sabbath tribute, ‘Cities On Flame’ still carries an unqenchable, guitar fuelled torch for the liberating, anarchic effect of rock’n’roll.

And, full of yearning, ‘Burnin For You’ describes the other side of rock’n’roll. Eric Bloom’s scorched voice allows for the song to sound as bruised and battered as a 50 year old rock song should.

‘Shooting Shark’ and ‘the Alchemist’ step into the gap between the the band’s gritty rhythms and ornate arrangements, and deliver, alternately, a worked up slice of metalised country rock and a deep dive into the darkness of one of the band’s finest moments.

And of course ‘Godzilla’ and ‘…The Reaper’ are here too.

The gig was recorded and videotaped in 4K UHD. There’s a depth and clarity here you don’t get unless its a headline band.

2 CDs, 1 DVD, 24 tracks, just shy of 120 minutes of music. What’s not to love ? *****

Review by Brian McGowan

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Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 24 November 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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