Spectres [Extra tracks]

The follow up to their massive selling breakthrough album 'Agents of Fortune', with its' hit single 'Don't Fear The Reaper', with 'Spectres'

BOC returned with another eclectic collection of hard rock, melodic pop and prog-rock that cemented their reputation as masters of intelligent rock riffing. Although fans of the Cult's early psyched out heavy rock may be disappointed by the wilfully radio-friendly experiments on offer here 'Spectres' is the sound of BOC at their unashamedly playful best. And this superb remaster really is a glorious improvement on the old analogue CD previously available and breathes new life into the bone-crushing riffing of live faves 'Godzilla' & 'R U Ready 2 Rock' (move over Prince BOC got there first with silly alphabetisising).

The choir on 'Golden Age of Leather' sound extraordinarily powerful and are the perfect foil to that songs tale of the glory days of the bike riding rocker. Elsewhere the superb 'Fireworks' conjures a melodic rock ode to love but with a gloriously silly chorus just on the right side of greatness. The tasteful 'Death Valley Nights' features wonderful piano from the criminally underrated Alan Lanier that recalls the ghostly atmospheres of earlier work like Astronomy before building to a harmonised chorus and peerless guitar from the great Donald Roeser - it's an exercise in how to construct a rock song from a slow intro into a great hook and melodic chorus then finishing with explosive guitar, all within 4 minutes, to produce a mini epic that would have wowed the pop charts the world over in there was any justice in the world. The Ian Hunter/Eric Bloom collaboration of 'Going Thru The Motions' recalls classic 60's pop but has a killer solo from Buck Dharma that simply cannot be beaten for power, pace and brevity. The standout track though is the sublime 'I Love The Night' a delicious ballad with ghostly overtones and another majestic solo from Buck it ranks as one of the Cult's finest classics and sounds truly mesmerising on this remaster.

I previously rated this album as a 4 star due to the Stevie Wonder influenced 'Searching for Celine' and the awkward and rather clunky prog of 'Nosferatu' being experiments that didn't really come off, but with 2 excellent bonus tracks in bassist Joe Bouchard's 'Night Flyer' - with great piano from Lanier - and Buck's superb 'Dial M for Murder', which recall's early work like 'Secret Treaties' these outtakes definitely make 'Spectres' an essential 5 star purchase. Unfortunately of the two other bonus outtakes Albert Bouchard's 'Please Hold' is rather lacklustre and while the Cult may have had fun covering The Ronettes 60's Phil Spector classic 'Be My Baby' it sounds pretty awful. But then knowing the Cult's penchant for humour covering a Spector song for an album called

'Spectres' was probably just too good to miss, and besides it gives more than a hint that they had the legendary producer in mind when recording such melodic classics like 'Fireworks' , 'Celestial The Queen' and 'Goin Thru The Motions'.

An important album in BOC's vast and varied catalogue and if you like the melodic rock of 'Don't Fear The Reaper' then 'Spectres' 60's flavoured pop/rock crossovers cannot be beaten. If you're a Cult fan wondering if shelling out more dosh for an album you've probably bought twice already (on vinyl and CD) is worth it then at this current price for the remaster that's a definite Yes!

Yet another supreme remaster from the BOC. Sonically excellent with the added bonus of extra tracks. My favourite track from this album is the haunting balled I Love the Night. It carries real prescence in it's remastered form. The whole CD is a corker. Heartily recommended.

Its now 35 years since this album came out and as the previous album Agents of Fortune had taken Blue Oyster Cult on a a slightly different course to its previous albums so Spectres changes direction again. The songs are a mixture of anthemic rock classics from Godzilla, R U ready to rock and Golden Age of Leather to more melodic pop songs Searching for Celine, Fireworks, Goin thru the motions and Celestial the Queen and the haunting eerie songs I love the night and Nosferatu. And thats what make Blue Oyster Cult so different and so good! They are not a one dimensional rock band, the talent in the band ensured they produced songs over the whole music spectrum and the testamony to them is that they are still rocking 40 years on to different and extremely grateful generations of rock disciples. Throw in a few extras and one truly unexpected version of a rock classic as bonus tracks and you end up with a timeless classic 70s rock album. Long may they reign because they sure as hell do not make bands like this anymore....Enjoy now and in another 40 years time.