BOC Club Ninja a Review

[BREVARD Adrian R.]

Slow day.  Since CN has pretty much dominated the day here's a review
written as impartially as possible from Joe the eveyday Critic:

Blue Oyster Cult - Club Ninja

Strange.  A strange album from an equally strange band.  Blue Oyster Cult
has for most of its career been a cult band, its fans are loyal beyond
belief to music that mainstream rock and rollers have never fully embraced.
 Their early career was dedicated to songs entitled Workshop of the
Telescopes, Cagey Cretins and Wings Wetted Down.  Later they became a bit
more mainstream, albeit not much, with Don't Fear the Reaper and Godzilla,
each of which remain two of only three songs listeners can actually hear on
radio stations.  Probably the highlight for this band was a theme peice
called Imaginos which this particular writer considers one of the greatest
rock albums ever made, put it up there with Led Zepplin IV, Floyds Dark Side
of the Moon and Alan Parsons Tales Of Mystery and Imagination.

The latest effort Club Ninja bears no real resemblence to anything BOC has
done before.  Not to heavy and not to light and most dfinitely not very
Oysterish.  Still for the shear number of tracks there may be more radio
ready songs on this effort than any other BOC release.  Perfect Water is a
prime example.  Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser has long been considered one of
the greatest rock guitarist for many years.  His solo effort Flat Out while
not a comercial success was a good blend of rock and pop, escpecially when
Buck decided to do some singing.  Perfect Water is cut from the same vein as
Flat Out and is easily the best song on the album.  Over the years I was
never particular fond of Buck's vocals as they always seemed better suited
for pop music as opposed to hard rock / heavy metal.  Perfect Water is
tailored made to Buck's strength; even vocals spread over melodic guitar
riffs.  I played this song several times to get a good feel for it and
suprisingly came away with the impression that should there be a BOC
greatest hits package there is no way one could leave this particular song
off the album.

As for the rest of Club Ninja, well after three playings I came to the
conclusion that it just dosen't stand up to previous BOC standards.  I
drafted a scathing review blasting the band for a lack of creativity,
energy, enthusiasm, you name it I was accusing.  Suddenly I decided to give
it one more spin surely there must be something on this album other than
Perfect Water worth listening to and writing about.  I cleared my mind and
listened to CN again this time throwing all I knew of BOC out the window.
 This was a debut album, the first effort, is this a good band or a bad
band.  The fourth listen brought me to the conclusion that this is a bad
album only if compared to previous BOC works.  If it were the first then CN
wasn't bad at all.  Oh sure Make Rock Not War,  Beat Em' Up and Shadow
Warrior sound like the same song played a dozen different ways by a dozen
different bands, but there was something dramatically un-BOC like about this
album.  White Flags was catchy, Dancin in The Ruins rythmic, Spy in The
House of the Night, hey use it in a Double o 7 soundtrack.  This stuff was
pretty good!

Yeah.  I was starting to like Club Ninja.  I looked at the cover again to
ensure it was really Blue Oyster Cult and not just a Buck Dharma solo
Project.  Yeah it was them alright.  CN represents a radical change for the
Oyster boys.   There is more keyboarding and less reliance on Bucks fancy
fingers even though his trademark licks can be found smattered through
various songs.  Eric Bloom is somewhat understated but it works on a few
numbers as the music takes the front seat.  Though I do not care very much
for Make Rock Not War, Eric's vocals makes the song at least tolerable to
the extent that a slight remix may make this one a candidate for top 40
airplay.  The only grevious error on the album is the inane Beat Em' Up.
  Dumb message for an even dumber sounding song.  What should come over as a
rah-rah everyone on your feet and clapping song turns out to be a third rate
version of Let Go from Revolution By Night (Hey guys never end a show with
this one.)

Bottom line while not perfect CN may suprise a few folk who have never given
BOC a proper listen.  This album may go over well with those who like their
rock with a little pop mixed in.  A little more energy a better mixing
couldn't hurt but then who has time to make Perfect Music anymore.  A word
of warning to new BOC listeners however, NEVER PLAY THIS ALBUM IN FRONT OF A
RABID BOC FAN, IT COULD BE EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH.

Joe's Overall rating - 5.5 out of ten.  Much as I tried I couldn't quite
separate the band from the music which impacts the ratings.  CN is at best a
half hearted effort from one of the worlds best bands, sounds a bit too much
like an album for the sake of fufilling a contractual obligation.  Still I
would like it more if BOC's name were not on it, maybe REO Speedwagon.
Hardcore BOC fans boy are they gonna grumble about this one.
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Just my strange way of sayin Club Ninja isn't all that bad if it were to
stand alone.  Problem is it can't stand up to the leagacy BOC has already
established.

AB