Hi John, I gotta get off the list for a bit . . .

[MartinPopoff]

Yo John,
Hey, lurker Martin here. Listen bud, I gotta sign off of the list for awhile. Work's heating up,
and I'm involved in way too much music stuff. Just haven't learned to say no (see below). Also
started to feed stuff to Lollipop.
As discussed with Bolle, I still have 95% of a book on BOC finished, just languishing in my
computer. Going to talk to a British publisher about it, but might just print up a bunch myself.
Anyway, for now, could you pull me off the list, or at least tell me who to contact? I just can't
keep up with the volume of messages. Much as I like keeping on the pulse, my head's going to
explode.
Thanks,
Martin

BTW: here's my short BOC piece from Brave Words. Chuck it on the group if you like:

Blue Oyster Cult’s Amazing Reappearance Act!
by Martin Popoff

Sinister metal-lite legends Blue Oyster Cult have re-tooled and re-arrived, delivering Heaven
Forbid, their first album of new material in ten long years, after spending the ‘90s touring like
grizzled, miserable, road-damaged warriors. Along the mottled path were compilations (main one
being two-CDer Workshop Of The Telescopes), covers of their own material (Cult Classic), and the
occasional chaotically-birthed studio tune.

But now the 3OC core of Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, Eric Bloom and Allen Lanier, along with
sharp-shooting rhythm section Danny Miranda and Chuck Burgi have placed ten typically enigmatic
and intelligent classic rock tracks into the alternative-dulled psyche of the world, inviting us
to enter the band’s highly crafted realm.

“Yeah, ten years in the making,” Buck sighs, calling from “a payphone in front of a supermarket in
the Gulfport, Mississippi,” where the band happens to be passing through, continuing a relentless
touring schedule that just never quits. And despite his hilarious, cynical,
been-there-bought-the-t-shirt disposition, Buck is thoroughly thrilled to have Heaven Forbid
finally released, a record which he self-produced with sterling high-end clarity. “My criteria as
producer was to not accept anything that was less than perfect (laughs). I mean, I like every note
I played on the record, put it that way. Most of it was recorded in the last year and a half, with
three cuts recorded in 1993, ‘Power Underneath Despair’, ‘Still Burnin’’ and ‘Harvest Moon’.
Production-wise, we were pretty much going for a straight-ahead, really clean, punchy tone. The
overblown production that was popular in the ‘80s is pretty much over. I felt no reason to
replicate that.”

Heaven Forbid contains the band’s usual mix of metal (‘See You In Black’ roars!) and pop (classic
Buck saga ‘Harvest Moon’ and the elegant ‘Live For Me’), with a heaping dose of the experimental.
But one constant is the proliferation of truly inspired guitar work, Buck’s quiet flash serving as
a hallmark of what is both expertly agile and subdued at once. “I continue to work really hard at
progressing as a guitarist. In terms of solos, I like the ones on X-Ray Eyes and Hammer Back a
lot. I really wanted to try a lot of different things and have a lot of guitar playing on the
album, because people kept coming up to me and telling me, ‘you know, Buck, we gotta hear you!’”

So yes, lots of Buck, which is very cool indeed, with Eric a close second in the projection
department, really achieving presence on such tracks as ‘Hammer Back’ (“a tale of modern
paranoia”) and ‘Cold Grey Light Of Dawn’ (“a cosmic morality play”). But man, it must be trying,
having talk of a new record on the horizon going back easily six years. Did it ever seem like you
would just call it a day? “Not to the point where I wanted to open up a video store or anything,”
Buck offers with a laugh." I mean, I consider myself fortunate to make a living playing and
singing, so I wouldn’t quit doing that. But like I say, I’m not really too invested in terms of
where this goes, in terms of new fame or anything. I’d like to get more respect because I think I
deserve it. And I think the band does too. Other than that, I’m quite happy that I can do it now.
I’m not poor, so it’s like OK."

“I don’t see us working any less. We really think we have something that’s worth hearing here, so
we want to popularize it as much as we can. I don’t think any of us really expect to do what we
did in the early ‘80s. That was then. And I don’t really view that as a favourable outcome. I’d
hate to do what I did then, as far as like how hard it was, how strenuous it was. The biggest
obstacle is convincing people that you’re worth listening to, you know? Just because there’s that
prejudice with old bands. I think if you listen to this record, you’ll agree that it’s worth a
chance.”

See Blue Oyster Cult “on tour forever” at a club near you. It’s a brush with history you won’t
soon forget, and the band is as formidable a live machine as ever. “I’ve been working very hard on
vocals for the last several years,” Buck offers, “and it’s bearing fruit. I wish I would have done
it like 20 years ago. Yeah, I’m singing like a bird these days (laughs).”



Martin Popoff, (Power Chord Press: Riff Kills Man!,
The Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal, HardRadio,
Guitar World, Maximum Guitar, LiveWire, Brave Words
& Bloody Knuckles, BraveWordsRadio on Virtually
Canadian Online, Chart, Glass Eye).

Stuff on The Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal,
my 540 page book of 3,700 metal reviews is at:
http://www.virtuallycanadian.com/Shows/Bravewords/book.html
Or, email me and I'll send detailed description
and ordering info.

http://gemm.com/s.cgi/MPOPOFF
for a list of collectible vinyl I have for sale.

What The Hard Rock World Is Coming To:
http://www.hardradio.com
The World's Largest Online Music Station

Check out BraveRadio and BraveWordRadio
at: http://www.virtuallycanadian.com.

Martin Popoff
P.O. Box 65208, 358 Danforth Ave.
Toronto, Ontario
M4K 2Z2