BOC: Compilation Madness

[Bolts of Ungodly Vision]

At 09:11 2.2.00 -0500, you wrote:

>Don't know for sure, but to do this project justice, I've always
>maintained that it needed to be a 3 CD set.  Too much was left out of
>Workshop.
Amen to that. If only some record company was brazen enough to invest time
and energy and enthusiasm into producing a top-notch box set chockful of
things that are not just the usual "best of" fare.

For me, the proliferation of best of CDs makes me wonder how much control
BOC actually has over the publishing of its back catalog. the Oyster boys
(hopefully) are aware of how many compilations are floating in the dreck of
the CD seas and I'd hope they'd have more common sense than rehashing under
numerous repackagings. It almost like Sony/Columbia is still aware of the
money
making potential of the group in regard to its classic rock radio stapes of
(df)tr, bfy, godzilla and tries to cash in the continued radioplay they get.
If Elektra was smart, it would release the stalkforrest sessions in NICE
pacakging and poop like  that to undermine their Sony competition or
something like that.... of course you realize this assumes that the BOC fan
market is highly sought after :)

>

>just ask Joe Q. Public then is beyond me)
They probably did ask him and he said "Blue Oyster Who?"


>There were a few crimes on Workshop - IMHO, the biggest crime was the
>absence of "Hot Rails to Hell", followed by no Imaginos tunes
>(especially in light of what the liner notes said about it).
To extract from an article that's worth remembering given this: (writer be
Michael Goldberg, the editor grande of Addicted to Noise)

Of course with the release of Workshop of the Telescopes it's possible not
only to re-evaluate the BOC, but for you, who may have, for whatever
reason, overlooked the group (or perhaps only heard their one Top 40 hit,
"Don't Fear the Reaper"), to discover them. In fact, there has never been a
better time for a Blue Oyster Cult revival.

While the new album does gather some of the group's strongest material, it
is a disconcerting affair, at least for someone who wore out their vinyl
copies of the group's early albums. And strangely enough, while I'm sure
the intention was to make a case for the band, bringing together what
someone probably believes is their best material, listening to the album is
something of a let down.

Why?

Blue Oyster Cult albums were, from my vantage point, true concept albums.
The songs were arranged so that one led into another, vicious rockers gave
way to ethereal ballads. The first three albums were, quite simply,
perfect. No wasted tracks. Somehow, by taking some of the songs out of
their original context and slamming them up against songs that they were
not meant to sit beside, so to speak, the net effect is less than it should
be. But then maybe fresh ears, not
accustomed to "The Last Days of May" inevitably giving way to "Stairway to
the Stars," will find Workshop of the Telescopes something of an
inspiration. I certainly hope so. Any way that the Blue Oyster Cult can get
their due as one of the truly great bands of the '70s is just fine by me.

>
>>
>> At any rate, glad to see some BOC discussion again.
>
>Yeah, it feels good to vent once in awhile...  ;-)
venting is good excuse to play On your  feet or on your knees loudly at the
neighbors while reciting the "lucifer rap" w/ Eric bloom goofily :)

As to the Imaginos stuff not being on the recent comp., I wonder if it's
because of the legal tomfoorely which ate up the 80's over its ownership.
In which case, the question is: Who has publishing control over "Imaginos"
the album?


speaking of box sets, Fleetwood Mac has a new'un out with the comlete Blue
Horizon sessions, 1967-1969. In other words, its the peter green era with
remastering by original producer Mike Vernon and chockful of extra tracks.
no cd is under 50 min. in length!

the pious email of good omen,
Jason