In 1972 one of the giants of hard rock, Blue Oyster Cult made their introduction to the world by releasing their self-titled debut album Blue Oyster Cult. Since then it has been highly regarded by critics and even considered one of the best albums of the 70's. IGN even named it "Heavy metal for people who hate heavy metal". Interesting compliment, wouldn't you say?
Blue Oyster Cult contains quite a few songs that are still often played in their live sets to this day and considered classics such as: Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll, Stairway to the Stars, and Then Came the Last Days of May. For the time the sound of the album is pretty heavy, though not quite on a Black Sabbath kind of level. Many of the songs are still based in basic blues, boogie, and rock styles.
Before the Kiss, A Redcap is a pretty basic blues boogie in terms of rhythm. The guitar licks and solos are pretty respectable. You can tell that the song was kind of constructed around them. It's a band jam with lyrics in the best possible way. It is definitely a fun song to get your kicks and dance to. I'd argue to say it's the best track on the album aside from maybe one or two other contenders.
Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll in my opinion is the best song to ever come from Blue Oyster Cult; even above Don't Fear the Reaper or Godzilla. It has such a monstrous guitar riff, blistering solos, and creates such a vivid musical mental image of standing on a skyscraper in a burning city at night. Nothing really says rock n' roll quite like something like that. It's pretty badass.
Blue Oyster Cult really is what guitar driven hard rock should be. The riffs are big and memorable, but at the same time there is enough presence of older genres that things are kept interesting and not overly stale. This is definitely an album I would recommend to someone who was thinking of picking up the guitar but wanted more inspiration for. Even if you're not going to do that but still love the guitar, this is a great pick.
Blue Oyster Cult, by Blue Oyster Cult receives 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Track List:
1. Transmaniacon MC
2. I'm on the Lamb but I Ain't No Sheep
3. Then Came the Last Days of May
4. Stairway to the Stars
5. Before the Kiss, A Redcap
6. Screams
7. She's as Beautiful as a Foot
8. Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll
9. Workshop of Telescopes
10. Redeemed
Buy the album on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Oyster-Cult/dp/B0012GMWFW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443131109&sr=8-1&keywords=Blue+Oyster+Cult+Blue+Oyster+Cult
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