Great Rock/Metal Albums of 1982: Blue Oyster Cult- Extra-Terrestrial Live
Just back from a nice weekend break at Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Minehead and it was nice to get away for a few days. The downside was since places like Butlin’s are family oriented, there is little scope for metal. We took the grandkids to a panto of Aladdin where I witnessed an act of sacrilege. In the panto, Aladdin and Jasmine sang a duet of the classic Guns ‘N Roses song “Sweet Child of Mine.” Of course, they tried to make it sound cute and that’s bad enough. However, they made it worse by fusing it with “Living On a Prayer.” It drew a big WTF? from this person. After the panto there was a group called The Ragdolls who were a tribute Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons act. They were okay but what I found amusing was the guitarist. When allowed, he could really wail and I got the vibe that he would rather be wailing away on some great rock as opposed to playing Four Seasons’ songs. Sorry, I didn’t take any pictures.
1982 featured two magnificent live albums from bands I’ve never seen live and with both, the results are the same: After listening to those albums, I regret not having seen them live even more. I’ve already visited the first album, Blackfoot’s “Highway Song” and the second one is Blue Oyster Cult’s “Extra- Terrestrial Live.” All but two songs were recorded during the “Fire of Unknown Origin” tour, the band’s previous album, so you know that this live album is going to be great straight away. The three songs that appear from that album sound even better live! The piano intro on “Joan Crawford” sounds even more eerie and they don’t leave out the sound effects like the screeching brakes, which some bands tend to do live. Even “Burning for You” has a more upbeat feel that makes you think you’re in the arena pumping your first along to the song. However, both of those songs pale to the live version of “Veteran of 1000 Psychic Wars.” The song is extended to include some great guitar soloing from Buck Dharma. That takes nothing from the rest of the song where the keyboards sound just as fresh as when done in the studio. Fantastic!
Being a live album, Blue Oyster Cult don’t disappoint with some of their classics from the 70s. No gold stars given for stating the obvious, “Don’t Fear The Reaper” being the closer. After all it’s their best known song. At the other end, “Dominance and Submission” is certainly a good song to open the show with and “Cities on Flame” and “Dr Music” are both great songs to follow on from that. Furthermore, Blue Oyster Cult show their versatility by playing an excellent cover of The Doors classic, “Roadhouse Blues,” although I’m not too sure about Eric Bloom’s tale about buying a six pack from the Seven-Eleven. It doesn’t ruin the song though but that’s hard to do. Like with all the songs mentioned, I was also very impressed with the live version of “Black Blade.” They make that song come alive for real.
Saving the best for last, my all time personal BOC favourite, “Godzilla.” It begins with one of the best live introductions to a song ever. Marrying past with then present, Eric Bloom explains to the crowd how the Cold War and nuclear testing caused a monster frozen in ice to come back to life. It is a fine intro before it rips into the great song I know it for. It is here where they fully launch into their famous three guitar attack and the pausing to hear bombs dropping is just superb and makes the song that much better. While any song following “Godzilla” would work here, it just so happens that with “Extra- Terrestrial Live,” that song is “Veteran of 1000 Psychic Wars.” Sheer brilliance if you ask me.
Track Listing:
1. Dominance and Submission
2. Cities on Flame
3. Dr Music
4. The Red and The Black
5. Joan Crawford
6. Burning For You
7. Roadhouse Blues
8. Black Blade
9. Hot Rails to Hell
10. Godzilla
11. Veteran of 1000 Psychic Wars
12. ETI (Extraterrestrial Intelligence)
13. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper
Eric Bloom- lead vocals, guitar, keyboards
Donald “Buck Dharma” Roesser- lead guitar, vocals
Alan Lanier- keyboards, guitar
Joe Bouchard- bass, vocals
Albert Bouchard- drums on tracks 1 and 8
Rick Downey- drums on all other tracks
*Albert Bouchard was fired during the “Fire of Unknown Origin” tour and was replaced by roadie, Rick Downey
Wow, another great live album from a band I have never seen live. It’s no wonder I regret not having done so.
Next post: Aerosmith- Rock in a Hard Place
To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html
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This entry was posted on June 22, 2015 at 8:08 pm and is filed under 1980s, Concerts, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal and the 1980s, Music, Rock, Uncategorized with tags Blackfoot, Blue Oyster Cult, Classic Rock, Doors, Extra- Terrestrial Live, Fire of Unknown Origin, Guns N Roses, hard rock, Heavy Metal, Heavy Rock, Highway Song, live albums, The 1970s, The 1980s. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
18 Responses to “Great Rock/Metal Albums of 1982: Blue Oyster Cult- Extra-Terrestrial Live”
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June 22, 2015 at 8:11 pm
great stuff
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June 22, 2015 at 8:50 pm
Thanks
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June 22, 2015 at 8:20 pm
A great and often-overlooked live album. Glad you highlighted “Veteran Of The Psychic Wars.” That’s always been at or near the top of my list of BOC favorites. I was fortunate to see them on the Fire Of Unknown Origin tour. In fact, I believe at least a handful of songs on the live album were recorded at the show I attended, at the Nassau Coliseum (although I would have to check the packaging to confirm that). Thanks for showing ETL some love.
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June 22, 2015 at 8:52 pm
Ooh, I’m jealous. You saw them at the best time possible. There were some songs recorded at the Nassau Coliseum so again, lucky you. This is such a great live album and “Veteran of 1000 Psychic Wars” is such a memorable song.
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June 22, 2015 at 8:52 pm
I don’t own any BOC except for one best-of! Should I be changing this?
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June 22, 2015 at 10:37 pm
Oh definitely. This one, Fire of Unknown Origin and Agents of Fortune are the best ones to start.
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June 23, 2015 at 11:01 am
Great thanks!
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June 23, 2015 at 3:47 pm
yes, those and of course the first 3 and each of the contemporary live albums. Revolution By Night is an underrated collection as well. Hell just get the entire collection, there is a box with…everything. Even Imaginos.
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June 25, 2015 at 12:17 pm
Will visit “Revolution By Night” when I get to 1983. Spot on, just get the entire collection.
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June 22, 2015 at 11:59 pm
The version of Veteran is as close to the version of Astronomy from Some Enchanted Evening. Utterly mindblowing.
Oh please dont let these shakes go on…
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June 23, 2015 at 8:44 am
It is that, utterly mind blowing. It’s time I had some leave.
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June 23, 2015 at 8:43 am
Much like Mike I only have a best of. Guess I need to reassess that …
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June 23, 2015 at 8:44 am
The three albums I recommended to Mike are the best ones to start with.
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June 23, 2015 at 7:06 pm
Jotted them down!
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June 24, 2015 at 9:52 pm
Sweden Rock Festival should be the perfect festival for your music taste head over to my blogg and you will find photos and reviews from Sweden Rock Festival from the year 2000 to 2015 under the kategory music festivals.
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June 25, 2015 at 12:17 pm
Thanks and I will take a look at the site.
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July 19, 2015 at 10:37 pm
Blue Oyster Cult rocked. I love Godzilla.
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July 21, 2015 at 7:50 pm
Definitely and that live Godzilla is the icing on the cake.
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