I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-The Revolution by Night (1987).

After the amazing Fire of Unknown Origin, BOC, returned (retreated?) into keyboard-fueled tracks.  And we know that where BOC is concerned, keyboards=crossover attempts.  Now I don’t know if it’s just my own preferences, but I feel like the lightweight pseudo-metal here is better than their earlier stabs at lightweight pseudo-metal (Mirrors, etc).  I assume it’s because I grew up listening to metal around this time, so even if it’s not terribly original, it’s at least comfortable.

It opens promisingly enough with the keyboard heavy but rocking “Take Me Away”  And the 7 minute “Shooting Shark” is kind of catchy (in that BOC ballady sort of way).  But by the time we get to “Veins” we’re in full-fledged keyboard heavy pop metal (has there ever been a poppier song about veins in my eyeballs and veins in my skull?).

“Shadow of California” has a cool sinister angle on the keyboards which leads to a good riff-heavy track.  It emphasizes the slick metal sound from Fire.  “Feel the Thunder” also sounds like a typical late 80s metal song (but there is something distinctly BOC about it). “Let Go” is definitely a child of the 80s, complete with chantings of B.O.C.!

This CD sold poorly, which explains that Columbia-dominant cover design.  It seemed like BOC’s star had faded.

[READ: March 9, 2010] “The Knocking”

By about the third paragraph of this story, you just know that there’s not going to be any kind of “ending” to this piece.  (It’s not even really a story, per se).

Basically the downstairs tenant is more and more aggrieved by the upstairs tenant’s banging.  He believes that the banging is being aimed deliberately at him.  As the story moves along we begin to question the state of mind of the downstairs tenant.

I probably wouldn’t have finished this story if it were longer than the page and a half that it was.

For ease of searching I include: Blue Oyster Cult