SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-Heaven Forbid (1998).
After Imaginos, it seemed like Blue Öyster Cult was all wrapped up. (Of course, they tour all the time, so I guess they’ll never officially go away). So it was something of a surprise to hear that they had a new album out back in 1998.
The album cover is dreadful, but the music is actually pretty good. It sounds like a good compendium of BOC styles, all updated with a late 90s sound. You get heavy songs, light ballads, and even a cover of an old BOC hit.
The album opens with “See You in Black” a really heavy chuggy guitar sound, much heavier than anything BOC has done before. (And lyrically, he wants to see her in black because that means her husband is dead). And yet by the time of the fourth song, “X-Ray Eyes” we’re back in familiar keyboard-heavy poppy territory.
The second song, “Harvest Moon” is actually quite nice, and would likely have been a hit single a decade or so earlier. By the time we get to “Damaged” we’re in the pretty traditional heavy boogie sound of their earlier discs.
“Cold Gray Light of Dawn” sounds like late period BOC. And “Real World” offers one of the first tweaks of the BOC sound: acoustic guitars in a rocking song. The disc ends with a reprise of the earlier hit “In Thee.” It’s live and sounds good in this all-acoustic guitar format (and since Allan Lanier plays on the disc, it’s okay that they re-recorded it).
There’s very little in the way of mind blowing songs here, but if you’re a fan of BOC, and you’re not sure what you’ll be getting with this disc, fear not. Bloom’s heavy songs are typical of the heavy BOC sound and Buck Dharma has hit his stride with his poppy tracks ala “Burnin for You.”
[READ: March 21, 2010] “The Return”
I intend to read the other Bolaño books once I’m done with 2666, but the publishing world seems to be conspiring to make me read them all before that. This story is another one from the forthcoming The Return, translated by Chris Andrews.
And whether it was the unusual subject matter or the translation itself, this is one of my favorite of his short stories so far. The premise of this story is quite simple, and it is set up in the first paragraph. The narrator has recently died, and he shares two pieces of news: there is life after death and Jean-Claude Villeneuve is a necrophiliac.
The story follows the narrator after his death (he died on the dance floor). His spirit leaves his body (like that scene from Ghost) and floats around following the body as it goes through the process of post-death existence. The narrator is funny, with snide comments about himself and the workmen who are caring for him (and how he can’t watch his own autopsy). But it’s when his body is carted off the premises that things get really interesting.
The narrator admits that he is somewhat naive, so he doesn’t anticipate what is happening, or why he is being carted away (since he told us in the first paragraph, we all know what’s coming). When we finally arrive at Jean-Claude Villeneuve’s house, we learn more about him as well. He is one of France’s top fashion designers, he lives alone, and his house is well protected by security cameras and more.
When the narrator sees what happens to him (which is not graphic) he discovers something amazing. And from there, the story goes in a whole new direction. I really enjoyed this story quite a lot. And if there are any stories in The Return that I have not yet read, I’ll certainly be checking it out when it gets published in July.
For ease of searching I include: Bolano, Blue Oyster Cult.
I Just Read About That... 
[…] Return” This is probably Bolano’s funniest story. I’d read it before and it was even more fun the second time. The premise is simple, the narrator has died and he […]