Blue Öyster Cult - Ghost Stories

Following their recent 50th Anniversary celebrations culminating in three sold out shows in 2022 at Sony Hall in NYC, Blue Öyster Cult close out another chapter of their storied career with final studio album Ghost Stories.
The album time travels back to the band’s most commercially successful period to deliver a collection of long considered lost nuggets from 1978-1983, featuring the classic line-up of Eric Bloom, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, the late Alan Lanier, Albert Bouchard and Joe Bouchard.
Dusted down and transferred to digital by the band’s original audio engineer George Geranios, work on the songs was completed by co-founding ever-presents Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma, overdubs on two songs by original bassist Joe Bouchard and additional guitars, keys and vocal contributions from Richie Castellano (a member of BÖC since 2004). Castellano also "de-mixed," re-mixed and produced the tracks with Steve Schenck.
Opener 'Late Night Street Fight' is a relatively simple and fun rock and roll number with Buck Dharma & Eric Bloom harmony duet lead vocals set over thick keyboard chords and beefy bass line from Joe Bouchard.
The Buck Dharma led 'Cherry' continues to rock the BÖC roll but at a faster tempo; it’s another fun number with nice little change of harmonised middle 8 pace, but truth be told it sounds (as does 'Late Night Street Fight') like a song that wasn't quite good enough to make the higher quality Cult cut.
It would, however, have been a good heavy pop and roll fit for Buck Dharma's 1982 solo album Flat Out, as would a fuller arrangement of Dharma-ised ballad, 'The Only Thing.'
The raunchier rock and roll of 'Gun' is a stronger offering, as is the bluesier, piano tinkling 'Money Machine,' but by far the best song here is 'So Supernatural,' a slightly eerie, melodic mid-tempo that carries the vibe of a slower '(Don’t Fear) The Reaper' and featuring a Joe Bouchard vocal.
A top-notch BÖC song, many will wish it had closed out The Revölution By Night album (Revölution drummer Rick Downey features on the recording) instead of the slightly forced love song stylings of Joe Bouchard’s 'Light Years of Love.'
'Don't Come RunningTo Me' (another featuring Rick Downey from Revölution era studio sessions), is a high-voiced melodic rocker that Pat Benatar would have had a huge hit with (indeed that it suits Miss Benatar better than BÖC probably explains its failure to get beyond recording sessions status).
The hooky, heavy pop and roll of 'Shot in the Dark' (which features a film noire/ private detective opening narration from Eric Bloom) and the slightly funky groove of 'Soul Jive,' featuring an Albert Bouchard vocal, have a quirky charm about them but, again, sound likes songs that were never destined to get further than initial recording sessions (although 'Shot in the Dark' would have made a great B-side circa Fire Of Unknown Origin).
Ghost Stories also includes performance rehearsal recordings of 'We Got To Get Out Of This Place' and 'Kick Out The Jams;' both covers would become highlights of the band’s 1978 live sets (as documented on their highly successful live album Some Enchanted Evening); as such they carry far more vibrancy in the live environment.
The final song, a fairly loose acoustic singalong of the Beatles 'If I Fell' by the 2016 iteration of the band, sits both incongruously and uncomfortably on Ghost Stories; frankly it shouldn’t have been picked up off the cutting room floor.
For the BÖC aficionado/ collector, Ghost Stories is a nice little round-up package of curios, rarities and could-have-beens, as well as a last collective hurrah for the classic line-up.
But the rock and roll reality is it doesn’t add anything to the stellar legacy.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
The album time travels back to the band’s most commercially successful period to deliver a collection of long considered lost nuggets from 1978-1983, featuring the classic line-up of Eric Bloom, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, the late Alan Lanier, Albert Bouchard and Joe Bouchard.
Dusted down and transferred to digital by the band’s original audio engineer George Geranios, work on the songs was completed by co-founding ever-presents Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma, overdubs on two songs by original bassist Joe Bouchard and additional guitars, keys and vocal contributions from Richie Castellano (a member of BÖC since 2004). Castellano also "de-mixed," re-mixed and produced the tracks with Steve Schenck.
Opener 'Late Night Street Fight' is a relatively simple and fun rock and roll number with Buck Dharma & Eric Bloom harmony duet lead vocals set over thick keyboard chords and beefy bass line from Joe Bouchard.
The Buck Dharma led 'Cherry' continues to rock the BÖC roll but at a faster tempo; it’s another fun number with nice little change of harmonised middle 8 pace, but truth be told it sounds (as does 'Late Night Street Fight') like a song that wasn't quite good enough to make the higher quality Cult cut.
It would, however, have been a good heavy pop and roll fit for Buck Dharma's 1982 solo album Flat Out, as would a fuller arrangement of Dharma-ised ballad, 'The Only Thing.'
The raunchier rock and roll of 'Gun' is a stronger offering, as is the bluesier, piano tinkling 'Money Machine,' but by far the best song here is 'So Supernatural,' a slightly eerie, melodic mid-tempo that carries the vibe of a slower '(Don’t Fear) The Reaper' and featuring a Joe Bouchard vocal.
A top-notch BÖC song, many will wish it had closed out The Revölution By Night album (Revölution drummer Rick Downey features on the recording) instead of the slightly forced love song stylings of Joe Bouchard’s 'Light Years of Love.'
'Don't Come RunningTo Me' (another featuring Rick Downey from Revölution era studio sessions), is a high-voiced melodic rocker that Pat Benatar would have had a huge hit with (indeed that it suits Miss Benatar better than BÖC probably explains its failure to get beyond recording sessions status).
The hooky, heavy pop and roll of 'Shot in the Dark' (which features a film noire/ private detective opening narration from Eric Bloom) and the slightly funky groove of 'Soul Jive,' featuring an Albert Bouchard vocal, have a quirky charm about them but, again, sound likes songs that were never destined to get further than initial recording sessions (although 'Shot in the Dark' would have made a great B-side circa Fire Of Unknown Origin).
Ghost Stories also includes performance rehearsal recordings of 'We Got To Get Out Of This Place' and 'Kick Out The Jams;' both covers would become highlights of the band’s 1978 live sets (as documented on their highly successful live album Some Enchanted Evening); as such they carry far more vibrancy in the live environment.
The final song, a fairly loose acoustic singalong of the Beatles 'If I Fell' by the 2016 iteration of the band, sits both incongruously and uncomfortably on Ghost Stories; frankly it shouldn’t have been picked up off the cutting room floor.
For the BÖC aficionado/ collector, Ghost Stories is a nice little round-up package of curios, rarities and could-have-beens, as well as a last collective hurrah for the classic line-up.
But the rock and roll reality is it doesn’t add anything to the stellar legacy.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ