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Opinion of the Album "Secret Treaties" by Blue Oyster Cult


The Kurgan
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Secret Treaties:  

4 members have voted

  1. 1. Hero or Villain

    • Hero
      2
    • Villain
      2


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Vote in the poll.

 

For those of you who have yet to hear this album, drop whatever you're doing and listen to the songs. I've done you the favor of linking them. All of them.

 

Career of Evil

 

Subhuman

 

Dominance and Submission

 

ME 262

 

Cagey Cretins

 

Harvester of Eyes

 

Flaming Telepaths

 

Astronomy

 

Personally, I don't think there's any question. BOC was called "America's Black Sabbath" but let's be honest here, even the mighty Sab never matched this. Alternatingly brooding and upbeat, boogie-rock and psychedelia, gone is the icy, subdued production of their debut and (to a lesser extent) their sophomore album, Tyranny and Mutation. And don't get me started on the lyrics. Not for nothing do no less than half of the songs on this album appear on ANY live or compilation album from BOC. Definitely their best, and a top album of its era.

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BOC is my spiny jellyfish of the 1970s. They had a little bit of everything, but it never worked as a cohesive whole.

 

They were about two years too late in dumping the psychedelic bullshit

They weren't quite prog enough to be taken seriously

They weren't quite hard enough to be scary

They weren't quite silly enough to provide an absurdly fun spectacle

They could never able to fully polish their numerous secret pop hooks.

 

Gotta go with villain.

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I feel like the right answer is something about feminism...

With song titles like "Dominance and Submission" and "Cagey Cretins" ... yeah. I can see that!

 

BOC is my spiny jellyfish of the 1970s. They had a little bit of everything, but it never worked as a cohesive whole.

 

They were about two years too late in dumping the psychedelic bull****

They weren't quite prog enough to be taken seriously

They weren't quite hard enough to be scary

They weren't quite silly enough to provide an absurdly fun spectacle

They could never able to fully polish their numerous secret pop hooks.

 

Gotta go with villain.

Truth be told, I don't think this is entirely false. While I loved '72 to '77 BOC, they did seem to pull their punches quite a bit. Except when live, and on this album. Secret Treaties was the one time, I think, where they got it completely right. YMMV, of course.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

I never considered BOC "America's Black Sabbath." "America's The Alan Parsons Project" would be more like it.

 

But I like BOC, and if nothing else, we can thank them for cow bell and umlӓuts. Just stay away from the movie Stoned Age, or you will hate BOC forever, like Pong.

 

 

Edit: I should have actually listened to the submitted links. Yeah, I like BOC in a passing way, but I am not a fan of the Secret Treaties album, so I changed my vote to villain.

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  • 1 month later...

The good kinda villian that you´re really cheering for is my take on it. Amazing album by a seriously underrated band and one of my all time faves. The beautiful harmonics makes it even more sinister - cheerful and violent just like the Piranha Brothers liked it.

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