Great Rock/Metal Albums of 1983: Blue Oyster Cult- The Revolution by Night

 

After reading about the passing of former Blue Oyster Cult producer, Sandy Pearlman, I thought it would be a fitting tribute to the man if I posted about Blue Oyster Cult's 1983 album, "The Revolution by Night." Unfortunately, when I did a little research for the post, I discovered that Sandy did not produce the album. He did produce the band's previous two albums, "Fire of Unknown Origin" and "Extra- Terrestrial Live" and that could be a reason why it doesn't quite measure up to those two. That's not just my opinion, it seems to be the opinion of many now and then. It has been widely felt that "The Revolution by Night" began a decade long era of mediocrity for BOC.

[caption id="attachment_3356" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sandy Pearlman[/caption]

I remember seeing the video for the single "Shooting Shark" and not being very impressed. I admit, I expected something more along the lines of "Don't Fear the Reaper" or "Godzilla" or even "Veteran of 1000 Psychic Wars." "Shooting Shark" is definitely not anything like those classics. It's possibly the closest Blue Oyster Cult has ever come to a ballad. In any case, the song was way too commercial for me back then. However, it did get quite a lot of airplay in 1983, something not common for a Blue Oyster Cult song. Having listened to it again, I find that it's not as bad as I remember. Possibly owing to the fact that I am listening to the full seven minute version that appears on the album and not the shortened MTV version.

Technically, the rest of "The Revolution by Night" is pretty sound. There is nothing bad about the album at all. In fact, the musicianship is as done well and that includes newly acquired drummer Rick Downey who replaced the fired Albert Bouchard. The opener, "Take Me Away" does remind me of the Blue Oyster Cult I grew up loving. It is a good rock song. A better rock song, probably the hardest on the album is "Shadow of California." It is my favourite track here. It also proves that the band didn't abandon the formula that made them so great. "Feel the Thunder is a very good track as well.

Track Listing:

1. Take Me Away
2. Eyes of Fire
3. Shooting Shark
4. Veins
5. Shadow of California
6. Feel the Thunder
7. Let Go
8. Dragon Lady
9. Light Years of Love

[caption id="attachment_3369" align="aligncenter" width="274"] Blue Oyster Cult[/caption]

Eric Bloom- guitar, vocals

Donald 'Buck Dharma' Roeser- lead guitar, vocals, keyboards

Alan Lanier- piano, keyboards

Joe Bouchard- bass, guitars, vocoder, vocals

Rick Downey- drums

Additional Musicians:

Aldo Nova- guitar and synthesizers on "Take Me Away"

Randy Jackson- bass on "Shooting Shark"

Gregg Winter- backing vocal on "Eyes on Fire"

Marc Baum- saxophone on "Shooting Shark"

"The Revolution by Night" might have been a mediocre album for Blue Oyster Cult but there are so many bands out there who couldn't sound as good as this album, even at their best. Maybe we should lay off BOC for this one because it's not in any way a bad album.

Next post: Slayer- Show No Mercy

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com 

Great Rock/Metal Albums of 1983: Alice Cooper- Da da

 

"Da da" was the final album recorded by Alice Cooper during his too drunk to remember recording it period. There was no tour to promote the album and I don't remember seeing or hearing any publicity for it back in 1983. Therefore, like so many people then, "Da da" completely passed me by. Having read some reviews on the album from some of my fellow bloggers, I thought I would give it a couple of listens and post about it.

The first thing I noticed about "Da da" after the first two listens was that it really strays very little from the traditional Alice Cooper format, he was  known for before his drunken period. A shining example of this is heard with the opening title cut, which reminds me of the horror settings laid down in such Alice classics as "Welcome to My Nightmare" and "Goes to Hell." The second track, "Enough's Enough" is a fun sounding song with some good hard guitar. This could have been a single, it might not have dented the charts but it still could have been one.

With the third track, "Former Lee Warmer," I think it too tries to recapture Alice's glory days of the 1970s. Maybe it's me but that song reminds me of "Steven" from the "Welcome to My Nightmare" album. The problem with it and the title track is that neither of them quite measure up to the classics. Neither song is bad, just not as good as the originals. On the other hand, he does have some fun with tracks four and five. They both sound that he might have actually enjoyed singing them but though he might have had fun with "Dyslexia," I must give him full marks for not being afraid to bring this subject to light. Little was known with the dyslexia condition back in 1983, so well done Alice. It's just a shame that the album didn't make enough noise to enlighten others.

The hardest song on "Da da" to me is "Scarlet and Sheeba." There is some good power chords here and Cooper's voice makes the song a potential hard rock anthem. What lets the song down a little is the keyboard bit where I would be expecting a guitar solo but that's a minor thing and the solo kicks in and makes it all better anyway.

Alice Cooper does not play any of the songs from the album when he goes live. If there is one song that may deserve to be heard, it's "I Love America." Not only does the song rock for me, I really love the satirical lyrics. I speculate that he's taking the mickey out of rednecks here and the emerging blind patriotism that was beginning to hit Regan America back then. Then again, I did watch the "A- Team" on Tuesday nights. "I Love America" is the climax for "Da da" and sets things up for the other two songs to close the album. Note, the guitar solo on the closer, "Pass the Gun Around" is very well played.

Track Listing:

1. Da da
2. Enough's Enough
3. Former Lee Warmer
4. No Man's Land
5. Dyslexia
6. Scarlet and Sheeba
7. I Love America
8. Fresh Blood
9. Pass the Gun Around

[caption id="attachment_812" align="aligncenter" width="260"] Alice Cooper[/caption]

Alice Cooper- vocals

Dick Wagner- guitar, bass, vocals

Bob Ezrin- drums, percussion, keyboards, vocals

Graham Shaw- OBX-8, Roland Jupiter, vocals

Prakash John- bass

Richard Kolinka- drums

John Anderson- drums

Karen Hendricks- backing vocals

Lisa DalBello- backing vocals

I have now listened to "Da da" three times and I find nothing wrong with the album. There are some good songs on here and while none of them quite reach the plateau of some of the 70s greats, they were a hell of a lot better that some of the other stuff that was beginning to find its way onto commercial radio back then. But don't take my word for it, have a listen yourself. The album is easily accessed on Youtube.

Next post: Blue Oyster Cult- The Revolution by Night

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com 

Great? Soundtracks of 1983: Flashdance

 

As if! I never saw the movie and never listened to the soundtrack. The only tracks I heard from it were the title track sung by Irene Cara which made her a one hit wonder as did the other song, "Maniac" by Michael Sambello. Neither song was good enough for me one hit wonders post. The fact that they were played constantly in discos throughout the world makes no difference. If anything, it makes me less likely to want to listen to them. Funny thing was that there were some really cool films in 1983. "Trading Places" with Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy, "War Games" featuring a very young fresh faced Mathew Broderick and "Pyscho II" to name just a few. However, I don't remember any of these having cool soundtracks. If any of you know of a film from this year that had a cool soundtrack, let me know and I'll listen to it and post about it.

Next post: Business as usual with Alice Cooper- Da da

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com