Don't Fear The Reaper: The Best of Blue Öyster Cult

Don't Fear The Reaper: The Best of Blue Öyster Cult

Track Listings

1. Cities on Flame With Rock & Roll

2. Red and the Black

3. Flaming Telepaths

4. Astronomy

5. This Ain't the Summer of Love

6. (Don't Fear) The Reaper

7. I Love the Night

8. Goin' Through the Motions

9. Godzilla

10. In Thee

11. Marshall Plan

12. Black Blade

13. Joan Crawford

14. Burnin' for You

15. Shooting Shark

16. Take Me Away

Tracks:

Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll
The Red & The Black
Flaming Telepaths
Astronomy
This Ain't The Summer Of Love
(Don't Fear) The Reaper
I Love The Night
Goin' Through The Motions
Godzilla
In Thee
The Marshall Plan
Black Blade
Joan Crawford
Burnin' For You
Shooting Shark
Take Me Away

Customer Reviews:

Great Classic Rock.......2007-04-11

This collection of BOC'S hits are mind blowing. Great Classic Rock cd, that you can listen to over and over again. I love the song Don't Fear the Reaper and my main favorite is track four on the cd.

I had forgotten how good it was.......2007-01-09

This is really something to remember the old rock'n roll times by.

Workshop of the Telescopes Is Better.......2007-01-09

Blue Oyster Cult is a group that nearly has no genre. Much of their early music, only a little of which appears in this compilation, is hard rock with flashes of progressive rock. Most startling are their lyrics, sometimes almost comedic, typically creatively bizarre, and just as frequently so eclectic as to be incomprehensible.

With the success of "Agents of Fortune" Blue Oyster Cult's music changed to a milder rock style, and in some cases, pop. The titles often remain bizarre, such as "Veteran of the Psychic Wars," and the lyrics also remain challenging and unusual, but the music itself is softer.

Consider, for example, "Goin' Through the Motions." This music sounds like something Foreigner might have created rather than the group that created "Harvester of Eyes" and "Flaming Telepaths." Even mellower is "In Thee," which I consider the mellowest song in this collection. This song is romantically beautiful, and somewhat un-Cult.

While I've focused somewhat on the more uncharacteristic songs in this collection, I would be remiss if I did not point out one of the best songs in this collection, "Shooting Shark." This song, from 1983's "Revolution by Night," is somewhat a product of its time, featuring electronics and an early 80s sound, and yet, it contains that spark that has always been at the heart of BOC's best music.

Blue Oyster Cult was formed in 1967, and released an album as recently as 2001. While they were likely strongly influenced by a variety of groups, they have also influenced a variety of musical styles that range from current hard rock to nu-metal or thrash. The length of Blue Oyster Cult's career is barely touched in this sixteen song collection. An even better collection is the two disk compilation "Workshop of the Telescopes," which contains thirty two songs. Once you have listened to that phenomenal collection you may find that you want to purchase Blue Oyster Cult's original albums.

Now comes a question. For sound, buy this CD or "Workshop of the Telescopes"? If you have a high end system and you can readily tell the difference between a remastered CD and the original, and you prefer remastered, then do buy this one. On the other hand, if you have an el cheapo stereo and you can only sometimes tell a remastered CD, then "Workshop of the Telescopes" is a better bet.

Blue Oyster Cult has an array of enjoyable music and this CD gives you a very small sample of that music. If you are unable to find "Workshop of the Telescopes" or you just want a very small flavor of Blue Oyster Cult, then buy this CD. Otherwise, pass this one by for the better options.

Stay Away From All BOC Compilations.......2006-12-10

The problem with any BOC package is they try to combine music from a band the was the coolest group between 1971-74, and a commercial group that produced some of the lamest music I've ever heard. This package only includes 4 songs from their legendary first 3 albums, 11 cuts from their commercial period. If your new to BOC, your have to understand, earlier in their career, they were as good as a hard rock act as there was. They combined top flight muscianship, with cleverly crafted melodies and riffs. The comparasons to Sabbath are only partially accurate in describing their style, because BOC played a more dynamic and colorful range of tunes. In fact, musically, I'd say they had more in common with Deep Purple, particulary in the guitar department. Buck Dharma was simply the most under rated guitar player....ever. Clapton was God, Hendrix was flamboyant, Page was a genius, Blackmore was tempermental, Johnny Winter was an albino, Leslie West was fat, and Buck Dharma, well he just looked like a working-class stiff, but man could that man jam! The rhythm section was propulsive, they played organ when appropriate, and all of the songs had hooks. They were rare then, and they'd be rare today, a hard rock outfit with strong pop sensibilities. So much so, you have to wonder if Eric Bloom and Jeff Lynne aren't the same person? At any rate BOC perfected their attack on Secret Treaties, and rapidly lost their commitment to rock n' roll during Agents fo Fortunes and all albums there after. The other Best of... package to avoid is Workshop of Telescopes. Eventhough it has a better song selection, the songs haven't been remastered and many of the versions are from poorly recorded live and promo albums. Instead of going for a compilation, I strongly recommend purchasing any one of the recently remastered first 3 albums, which sound dramatically better than the originals.

Missing Key Songs..........2006-12-02

Another BOC compilation (aahk!!). Again, missing key songs. This is likely their best compilation because it's remastered, but it's appauling that it's missing some really key songs. I don't know about you, but I always thought these songs would have to be on a BOC best of: "Hot Rails to Hell", "Moon Crazy", "Perfect Water", "Dancin' in the Ruins" and "The Golden Age of Leather". There could be more songs, too. I think it's time that BOC just puts out a mega box set of remastered tunes like Kiss and Judas Priest have.

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