(Don't) Report This, Agents of Förtune

Double Live Albums, and there have been a few are usually things of Gatefold beauty. Dear Readers we have mentioned many of them in the virtual pages of this here caring, sharing blog.  The 1970s and greater part of the 1980s are thankfully lined with them. 

I must pose a question, has there ever been a finer Side 4 in the realm of double live epics than the Side 4 of ExtraTerrestrial Live by The Blue Öyster Cult?

Riding on the crest of the Cultösaurus Erectus/Fire of Unknown Origin resurgence this live set is a true hair stander upper...

Side 4 offers a three song embrace of the most electrifying heavy music your ears are ever likely to encounter. Make no mistake it will enhance you!

It begins with Veteran of the Psychic Wars and as it stands the greatest, the most frenzied, and yea, the most sublime Buck Dharma guitar workout ever laid down on vinyl, probably. 

This version of an already classic song is a truly magnificent marvel of transmitted treasures ever to assault me through a Marshall backline!

And then there is a ripping, rousing version of E.T.I (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) with a mid section that booms at your senses leaving you a grateful gibbering wreck in the midst of such a sonic sensation. The immersive sounds as they are brings out a Metallic Science Fiction soundtrack feel akin to an out of control and rather noisy StarGate, wholly appropriate given the themes here.

And then the grand finale, the AOR favourite and all round melancholic masterpiece wrapped in dark humour, the delightfully ageless (Don't) Fear The Reaper. It is an astonishing version and in some warped audio way brings the listener back to earth as the crescendo clears.  One thing's for certain, you'll be back for more...so load up your Gramophone/8-Track/Tape-deck/CD Player/MP3/iPod and deliver the goods to your malnourished souls. 

The world hath need for more BÖC such as Side 4 ETL!

Friday

Have a good weekend, an excuse if one were needed for a gratuitous StarCrash pic...

Stand by the Man of the Feeble Blood

Do you like Michael Moorcock's eternal creation Elric of Melniboné?
Such wonderful tales which have endured in my heart since my High Schools days...

Playlist fit for a Dragon Prince...

Elric of Melniboné - Wolfbane

Moonglum - Hawkwind

Black Blade - Blue Öyster Cult

Fast to Madness - Blind Guardian

Bearer of the Black Sword - Domine

Hope your weekend is going well...

Toodle Pip 

Storm Thogerson

Regular readers will know of my frequent praise of album covers, particularly those created by design collective Hipgnosis, therefore it was sad news to hear of the passing of Storm Thorgerson. So many albums in my collection bear his genius work; UFO, Scorpions, Sabbath...
Rest peacefully Mr. Thorgerson.

Gonna Rise Up From Hell

"I just want to be a lover not a red eyed screaming ghoul"....pleads Eric Bloom as he recounts the hellish tale of the Stormbringer in the Bloom/Michael Moorcock/Trivers penned opening track Black Blade. This sets the Blue Öyster Cult album Cultösaurus Erectus off to a blistering start, the 1980 album release produced by the legendary Martin Birch (Fleetwood Mac, Wishbone Ash, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden also of Sabs' Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules albums). The album is a much improved effort than the previous Mirrors and a welcome return to (almost) a more Metal/Rock feel to the tunes.

Back in the summer of 1980 your friend and humble narrator purchased this sacred slab of shiny black vinyl from a record shop in Kirkwall - it even came with an extra-large poster insert reproducing the album cover artwork. The art is from the painting Behemoth's World by the British artist Richard Clifton-Dey.

To be honest for me, The album has grown on me over the years. This a LO with truly outstanding tracks. I've always declared that those Flaming Telepaths of The Blue Öyster Cult, for your humble narrator's ears, have on occasion played some unpalatable tunes but believe me Dear Readers when I say, that when they triumph at a song then the band are quite without peers such is their genius.

Meanwhile...back to the album which is presently blasting through my Marshall headphones as I scribe this...so what follows is a blow by blow account if you will. After the beautiful opening song next up is the jaunty (I can't think of another word) Monsters with its jazzy jam interludes and hurried yet tasty riffery, it is not a complete success but it thrives in these willing ears. Optimism floods on with the deliberate pace of the beautiful Divine Wind, allegedly an ode to the then Ayatollah Khomeni and the Iran Hostage crisis it is a winner with its rousing guitar wizardry as the song concludes, "if he really thinks we're the devil/then let's send him to hell."

The song Deadline is more in tune with the AOR of the album Spectres, but that's not a criticism it is a most pleasing tune and the kind of stuff which to me is quite acceptable and expected from The Blue Öyster Cult they do it well. The Marshall Plan is a rock opera in one song, the story of rock fan turned rock star tale which mixes commentary/tinned crowd cheers I'm never quite sure what to make of it. And yet the guitar work is riveting.

Hungry Boys rumbles on and excites; "I can never seem to get enough" of its fast and loose tune, and then there is the Lucifer morning star medley Fallen Angel which is a thoroughly decent song in my book - the clever lines and enchanting guitar harmonies.

The album finishes on strong note with a fine duo of tracks, the delightfully hurried Lips In The Hills and Unknown Tongue.

So there you have it Dear Readers. It's a five star output, although I've never always felt it such in the past. Nowadays I can't get enough of its melodies and haunting prose blossomed into thing of audio beauty which now is addictive. I have said it before in my personal opinion one way, one style that's not the Blue Öyster Cult way, for this band dish out their magic on a higher plane and I'm convinced that they always imposed sweet mystical surrender upon their audience.

The fact that through my 34 years listening to them means I only enjoy a part of the Cult suits me fine, for THE BLVE ÖYSTER CVLT I love "speaks to me in many voices". And besides who could not love a band that has songs entitled the likes of Cagey Cretins, Mistress of the Salmon Salt (Quicktime Girl), Workshop of Telescopes and Harvester of Eyes?

By Popular Request...

Thanks to Frank's provocation ;)

Have a great weekend Dear Readers

Finally...

I won't mention her name for it might soil my Blog...

That ideology and her repugnant party are destroying the social cohesion of this septic isle even now...

On With The Action

Gratuitous Lieutenant Uhura image to lighten your Easter...

I'm on creme egg rationing, watching movies, music 'til my brain bursts!

Playlist for we band of brothers...

On With The Action - UFO
Ingrid Pitt - The Cold Stares
Dio - Tenacious D
Queen of Spades - Styx
In Trance - Scorpions

I'm overdue visiting my favourite blogs and responding to your comments but I'll put that right soonest...

Toodlepip

Asia Argento Is At My House

It's been a long long wait but Dario Argento's Dracula on Blu Ray arrived today; Italy to Scotland in 2 days...Milan to Bergamo to Köln to Castle Donington to Edinburgh to Glasgow to Inverness to the Edge of the World...

I'll post my review once I watch this through 3D googles...

Hails Mr.Argento!

Phenomenon

It's UFO week right here in the Dacha, next week sees the superlative 5CD plus DVD set UFO at the BBC released...Your friend and humble narrator is working through the entire Chrysalis back catalogue to celebrate...come on nostalgianauts what's your favourite UFO albums, songs, memories...

The Wicker Man 1973 -2013

1973, as regular readers know if I was a time machine jockey I'd be back to 1973 in a flash or puff of smoke or whatever special effect hurtling back 40 years would induce...

The Wicker Man, my favourite film of all time is 40 years old it deserves some kind of BluRay special edition. It is a masterpiece which cries out for yet another version release...

Ingrid Pitt in High Defintion...I would fall in love all over again & er, again!

Playlist for a Saturday Night Special...

The Rocker - Thin Lizzy
Rock Bottom - UFO
Hot Rails To Hell - BÖC
Cold Gin - Kiss
A National Acrobat - Black Sabbath

Top of the World Ma-Ma

Gratuitous Lena Headey image time.
Ma-Ma of PeachTrees

It's -5C here this evening and the snow lies thick. I'm content listening to Jailbreak album by Thin Lizzy, I do like the BBC session stuff on the deluxe edition.

I must say that Shetland oatcakes by Walls Bakery is a treat with Jarlsberg cheese. Mug of hot tea obligatory.

Let's be having your current music playlists?
Recommendations?

Inside The Power Cage

On the turntable right now...
Holocaust - "Heavy Metal Mania"

...such sweet memories...the late 70s and the 80s were most kind to your humble fabulous...