Blue Öyster Cult

Blue Öyster Cult – Heaven Forbid (Remastered) (1998/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 44:58 minutes | 565 MB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Frontiers Records s.r.l.

“Heaven Forbid” is the thirteenth studio album by Blue Öyster Cult. It was originally released on March 24, 1998 in Europe and was the band’s first full studio album containing original material since 1988’s “Imaginos”. Science fiction author John Shirley contributed heavily to the album, writing lyrics for all except two original songs. A live version of the track “In Thee” was included as well. “Heaven Forbid” is one classy slab of hard rock featuring intricate arrangements, provocative lyrics, and spine-tingling guitar solos.

The rockers sound in top form on this full blown (at the time) return album, whether on the thrashy and menacing opener, “See You in Black”, the sci-fi epic “X-Ray Eyes”, or the mythical and atmospheric “Harvest Moon”. Producer Donald “ Buck Dharma” Roeser — who forged such sparkling gems as “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” and “Burnin’ for You” — is a commanding presence, having written or cowritten all but the live remake of 1979’s “In Thee”.
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Blue Öyster Cult – Hard Rock Live Cleveland 2014 (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:50:59 minutes | 1,30 GB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Frontiers Records s.r.l.

Recorded on October 17, 2014 at the Hard Rock Casino in Northfield, OH, this live performance offers a comprehensive and exciting look at the Blue Öyster Cult repertoire. With nearly 2 hours of music, the band is on fire, performing some of the finest and most beloved songs from their history, while not forgetting some deeper cuts.
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Blue Öyster Cult – Curse of the Hidden Mirror (2001/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 50:55 minutes | 635 MB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Frontiers Records s.r.l.

Curse of the Hidden Mirror is the fourteenth studio album by American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult, released in 2001. The only single from the record was the poorly received “Pocket”. Lackluster sales and poor relations led to the band being dropped by their label, Sanctuary Records.
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Blue Öyster Cult – Cult Classic (Remastered) (1994/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:08:04 minutes | 817 MB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Frontiers Records s.r.l.

Perhaps recognizing Columbia Records’ failure to release a proper greatest-hits album, Blue Öyster Cult re-recorded its best-known material on this collection, which was tied into the broadcast of a TV mini-series version of Stephen King’s The Stand, a horror novel that had mentioned BÖC’s hit “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” The selection of songs here is good, and this edition of BÖC (original members Eric Bloom, Allen Lanier, and Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, plus replacement members Chuck Burgi and Jon Rogers) re-creates the original recordings closely. But they are re-recordings. (The album contains 12 tracks, plus extra performances of “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and “Godzilla” in so-called “TV mixes” — i.e., without vocals). ~ William Ruhlmann
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Blue Oyster Cult – Club Ninja (1985/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 45:19 minutes | 1012 MB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

Club Ninja is the tenth studio album by the American hard rock group Blue Öyster Cult, released in December 10, 1985 (see 1985 in music). The album was intended as a comeback for the band, whose previous album The Revölution by Night failed to attain Gold status following the success of 1981’s Fire of Unknown Origin and 1982’s Extraterrestrial Live. Club Ninja sold more than 175,000 copies, falling well short of gold status again, and because of its high cost, Columbia Records executives deemed it a commercial failure.[1] The album was re-issued on compact disc on March 10, 2009, by the Sony-owned reissue label American Beat Records, who had also reissued the band’s subsequent 1988 album, Imaginos.
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Blue Öyster Cult – A Long Day’s Night (Live) (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:18:07 minutes | 950 MB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Frontiers Records s.r.l.

Recorded live on June 21, 2002 at the Navy Pier / Skyline Stage in Chicago, Blue Öyster Cult’s “A Long Day’s Night” celebrates, at the time, 30+ years of incredible music from the band. This release truly highlights the band’s phenomenal career up until that point in time.
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Blue Öyster Cult – Imaginos (1988/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:28 minutes | 1,27 GB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

The 11th album released by classic rock group Blue Oyster Cult, originally released in 1988.

Blue Öyster Cult went out with a bang as a major-label recording act on their 14th and last new Columbia album, Imaginos. The idea for this concept album came as early as Secret Treaties, on which some of its music appeared, and the recording took place over a six-year period. (As a result, album credits give the erroneous impression that the original band had reformed.) The story line, which is easier to appreciate in the liner notes than on the record, concerns a mysterious, protean 19th century figure who has a talent for turning up at key moments in history and influencing them for the worse. This is perhaps BÖC’s most consistent album, certainly its most uncompromising (none of its usual nods to pop accessibility), and also the closest thing to a real heavy-metal statement from a band that never quite fit that description. Unfortunately, this ambitious work came out as BÖC was dropping out of the frontline of the music business, so the album that comes closest to defining Blue Öyster Cult turned into its creative swan song.
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Blue Öyster Cult – The Revölution by Night (1983/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 42:18 minutes | 949 MB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

The 9th album released by classic rock group Blue Oyster Cult, originally released in 1983.

Blue Öyster Cult seemed to regain their direction with Fire of Unknown Origin, but simultaneously, the band was starting to fragment, with founding member and notable songwriter Albert Bouchard departing. On The Revolution by Night, BÖC brought in various hired guns, such as Aldo Nova and former Alice Cooper bandmember Neal Smith, and turned to Loverboy’s producer, Bruce Fairbairn, who gave them a similar radio-ready rock sound. But though the album brought BÖC their fourth (and final) singles chart entry in “Shooting Shark,” it lacked a distinctive identity. You could close your eyes and not know whether you were listening to Loverboy or Foreigner or any one of several other arena rock bands. No wonder it became the band’s lowest charting album in a decade.
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Blue Öyster Cult – Extraterrestrial Live (1982/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:17:48 minutes | 1,65 GB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

The 3rd live album released by classic rock group Blue Oyster Cult, originally released in 1982

Of Blue Öyster Cult’s three live albums, Extraterrestrial Live is the one to own. The two-record set, partially recorded on BÖC’s home base of Long Island, contains the band’s biggest hits, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” (making its second live appearance) and “Burnin’ for You,” as well as longtime concert favorites like “Cities on Flame,” “The Red and the Black,” and “Godzilla.” But it isn’t just the superior song selection that gives this album the nod over On Your Feet or on Your Knees and Some Enchanted Evening; BÖC had regained its momentum in 1981 with Fire of Unknown Origin, and this album demonstrated their renewed spirit in the forum in which they were most comfortable – live work.
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Blue Öyster Cult – Fire of Unknown Origin (1981/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 39:06 minutes | 873 MB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

The 8th album released by classic rock group Blue Oyster Cult, originally released in 1981.

Who would have thought that in 1981, after a pair of limp, unfocused studio offerings, and two mixed – at best – live outings, that the once mighty Blue Öyster Cult would come back with such a fierce, creative, and uncompromising effort as Fire of Unknown Origin. Here was their finest moment since Agents of Fortune five years earlier, and one of their finest ever. Bringing back into the fold the faithful team who helped articulate their earlier vision, producer Sandy Pearlman, Richard Meltzer, and Patti Smith all helped in the lyric department, as did science-fiction and dark-fantasy writer Michael Moorcock. The band’s sound was augmented by a plethora of keyboards courtesy of Allen Lanier, but nonetheless retained a modicum of its heaviness, and the sheer songwriting craft that had helped separate the band form its peers early on was everywhere evident here – especially the gloriously noir-ish Top 40 single “Burning for You,” written by Meltzer and guitarist Buck Dharma. Other standouts on the set include the plodding, über-riff pyrotechnics of “Heavy Metal: The Black and the Silver,” and the Mott the Hoople- and Queen-influenced glammed up roots rock of “Joan Crawford.” The terrifying images of desecration and apocalyptic war in “Veteran of Psychic Wars,” with words by Moorcock, feature huge synth lines, dual leads by Dharma and Eric Bloom – as well as a tom-tom orgy from Albert Bouchard – offered a new pathway through the eternal night of the Cult’s best work. Fire of Unknown Origin has aged well, and deserves to be remastered in the 21st century.
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Blue Öyster Cult – Cultösaurus Erectus (1980/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 42:15 minutes | 994 MB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

The 7th album released by classic rock group Blue Oyster Cult, originally released in 1980.

Signing on with Deep Purple/Black Sabbath producer Martin Birch, Blue Öyster Cult made more of a guitar-heavy hard rock album in Cultosaurus Erectus after flirting with pop ever since the success of Agents of Fortune. (They also promoted this album by going out on a co-headlining tour with Sabbath.) Gone are the female backup singers, the pop hooks, the songs based on keyboard structures, and they are replaced by lots of guitar solos and a beefed-up rhythm section. But the band still were not generating strong enough material to compete with their concert repertoire, so they found themselves in the bind of being a strong touring act unable to translate that success into record sales.
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Blue Öyster Cult – Mirrors (1979/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:03 minutes | 844 MB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

The 6th album released by classic rock group Blue Oyster Cult, originally released in 1979.

Blue Öyster Cult tried a new producer on Mirrors, replacing longtime mentor Sandy Pearlman with Tom Werman, a CBS staffer who had worked with Cheap Trick and Ted Nugent. The result is an album that tries to straddle pop and hard rock just as those acts did, emphasizing choral vocals (plus female backup) and a sharp, trebly sound. But this approach appeared to displease longtime metal-oriented fans without attracting new ones: “In Thee” became a minor singles-chart entry, but the album broke BÖC’s string of five gold or platinum albums in a row. The real reason simply may have been that the songs weren’t distinctive enough. Much of this is generic hard rock that could have been made by any one of a dozen ’70s arena bands.
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Blue Öyster Cult – Some Enchanted Evening (1978/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:01 minutes | 875 MB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

Blue Öyster Cult marks time with a second live album on which they turn out good, if redundant, concert versions of recent favorites like “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and “Godzilla” and add to their repertoire of live covers such oldies as the MC5’s “Kick out the Jams” and the Animals’ “We Gotta Get out of This Place.” A perfectly acceptable, completely unnecessary souvenir record from a hard-touring band of the ’70s. (It should perhaps be noted that the mid- to late ’70s was a period when more live albums than usual were being released, especially in the wake of Peter Frampton’s massively successful 1976 album Frampton Comes Alive!.)
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Blue Öyster Cult – Spectres (1977/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:38 minutes | 870 MB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © SMCMG

Spectres is the fifth studio album by Blue Öyster Cult, released in November 1977. The album was certified gold in January 1978 and contained the album rock hits “Godzilla”, “Death Valley Nights”, “R.U. Ready 2 Rock” and “I Love the Night”.

The cover art is demonstrative of BÖC’s use of lasers in their live show at that time. Though the album did not remain on the charts as long as its predecessor Agents of Fortune, it is a BÖC fan favorite.
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Blue Oyster Cult – Agents Of Fortune (1976/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 36:30 minutes | 1,31 GB | Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

Agents of Fortune is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult, originally released in a gatefold sleeve LP in 1976 through Columbia Records.

The platinum-selling album peaked at No. 29 on Billboard’s Pop Albums chart,while the single “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” peaked at No. 12 on the Pop Singles chart,making it Blue Öyster Cult’s biggest hit.

The band also became a larger concert attraction at this time—largely based on not only their stageshow, but aided by the airplay of “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” which to this day is a staple of FM rock station playlists. Concert venues became larger, the show became more intricate and BÖC was reaching its commercial peak on the tour circuit.
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