Blue Öyster Cult - Agents Of Fortune


Today was such a mess, i needed the calming bliss of combing through moth ball scented records/CDs on the floor of a junk shop that can only be differentiated from a hoarder hovel by the delicately blinking "OPEN" sign in the window. Maybe that needs some context. 

You see, way back in the horrible year of 2019 my dad died and i stopped making music in favor of listening/writing about his record collection. Little did any of us know what kind of circus freaks 2020 and 2021 would parade through our living rooms, but i weathered the worst of the storms with headphones firmly clamped over my ears. Over 1,000 reviews, 4 brain baffling books, and an actual published compilation album (all of which you can buy, ask me how) later, i decided i'd try becoming an actual record store. Album review frequency tanked, but i still avidly collect records and write about them when i feel like it. Here's today's:

Is there a more perfect Rändom Crap band than Blue Öyster Cult? I submit that there is not. I only say that because for the vast majority of my life i could not reconcile the all encompassing cognitive dissonance of (Don't Fear) The Reaper, Godzilla, and Burnin' For You being the same band. Of course, if you outright reject the Transitive Theory of Lineup Changes, then really no two Blue Öyster Cult albums are by the same band. Plus, unlike what they were doing from 1967 to 1971 under ever changing other names, all their famous stuff is a Rick Wright's Pink Floyd style, write your own songs using Murray's poems and we'll just compile them later type of thing. Oh, hey Patti Smith, i guess you're here for whatever reason.

So, a couple things. First, yes, Blue Öyster Cult are the originatörs of putting unnecessary umlauts in your band name. Second, the band very much thought of themselves as Heavy Metal (their logo is like an alchemical heiroglyph for lead, or something), but that's a stretch even a contortionist might balk at. Hard Rock with a toe dip in the psychedelic wading pool is as far as i'm willing to go. "Influenced Heavy Metal" absolutely, but actually listening to their music with your ears places them more in line with Good Rats than Twisted Sister (the Long Island Iced Tea of great 70s/80s Rock and/or Roll). Third, 2's a couple, so list accomplished.

Anywhatsits, is their 4th album, Agents Of Fortune, any good? If you just love BÖC, then of course it is. If you like albums that sound like the 5-O'Clock Rock Block, then it's one of the very best. I, however, reserve the right to consult the concept for critical corroboration. 

Fortune...creepy mustache...card tricks at a dinner party...following a tattooed lady into a naked knife fight...yep, i'd say that all checks out, a completely enjoyable 37 minutes of all over the place inside a context of intentional bewilderment. Delightful.

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