|
Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBLUE ÖYSTER CULTUSA heavy rock band formed late '60s as Soft White Underbelly; they later made two unreleased LPs as the Stalk Forrest Group for Elektra. A fluctuating lineup included Allen Lanier, guitar and keyboards (who is said thave added the umlaut on 'Öyster'); Buck Dharma (Donald Roeser), lead guitar; plus college mate Sandy Pearlman, a critic at Crawdaddy magazine and the band's mentor/producer with Murray Krugman through the '70s. It was Pearlman who renamed Roeser. After various vocalists including R. Meltzer, Phil King and Les Bronstein, they settled for Eric Bloom, adding Bouchard brothers Joe (bass), Albert (drums, both sang). The first eponymous BOC LP was released '72: basic, riff-dominated, lyrics in mock-occult style paralleling the UK's Black Sabbath. (Some lyrics were written by Pearlman, who had already published a sci-fi epic in verse.) They opened for Alice Cooper, and pyrotechnics (lasers, smokebombs) became a trademark; Live Bootleg EP circulated by CBS '72 showed them at their best live and they made three more live LPs: On Your Feet Or On Your Knees '75, Some Enchanted Evening '78, ETI '82. Meanwhile they released a studio album a year through the '70s, supported by heavy touring. Lanier's then-girlfriend Patti Smith contributed songs with the rest of band, as did novelists Michael Moorcock and Eric Van Lustbader. Agents Of Fortune '76 was criticized for excessive democracy in songwriting but included USA no. 12/UK no. 16 hit with Roeser's song 'Don't Fear The Reaper', a menacing Byrds-style jangler. That album thankfully dropped the Nazi-chic imagery first adopted '74 with Secret Treaties, but its follow-up Spectres '77 failed to maintain the commercial momentum of Agents, which reached the top 30 albums, their best-selling album. The dropped Pearlman for Cheap Trick producer Tom Werman on Mirrors '79, an attempt at a more polished sound, and continued in live shows to dish out rip-roaring rock in grand style. They switched producers again to British heavy metal maestro Martin Birch (Deep Purple, Rainbow) for Cultosaurus Erectus '80, Fire Of Unknown Origin '81, both showing return to their previous formula. Birch concurrently produced Black Sabbath; the bands toured together under banner of Black and Blue; a film of that name in '81 contained concert footage. They had their first personnel change in a decade when Albert Bouchard was replaced by Rick Downey after Fire; the last album was Revolution By Night '83. |