All our times have come/Here but now they're gone/Seasons don't fear the reaper/Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain/We can be like they are/Come on, baby...don't fear the reaper…
It might be considered ironic that a song about death, and its inevitability, would help lend Blue Öyster Cult continuous life. The band from Long Island, New York, recorded its first album for Columbia Records in 1972, beginning an association which lasted for more than fifteen years. BÖC fused aggressive instrumental muscle with provocative lyrics to create one of the most iconic sounds of the seventies and beyond. The group's time at Columbia yielded eleven studio albums, plus live recordings and compilations, and all told, Blue Öyster Cult charted nine singles (including FM rock staple “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper”) and received four gold and two platinum records. It wasn’t a bad run for the band that began life as Soft White Underbelly, and now, that band/label association is being immortalized on Blue Öyster Cult - The Columbia Albums Collection. Due in stores on October 30, the career-spanning box is comprised of 16 CDs (the full official Columbia discography and two discs of odds and ends) plus one DVD, Some OTHER Enchanted Evening, documenting a 1978 live performance.
Blue Öyster Cult - The Columbia Albums Collection brings together the group's 14 official Columbia Records albums for the first time. BÖC’s first four studio albums (1972’s eponymous debut, 1973’s Tyranny and Mutation, 1974’s Secret Treaties and 1976’s Agents of Fortune) were all previously reissued by Legacy in 2001 with bonus tracks, and those expanded editions have been replicated for this box. Other titles have been newly remastered: live albums On Your Feet or on Your Knees (1975) and Extraterrestrial Live (1982), and studio LPs Mirrors (1979), Cultösaurus Erectus (1980), Fire of Unknown Origin (1981), The Revölution by Night (1983), Club Ninja (1985) and Columbia swansong Imaginos (1988). 1978’s live Some Enchanted Evening has been included in its 2007 edition with bonus tracks. The box is rounded out by two newly-curated bonus discs: Rarities and Radios Appear: The Best of the Broadcasts, the latter compiling a group of rare live performances.
What else can you expect from this new set? Hit the jump for details including the full album list and pre-order link!
Blue Öyster Cult - The Columbia Albums Collection box set includes a special download code redeemable for four live concert broadcasts, as well as a 40-page booklet with photographs plus liner notes from journalist, Nuggets creator and Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye. Smith, of course, was a frequent contributor to the Cult, supplying memorable songs and vocals to the band over the years.
The current iteration of Blue Öyster Cult (led by founding members Eric Bloom and Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser) will celebrate the box’s release at New York City’s Best Buy Theater (formerly the Nokia Theater) on the evening of Sunday, October 28. The Columbia Albums Collection is due in stores from Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings on October 30, and you can pre-order below!
Blue Öyster Cult, The Columbia Albums Collection (Columbia/Legacy, 2012)
- Blue Öyster Cult (1972 - Studio - with 2001 CD bonus tracks)
- Tyranny and Mutation (1973 - Studio - with 2001 CD bonus tracks)
- Secret Treaties (1974 - Studio - with 2001 CD bonus tracks)
- On Your Feet or on Your Knees (1975 - Live) - 2012 Remaster
- Agents of Fortune (1976 – Studio - with 2001 CD bonus tracks)
- Spectres (1977 - Studio - with 2007 CD bonus tracks)
- Some Enchanted Evening (1978 - Live - with 2007 CD bonus tracks)
- Some OTHER Enchanted Evening DVD (1978 - Live)
- Mirrors (1979 - Studio) - 2012 Remaster
- Cultösaurus Erectus (1980 - Studio) - 2012 Remaster
- Fire of Unknown Origin (1981 - Studio) - 2012 Remaster
- Extraterrestrial Live (1982 - live) - 2012 Remaster
- The Revölution By Night (1983 - Studio) - 2012 Remaster
- Club Ninja (1985 - Studio) - 2012 Remaster
- Imaginos (1988 - Studio) - 2012 Remaster
- Rarities (2012)
- Radios Appear: The Best of the Broadcasts (2012)
Whoa a preorder price of $163.00? Looks like a great set but my two favorite BOC albums are Spectres (which is a great remaster) and Fire Of Unknown Origin. I hope that all the 2012 remasters could be released individually.
I've been looking forward to this long-rumored collection for some time.
It's about time On Your Feet or on Your Knees and the 80s albums got a proper remaster.