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Hey folks, the following is from the official Metal Blade Records press release on the book (they published it). Ordering info is at the bottom.
Blue Oyster Cult – 35 years in the biz… six gold and platinum U.S. albums… classic trax like (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, Godzilla, Burnin’ For You, Astronomy and E.T.I. Indeed, Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, Eric Bloom, Allen Lanier, Albert Bouchard and Joe Bouchard comprised one of the great stadium acts of the ‘70s and ‘80s. BOC were heavy metal enough to duke it out with Kiss, Rush, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent and Black Sabbath, yet smart, funny, ironic and jaded enough to please the tough New York critics, of which more than a couple mingled within their ranks.
Blue Oyster Cult: Secrets Revealed! – This 200-page book is not a biography as such, but a biography of the band’s albums, a canon of work Martin calls one of the finest in rock, and truly superlative on the lyrical front. Indeed, Martin, in radio, print and TV interviews, has consistently called the band’s lyrics the best in the business, tied with those of Captain Beefheart and Pye Dubois (Max Webster, Kim Mitchell).
The book examines the complicated early days of the band, graphically demonstrating the show biz sweat that goes into making an act an act. The majority of the book however is centred around the peerless intellectual quality of the songs, a quality made entertaining by the band’s psychotropic and ghoulish humor, and by its interest in all manner of conspiracy theories, cults, monsters, vampires, UFO tales, foul play, arcane spiritualism, alchemy, love lost and love buried, science fiction and science friction.
Along the way, Martin talks (in some cases numerous times) with Buck, Eric, Albert and Joe, along with new drummer Bobby Rondinelli, legendary producer of the band Murray Krugman and BOC expert Bolle Gregmar. For insight into the band’s fantastic lyrical world, Martin went right to the source, the penners of BOC classics. Some of the best insights into creativity Martin’s ever heard - through 900 interviews as metal’s most widely recognized journalist - came from Sandy Pearlman (also the band’s manager during the golden years), Richard Meltzer, Helen Wheels, David Roter and John Shirley, along with cover artists Greg Scott and Ioannis. Helen Wheels and David Roter are since deceased; Martin’s chats with them are among their last interviews.
The result is a “biography” pointedly about what matters the most – the recorded documents, the works, the masterwerks. Indeed, each chapter bears the title of a BOC record, because that’s what you get in the chapter - detailed, track by track analysis about the music and the lyrics (not to mention some of the personal stuff swirling around the sessions).
Blue Oyster Cult: Secrets Revealed! zestfully fulfills the mandate set out by Martin at the onset, a mandate that Martin has always felt to be the mark of a good rock bio – it sends you scampering back to your CDs and LPs for a second and third and fourth, very detailed, listen, one that results in new appreciation for the genius of the artist examined.
Blue Oyster Cult Discography
(excluding compilations and unofficial live albums)
Blue Oyster Cult (1972)
Tyranny And Mutation (1973)
Secret Treaties (1974)
On Your Feet Or On Your Knees (1975; live album)
Agents Of Fortune (1976)
Spectres (1977)
Some Enchanted Evening (1978, live album)
Mirrors (1979)
Cultosaurus Erectus (1980)
Fire Of Unknown Origin (1981)
Extraterrestrial Live (1982; live album)
The Revolution By Night (1983)
Club Ninja (1986)
Imaginos (1988)
Heaven Forbid (1998)
Curse Of The Hidden Mirror (2001)
A Long Day’s Night (2002; live album)
Price including shipping:
US orders: $34.00 US funds
Int'l orders (surface mail): $35.00 US funds
Int'l orders (air mail): $39.00 US funds
Canadian orders: $33.00 Cdn. funds
PayPal payments gladly accepted at martinp@inforamp.net.
Email martinp@inforamp.net if further questions.
Or... send payment to (cash, or personal check in US funds is fine):
Martin Popoff
P.O. Box 65208, 358 Danforth Ave.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M4K 2Z2
*Money orders: For my US friends, PLEASE, if you go this route (and you don’t have to – checks in US finds is fine), make sure you get an INTERNATIONAL money order, and not the DOMESTIC one that says in big red letters: “Negotiable in U.S. and possessions only.” Ha ha... I’ve had to mail more than a few of those back to y’all.
Note: As usual, I'll be signing the book to you from me, so let me know if it's a present or whatever for somebody else! Note: nice savings on shipping can be had if you take a few things. Just email me for a total price.
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