01. Blue Oyster Cult Secret Treaties 1974 (Columbia)
Hard Rock
A psychedelic noir of a secret career.
Overview
Blue Oyster Cult’s third album
Secret Treaties would be the ultimate culmination of their early work and the album would go onto to top various musical polls as one of the best albums of its type. That in itself is a rather dubious point, because not many bands sounded like BOC at all, as not many bands set themselves out to be the ‘Thinking Man’s Metal Band’ either. So three albums in, this NY area based band and their core biker band sound, which had long been infused with a heavy psychedelic rock style, borrowed over from the late 1960s and then neatly blended in with some R&B, had succeeded where so many of their fellow other American counterparts such as Sir Lord Baltimore, Dust and Bang had failed! So what made the Blue Oyster Cult different from those bands? Firstly they had been able to shed their ‘American Black Sabbath’ label and had taken their sound to far greater depths and diversity than Black Sabbath could’ve dreamed or even dared go! Secondly they were a group of artists that were masters of their trade and felt totally at ease in what they were doing, whether that was complex jamming, hard rock overtones or brittle sounding pop flourishes. Thirdly they had created a unique murky sound and when you heard the band, you knew exactly who they were!
Secret Treaties was without doubt, the album that the band had always sought to achieve and not just fall into like say Deep Purple with
Machine Head. Just going back a few years, gave an indication of where the band wanted to be a few years down the line. The debut had a been a very subjective affair, but
Tyranny and Mutation had the band knocking right on the door of where they wanted to be!
Tyranny and Mutation had been the creative leap by the band and in many ways had
Tyranny and Mutation not been recorded, it could be safe to say that we would never have got
Secret Treaties a year later. The album cover was designed by Ron Lesser, with a German ME262 on the front cover and this was something of a change as far as the band were concerned image wise as well, and the plane would be an inspiration for one of the songs. More significantly though since I started these reviews,
Secret Treaties would be the first ever album to attain the number one position by a non-British band (all five previous number ones had been British bands) and demonstrated a strong catch-up by the American bands within this genre.
Eric Bloom- Guitar/Vocals
Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser- Guitar
Allen Lainier- Rhythm/Keyboards
Joe Bouchard- Bass
Albert Bouchard- Drums
Production- Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman
Album
Career of Evil- The opening of the song on the album, sounds like we’re entering the album in ‘media res’ as the track basically sounds like a mid-album effort and not an opening track. The song was jointly written by Albert Bouchard and Patti Smith (her only credit on the album) the song vibrates a strong R&B beat with a dash of glam rock.
Subhuman- With its subtle low key start of echoing melody, the song then enters more concrete terrain, but the strength of the song remains in its subtle melody which resonates throughout the track.
Dominance and Submission- With its clock ticking intro that is quickly followed up by its angsty start and Eric Bloom sounds quite different here (has more range than he’s given credit for) in fact the song resonates a nervous sharp beat and singing style, that a future Devo would adopt, the song is boosted up by some jokey speaking sections and fills out its 5 plus minutes amiably.
ME262- A BOC work of art with its pacey leading and rhythm section in perfect unison and borrows in feel from the previous “Dominance and Submission” and the later guitar section is pure mastery from the band.
Cagey Cretins- With its great title and drumming intro, and overall upbeat feel, the band continue on from the previous two efforts.
Harvester of Eyes- We go into a slightly more serious and mid-tempo terrain here, and all is highlighted by razor sharp guitar riffs and yet again all is underscored by Allen Lainier on keys, before ending in a grouchy and then musical box affair.
Flaming Telepaths- One of the showpiece tracks on the album, highlighted by the band’s profound lyrics and the song’s almost hypnotic piano, along with crossing guitar lines which at times throb with a real intensity and all this contrasts with an amazing rhythm section, a classic cut without a doubt.
Astronomy- A far cry from the album opener, with its melancholic feel and slow opening, before taking on a more up-tempo middle section and shows just how visionary this band were right to the end of the album, but nothing can quite prepare the listener for the spiralling outro section, which hits the listener like a soft brick and then its final windy section! On the 2001 re-issue of the album, there are a number of bonus songs such as
“Boorman the Chauffeur” a light-hearted cut focusing on the once disappeared Nazi Boorman and is somewhat inspired by the Who’s “Boris the Spider”.
“Mommy” A crunching bass song and based around humour.
“Mes Dames Serat” Easily the best of the bonus tracks and dominated by both guitar and drums and finally there is a cover of the song made famous by Steppenwolf
“Born to be Wild”.
Verdict
Secret Treaties marks the end of the band’s black and white period and the brilliance of the album lies in its musical textures, along with Sandy Pearlman’s multi-layering thus giving us another muddy ambiguous mix, but this time with greater clarity. The twin guitar attack by Bloom and Dharma contrasts so majestically at times with Bouchard’s bass, along with some outstanding work by Lainier’s again on both rhythm and keyboards, yet again it is he that gels the whole band's sound together! This combination basically serves up a musical lesson on how a cohesive band of five highly talented individuals can function as a collective whole and without any wastage. The songs on
Secret Treaties just seem to run seamlessly and songs like “Career of Evil” “Subhuman” ”Harvester of Eyes” “Flaming Telepaths” and the closing “Astronomy” example this to perfection, in fact there’s not a dud in sight! The album also shows us, just how effortlessly the band have added new ideas and musical add-ons to their traditional sound, the process had already started on
Tyranny and Mutation and then completed right here! Most of the songs on
Secret Treaties seem to have an up-tempo beat, whether that is from the guitars or the drums and this factor drives right through the whole album, and ultimately provides both its essence and soul. It does this by presenting us with a landscape of constantly shifting sounds, as the album moves in and out of both darkness and shadows in an almost seamless way. BOC are a band that desperately need multiple listens and so whether this brilliance sinks into the listener’s subconscious on the first or tenth listen, it’s sure to get its message across in the end! In fact the only detraction for me on this classic album, is that Buck Dharma doesn’t sing on any of the album’s songs as he had done on their first two albums, as this time Eric Bloom sings lead on every song, with the exception of “Cagey Cretins” which is co-sung with the Bouchard brothers. Despite that slight and a very small one at that, before us stands one of the very best albums of the decade, from a band that were able to go to musical dimensions that few could follow and they managed to do that without ever treading down the progressive rock avenue!