06. Blue Oyster Cult Agents of Fortune 1976 (Columbia)
Hard Rock
Feelin' easy on the outside, but not so easy on the inside.
Overall
After the brilliance of their previous album
Secret Treaties which marked the end of the band’s black and white period, the Blue Oyster Cult would then hit their commercial peak with their fourth studio album
Agents of Fortune released two years later.
Secret Treaties had been the band’s crowning achievement and had given us a cohesive monolith of the band’s trademark murky sound, and the band now felt that it was time to explore newer musical territory. The band would eject their ‘proto-metal’ leanings of their earlier albums and concentrate on recording an album that was deeper rooted in an ‘arena pop rock’ style sound and throwing much of their nihilistic overtones to the wayside as well. Despite the album’s overall up-tempo feel, BOC as always would still serve us up a multi-layered cake rich in design and taste, but below that bright icing sugar, nearly all the songs would be infused with their trademark dark subject matter from their first three studio albums. In many ways
Agents of Fortune, was the band’s attempt to fuse the brilliance of
Secret Treaties to the ‘red side’ of the
Tyranny and Mutation album and give us a more commercial sounding piece of work in the process. The band knew that they hadn’t put out a studio album in 1975 and instead had released the contentious live album
On Your Feet or On Your Knees (see album review) instead and they were now looking to top the charts with
Agents of Fortune, a feat they achieved. This feat was largely achieved thanks to the album’s leading single the breathtaking “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” which of course would go onto become one of the most famous rock songs ever written and has graced more film soundtracks than I could ever remember! Long-time producers and sometimes band song writers Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman would still be on board, and they be joined this time by a third producer in David Lucas for the album’s production. Patti Smith the then partner of Allen Lainier would also make her biggest contribution with the band and she even features on the album singing vocals on one of the songs.
Eric Bloom- Guitar/Vocals
Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser- Guitar/Vocals
Allen Lainier- Rhythm/Keyboards/Vocals
Joe Bouchard- Bass/Vocals
Albert Bouchard- Drums/ Vocals
Production- Sandy Pearlman, Murray Krugman and David Lucas
Album
This Ain’t the Summer of Love- With its punchy intro the song sets the pace for the rest of the album early on and it’s one of the rockier songs on the album.
True Confessions- A somewhat unexpected second track, that actually sounds like something that the J.Geils Band would’ve done and the song is well fleshed out with keyboards.
(Don’t Fear) The Reaper- One of the most amazing songs ever written about eternal love and a fatal love pact and Buck Dharma’s sole contribution on the album and also his sole vocal contribution as well. The song is essentially a throwback to the band’s early psychedelic roots and one of a kind, and has that unforgettable riff throughout!
E.T.I (Extra Terrestial Intelligence)- A slow moving and plodding effort, also one of the heavier tracks on the album.
The Revenge of Vera Gemini- With a spoken intro by Patti Smith, the vocals here are sung by drummer Albert Bouchard and the song is an accomplished effort overall.
Sinful Love- With its strutting piano intro, I’m constantly reminded of the J.Geils Band yet again and here BOC demonstrate their superb songcraft in action and this is a song that has this in abundance and is the second effort sung by Albert Bouchard on the album.
Tattoo Vampire- With its distinctive start it emerges into a frantic workout and again Eric Bloom is back on lead vocals.
Morning Final- Bassist Joe Bouchard’s only writing and vocal contribution to the album and it’s well worth the wait.
Tenderloin- The second song written by Allen Lainier and with Eric Bloom on vocals, this allows Allen Lainier to highlight the song with his flourishing keyboards.
Debbie Denise- Sung by Albert Bouchard and co-written by Patti Smith and for such an atypical sounding BOC song, it actually fits in perfectly here on the album, but then again most of this album is anything but straightforward.
Verdict
Agents of Fortune was one of the first attempts for a predominantly hard rock band to try and incorporate a melodic hard rock sound into an arena pop backdrop, not an easy thing to do at the time and probably made even harder for a band like BOC thanks to their fairly staunch, hazy and often inaccessible sound. One of the first features to notice on
Agents of Fortune, is the greater prominence of the rhythm section than on previous albums and this time rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Allen Lainier now sees his keyboards taking a much more prominent level across the album, as they take centre stage as often as the guitars in an effort to make the album more arena friendly.
Agents of Fortune can really be seen as a true band effort, as all the band members provide a string of great cuts here such as “The Revenge of Vera Gemini” “Sinful Love” the gloriously named “Tattoo Vampire” the delightful “Morning Fall” with its great use of local sound effects and the catchy “Tenderloin” are all examples of BOC at their most accomplished. The heavier end of the spectrum is covered by songs like the album opener “This Ain’t the Summer of Love” and “E.T.I (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)” which is actually one of the weaker tracks on the album and largely sounds like a lumbering uninspired effort, and is kind of the unofficial title track of the album, given the fact that the line ‘agents of fortune’ is used. Two of the previously mentioned tracks “Sinful Love” and “Tattoo Vampire” are also two songs where the band really do rock out on this album. The highlight of the album though, is surely the seminal "(Don’t Fear) The Reaper" which in many ways is the prime example of what the band were really looking for when it came to writing an ‘arena pop rock’ album and with its multi-textured soft rock feel, this was a song built to last, but it’s the quality of this song though that proves to be the rest of the album’s biggest failing!
Agents of Fortune as an overall album, falls short of what it actually seeks to do and that is to give the band a much cleaner and more accessible sound, but it only manages to do this on one song "(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”. The rest of the album for its merits has all the right components in place, such as the songs and Allen Lainier’s keyboards etc, but the problem is that most of the time, the melodies and pop hooks often get buried in the band’s trademark murky sound and for this reason the album suffers as a flowing melodic listen. On the positive side the actual song-writing and musical arrangements are all spot on and the album is indeed an accomplished effort, but the album as a showpiece falls behind the brilliance of both
Secret Treaties and
Tyranny and Mutation.