Artist...............: Blue Oyster Cult
Album................: Secret Treaties
Genre................: Rock
Source...............: Cd
Year.................: 1974 Re. 2001
Ripper...............: Exact Audio Copy
Codec................: Flac
Information..........: TntVillage
Covers...............: Front
Total Size...........: 380 Mb
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While the speed-freak adrenaline heaviness and shrouded occult mystery of Tyranny and Mutation is the
watermark for Blue Öyster Cult's creative invention, it is Secret Treaties that is widely and
critically regarded as the band's classic. Issued in 1974, Secret Treaties is the purest distillation
of all of BÖC's strengths. Here the songs are expansive, and lush in their textures. The flamboyance
is all here, and so are the overdriven guitar riffs provided by Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom. But there
is something else, texturally, that moves these songs out from the blackness and into the shadows.
Perhaps it's the bottom-heavy mix by producer and lyricist Sandy Pearlman, with Allen Lanier's
electric piano and Joe Bouchard's bass coming to rest in an uneasy balance with the twin-guitar
attack. Perhaps it's in the tautness of songwriting and instrumental architectures created by drummer
Albert Bouchard, Bloom, and Don Roeser (Buck Dharma). Whatever it is, it offers the Cult a new depth
and breadth. While elements of psychedelia have always been a part of the band's sound, it was always
enfolded in proto-metal heaviness and biker boogie. Here, BÖC created their own brand of heavy
psychedelic noir to diversify their considerably aggressive attack. Listen to "Subhuman" or "Dominance
and Submission." Their minor chord flourishes and multi-tracked layered guitars and Bouchard's
constantly shimmering cymbals and snare work (he is the most underrated drummer in rock history) and
elliptical lyrics -- that Pearlman put out in front of the mix for a change -- added to the fathomless
dread and mystery at the heart of the music. Elsewhere, on "Cagey Cretins" and "Harvester of Eyes"
(both with lyrics by critic Richard Meltzer), the razor-wire guitar riffs were underscored by Lanier's
organ, and their sci-fi urgency heightened by vocal harmonies. But it is on "Flaming Telepaths," with
its single-chord hypnotic piano line that brings the lyric "Well, I've opened up my veins too many
times/And the poison's in my heart in my heart and in my mind/Poison's in my bloodstream/Poison's in
my pride/I'm after rebellion/I'll settle for lives/Is it any wonder that my mind is on fire?" down
into the maelstrom and wreaks havoc on the listener. It's a stunner, full of crossing guitar lines and
an insistent, demanding rhythmic throb. The set closes with the quark strangeness of "Astronomy," full
of melancholy, dread, and loss that leaves the listener unsettled and in an entirely new terrain,
having traveled a long way from the boasting rockery of "Career of Evil" that began the journey. It's
a breathless rock monolith that is all dark delight and sinister pleasure. While the Cult went on to
well-deserved commercial success with Agents of Fortune an album later, the freaky inspiration that
was offered on their debut, and brought to shine like a black jewel on Tyranny and Mutation, was fully
articulated as visionary on Secret Treaties.
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Tracklist
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01. Career Of Evil
02. Subhuman
03. Dominance And Submission
04. ME 262
05. Cagey Cretins
06. Harvester Of Eyes
07. Flaming Telepaths
08. Astronomy
09. Boorman The Chauffer [Bonus track]
10. Mommy [Bonus track]
11. Mes Dames Sarat [Bonus track]
12. Born To Be Wild (Single B-side) [Bonus track]
13. Career Of Evil (Single Version) [Bonus track]