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Monday, December 1, 2014

Blue Öyster Cult: Imaginos

BLUE ÖYSTER CULT: IMAGINOS (1988)

1) I Am The One You Warned Me Of; 2) Les Invisibles; 3) In The Presence Of Another World; 4) Del Rio's Song; 5) The Siege And Investiture Of Baron Von Frankenstein's Castle; 6) Astronomy; 7) Magna Of Illusion; 8) Blue Öyster Cult; 9) Imaginos.

What do you mean, it took us nearly twenty years to realize that the true purpose of Blue Öyster Cult was to serve as a backing band for a sprawling sci-fi rock opera, adapted from the wrinkled pages of Sandy Pearlman's school yearbook? Here we were thinking that this band was some sort of high-falutin', acid-satiric, pre-post-modern take on rock and pop culture, and in reality it was just this imaginative young fellow with the hots for Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, and whatever cheap sci-fi flicks they were making in the hot-for-outer-space Sixties. Of course, the band very quickly got out of control and started following its own path, but the shadow of Sandy Pearlman haunted them all the way, and in the end, it got 'em.

Actually, as far as I understand, by the time 1987 rolled along, Blue Öyster Cult as a viable pro­ject was altogether finished. Their latest albums bombed and sucked at the same time, band members were scurrying away from the ship like rats on speed, and the remaining ones were aging, sulking, and uncomfortable. In other words — the perfect condition (not!) for Sandy Pearlman to try and resuscitate the original idea of a major concept album (at one point, the idea was for a trilogy of double albums — no mean feat indeed, although, funny enough, I think that Ayreon eventually did something like that) about Imaginos. Who is Imaginos, you're asking me? Well, I used to think that «Imaginos» was the fictional name for a band of Mexican rogues, but apparently, it is about this «modified child» born in 1804 in New Hampshire, and there's this group of seven extraterrestrial beings called Les Invisibles, see, and they foster the child's occult and mystical powers, and then he goes to Mexico to search for a magic artefact, and his ship sinks and he is picked up by Les Invisibles and their servants, who call themselves Blue Öyster Cult (with an Umlaut, for certain. How do we know that? Well, they all wear specially designed T-shirts), and they accept him as a member and give him a new name, Desdinova (have you said your prayers tonight, Desdinova?), and he begins to influence world history, and...

...well, to cut the story short, you see now that Pete Townshend's Lifehouse has got nothing on this: Sandy Pearlman takes the whole thing seriously, and, unlike Pete, he actually offers a rea­sonable explanation to why World War I and II actually happened. (No, not because people did not buy enough Blue Öyster Cult records). I suppose that the story, had it been realised properly and had all the loose ends been logically tied, wouldn't have been any worse than your average sci-fi epic — of which I have never been a magic fan — but ultimately, the only thing that mat­ters in all these mixtures of sci-fi concepts and rock culture is the music. The question is: was this sudden stab at «conceptualization», in an era when «concept album» and «commercial offer» had become antitheses, at least capable of producing anything better than Club Ninja?

You'd think that it could, since, anyway, bits and pieces of the «Imaginos» concept had already been scattered throughout many of the band's albums — ʽAstronomyʼ, for instance, which was a song about Imaginos discovering that the stars are the source of his knowledge of powers — and, furthermore, the album itself had been a long time coming. Within the band, the biggest fan of Pearlman's fantasy concept was drummer Albert Bouchard, and the two had been working on a separate album already in the 1970s, and even more so after Bouchard had been fired from the band: in fact, if you look at the credits, you will see that Bouchard is listed as composer on 7 out of 9 tracks — appropriate, since most of the basic tracks actually date back to 1981-84, when they were produced (along with many others) as potential candidates for inclusion on Bouchard's first solo album. Lots of people guested on those sessions, even including Robby Krieger of The Doors and several members of the Ian Hunter Band. Fun time it was, but Columbia Records refused to release the album. Smart lads.

Fast forward to 1987, and here we are wondering where to now, St. Peter, after Club Ninja turned out to be such a turd. The group is falling apart, but Pearlman steps in with the proposition that Blue Öyster Cult complete work on Imaginos. Since most of the work had already been done, a small budget is allocated to clean up, refresh, and remix the tracks, as well as add lead vocals by Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma. The budget is spent way too quickly, so not too much work is done: only nine songs (some of them stretched to rather absurd lengths if seen in proportion to their pure musical value), mixing different parts of the story in an order that blocks the listener from understanding the concept without a separate digest. The album is then released, left without any promotion (to be fair, I am not certain how it could be promoted in this form), neglected by the public, rejected by the critics, and for a long time, it even remained unavailable on CD.

No wonder then, that Imaginos came to be regarded, under all these circumstances, as something of a «legendary» object — an overlooked epic classic or something like that. Unfortunately, it isn't. Had Pearlman had his way in the early 1970s, and forced the band to fully accept and realize his vision while they were still young, fresh, and unspoiled by the «hit mentality», Imaginos might have had a chance to be the ultimate in «fantasy-rock». This, however, is but a pale shadow of what could have been: enough of a shadow, that is, to genuinely hint at some potential great­ness, yet only a shadow nevertheless. Most unfortunately, they chose a very wrong time period to go through with that concept.

For starters, the production on the album is atrocious — most, if not all, of it is realized within the «pop metal» framework: big booming drums, «steroid-powered» riffs, and a deep, cavernous echo on everything. If this really were pop metal, like Mötley Crüe, that'd be a different story, but I do not understand why a concept album about supernatural beings altering the course of world history should sound like a cheap soundtrack to Conan The Barbarian: surely these guys deserve better than taking their instructions from the hairy giants of the day!

Even when there is a moderately interesting riff pattern going on (ʽThe Siege And Investiture Of Baron Von Frankenstein's Castleʼ, for instance), the guitar tone and drum/keyboard overdubs still end up sucking all the life out of it. (And let's not even mention the awful wheezy lead vocals of guest star Joe Cerisano, who used to sing backup vocals on Michael Bolton records, among other interesting details of his pedigree). I used to be disappointed with the original ʽAstronomyʼ, but that was like a total masterpiece next to the complete and utter butchering of the song's melodic and atmospheric potential that they do here. ʽDel Rio's Songʼ is supposed to be about Imaginos' ship­wreck off the coast of New Orleans — so why the heck does the song sound like one of Bon Jovi's pop hits? What is this, the only extant rock opera in the hair metal genre?

The only reason why I am not giving this a thumbs down is that I think I sense potential. Many of these songs were conceived at much earlier dates than 1987; Bouchard and the other members of the band do have enough of respect for Pearlman to approach the task with reverence; and even though Buck Dharma's guitar is usually misplaced or misproduced, there are enough scattered flashes of brilliance (check out the lead parts on the final jam part of the title track or the stinging lightning bolts on ʽLes Invisiblesʼ) to make me yearn to have these solos transplanted in a more deserving setting. Fairly speaking, the more you listen to these metallic slabs of sheer bombast, the more lumpy, amorphous goodness you smell beneath them — there are some inspired piano parts, some nice sax solos, some moody vocal lines every now and then. It just never really comes together into anything fully satisfactory.

In fact, guys, as of 2014, it's not too late yet to do the job right. Most of the original band mem­bers, with the exception of Lanier, are still alive, as is Pearlman. Now, when anything can be done right even on a very tight budget, is just the time to do it right. Double album (three double albums, if you wish, as per the original plan — if Ayreon can do this, anybody can), convincing guitar tones, completed and polished riffage, come on, you can do it, you got nothing better to do anyway. Make Imaginos that latter day equivalent of SMiLe and Lifehouse that you know it has always deserved to be, at least according to the laws of the universe of Michael Moorcock.

9 comments:

  1. Generally, for me this is second and third rate material, outtakes from the time between Secret Treaties and Agents Of Fortune put into awful production. Even the first-grade material (Astronomy and Subhuman) is botched.

    Not only the material has a lot to be desired, but also the concept is ridiculous. Stupid story. "A bedtime story for the children of the damned", no less. Narrated like some po-mo novel that you can read from any random point in the book and you are supposed to connect the dots. And packed in no particular order, to disguise the triteness of the idea itself. At least Lovecraft and Borges had good and intriguing ideas.

    It was bad enough to be published in the mid-70's, as planned, it would ruin the image of the "heavy metal aesthetes", and turn them into yet another prog wankers, this time from New York. Thanks to the NY environment containing Springsteen, CBGB scene, and even Steely Dan, this didn't happen, and the whole project ended in the vaults.

    But the desperate ex-drummer unearthed it for his solo project, to show the ex-buddies who's who here. For comparison, you can easily download for free the Albert Bouchard's Imaginos sessions. Well, the sound is murky, but if you neglect that, the production is somewhere from 1978. Anyway, this doesn't help the stupid discoid rock numbers like Imaginos, or the worst BOC song ever, Magna Of Illusion, to sound better than on the official release.

    Stephen King was supposed to read the intro of the story, but he balked after the recording of his voice (not unlike the omission of Orson Welles in the first Alan Parsons album).

    Patti Smith is present here, as Shocking U (backing vocals on the least bad song here penned by brother Joe). Yes, she tried to help the old buddies in reanimating the dead BOC corpse, but she was at same time ashamed to do that under her proper name.

    Should be called "Ignominos".

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  2. >What is this, the only extant rock opera in the hair metal genre?

    Actually, Savatage's Gutter Ballet isn't too far off from that.

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  3. Joe Cerisano shouldn't have sung on this, agreed. And the production certainly isn't perfect. There's still a bunch of great riffage, piano, keys and vocal melodies to be found here. And personally I find that the production - stuffy though it is - lends Imaginos a distant atmosphere that actually suits the music. All they really needed to change was the generic drum sound...

    I still thoroughly enjoy this album and find much to love about it. But really, George, I'm disappointed you didn't mention the best cut "Magna Of Illusion" where much of the plot comes together in an effective bombastic and very memorable rocker.

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  4. I finally broke down and cued this puppy up on Youtube. I made it about halfway through, then skimmed through the past. Yep, stick a fork in it, guys, this carcass is cooked! I haven't heard any of the post-Imaginos records, but I can only imagine them as somewhat better produced, though hardly more inspired.

    By the way, if the bulk of this material was really 20 years old by the time it appeared, why doesn't any of this material overlap with the Stalk-Forrest demos that were finally released by Rhino a few years back?

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    1. The Pearlman's idea is 20 years ago (from the official release), but the material is from mid 70's. At least most of it. AFAIK, only 'Gil Blanco County' is from the Stalk Forest material. It is present on the Albert Bouchard's project, but it is omitted here.

      As I already said, you can download legally and for free the Al's Imaginos sessions,

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  5. "three double albums, if you wish, as per the original plan"

    For the curious, the sequels were supposed to be:
    Act II: Germany Minus Zero And Counting
    Act III: The Mutant Reformation

    Interested?

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    1. Forgot to say, that the listing of those is with more or less familiar songs. Here it is, from the BOC FAQ, and straight from the horse's mouth, by name Albert Bouchard:

      Act One: The Imaginos album we're familiar with.

      Act Two: Bombs over Germany:

      Workshop Of The Telescopes
      The Girl That Love Made Blind *
      ME 262
      The Red And The Black
      Cities On Flame **
      Shadow Of California
      Half-Life Time +
      Veteran Of The Psychic Wars ++
      Career Of Evil ++

      Act Three: The Mutant Reformation:

      Take Me Away ++
      The Vigil ++
      ETI
      R. U. Ready 2 Rock
      Heavy Metal
      Flaming Telepaths
      Gil Blanco County *
      Redeemed

      * Left off the original Imaginos album
      ** "Motor City is Burning" version -- based somewhat on the MC5 song
      + Very few have heard this one
      ++ Non-Pearlman songs because I never plan to write another with him and these tunes kind of fit into the story.

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    2. So I guess it's the best to make your own compilation from the majority of BOC material that we are familiar with.

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  6. This record (the Albert Bouchard demo version recorded in 1981-84, not the 1988 Def Leppard LP) is a shitload better than Revolution By Night. If the demo album had been released in place of RBN it would've been remembered at least as fondly as Fire. Many of the songs date back to the Spectres sessions or earlier, and the end result of these sounds like this incarnation of the band dragged straight into the 80s and modernized, skipping any intermediate development. Bigger, poppier, cheesier, and less subtle, but isn't that to be expected anyway as you progress through the 80s?

    There are tons of enjoyable riffs on here, and the guest guitarists are all reminiscent of Buck's quality. The keyboards are tasteful and contrast with with the metallic riffs well, and even the worst song here is better than the filler on FOUO. Interestingly, the songs that predict some of the late 80s excesses seem to have been completed in the 70s, if Joe Bouchard's 'In The Presence' demo on Youtube is to be believed. That song predicts the archetypal "serious" clean-arpeggiated-guitar metal ballad, 'Del Rio's Song' is a Bon Jovi ready hit, 'Siege and Investiture' is a standard Master of Puppets album cut, 'Girl That Love Made Blind' is an otherwise unremarkable late period OMD ballad, and the whole album lends itself easily to the big 80s production it was released with.

    Count this as a guilty pleasure, but in the genre of mid-80s fantasy pop metal it blows Hawkwind's COTBS out of the water. In fact, that's basically the same album as this one but worse. If you can get past the production on the BOC version you might even be able to enjoy that one. (I couldn't, it was the only BOC album I had to turn off on first listen.)

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