Blue Öyster Cult: Ghost Stories

Blue Öyster Cult’s renaissance continues with a well-named album of old-new material. Well-named because not only have most of the songs had a wraithlike half-existence – they were originally recorded but not finished by the band between 1978 and 1983 (that is between Spectres and The Revölution by Night) – but also because several of the musicians who appear on the album have since departed the band, like drummer Albert Bouchard or even, like much-missed keyboard player Allen Lanier, departed this earthly realm altogether. The songs were “de-mixed” to their individual elements using AI, remixed and finished with parts being recorded or re-recorded. The whole was then brought to an appropriate level of pristine brilliance by producer Steve Schenk, guitarist Richie Castellano and the current lineup which crucially still includes singers/guitarists Eric Bloom and Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser. The album therefore has a peculiarly “now and then” atmosphere to it but is unmistakably an authentic BÖC release. It’s not their absolute best material – the songs would never have been abandoned if it were – but it’s a welcome addition to the already sprawling Blue Öyster canon.

Most fans agree that 1977’s Spectres marks the end of the band’s golden period, so this material comes from an era when Blue Öyster Cult were not yet faltering and were making albums that were very good, but which lacked the surly aura of mystery of their early work. But there is also a school of thought that rates ‘83’s The Revölution by Night as one of the band’s unsung masterpieces and it’s probably those fans who will respond most enthusiastically to Ghost Stories. Conversely, because of the period source material, Ghost Stories, despite its undoubted strengths, doesn’t have that conscious sense of late majesty that made 2020’s The Symbol Remains such an unexpected triumph, but its relatively more easy-going charm is hard to resist.

“Late Night Street Fight” is classic BÖC, in that its title suggests something far more aggressive than the actual song. It’s a kind of rolling, bluesy boogie-ish track with conspicuously great bass from Joe Bouchard and would have sounded equally old-fashioned-but-contemporary in the late ‘70s. “Cherry” is similar but faster and more anthemic and to British ears sounds uncannily like Status Quo at times. It’s catchy and accessible but crucially it still has enough of that special Cult aura to lift it above filler status. But the album’s first real highlight is the single “So Supernatural,” which is pure Blue Öyster Cult from its opening atmospheric guitar jangles to its oddly somnambulant vocals. Whether the song would have stood out quite so strongly in the ‘70s is doubtful, but it’s so good to hear the band in spooky rock mode again that the question is moot. Perhaps as likable but far less essential, there are a few covers on the album – and another one, “Roadhouse Blues,” on the Japanese version – which the band makes their own, or at least plays pretty well. Best of these is the Animal’s classic “We Gotta Get out of This Place” which sounds convincingly BÖC-ish, especially in the build-up to the chorus; it’s a surprisingly seamless fit. Their version of “Kick out the Jams” is less distinctive, but it’s not at all bad either, especially as it brings a little rawness to the album’s otherwise mostly smooth and unruffled surface.

There’s a distant echo of the great “Career of Evil”, only with an unlikely hint of funkiness on the band’s own “Soul Jive.” Another of the album’s best songs, it’s one of those BÖC tracks where the mellowness of the tone feels trance-like in a faintly malevolent way, rather than slack or truly laid-back; it’s a trait that’s hard to define but easy to feel, and no other band really does it. That faint unsettling quality should probably be wildly out of place on a song called “Soul Jive” but that cherishable sense of perverseness also comes entirely naturally to Blue Öyster Cult. “Gun” is just a good heavy, bluesy rock song, but “Shot in the Dark” is better. It begins as a tongue-in-cheek slow blues before transforming into a classic medium-fast rock track, let down a little by a weak chorus but with nicely gritty guitars and a real feeling of momentum. There’s a pleasantly cheesy R’n’B ballad feel to “The Only Thing” which has lovely fluid bass and some of the prettiest organ ever to grace a Blue Öyster Cult record. “Money Machine” is good, cynical hard rock with a nice groove and the musical quotation from Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want)” in the coda is perfect.

Continuing with the album’s run of solid songs, “Don’t Come Running to Me” is a lumbering and very ‘80s near-power ballad but it’s not bad at all. And really, on the whole of Ghost Stories it’s only the closing “If I Fell” that sounds at all out of place. A slightly rough-voiced but faithful cover of the Beatles song, it was recorded, unlike all of the other material, in 2016 by the current lineup of the band. They play it nicely enough, but the question that hangs in the air as it fades away is why? It’s sweet, warm-hearted and vulnerable, with a delicate texture of acoustic guitars and congas; so what’s it doing on an album by the band who wrote “This Ain’t the Summer of Love”? Ah well, it’s only right that the album should end veiled in mystery, even if it’s not the usual mystery. Anyway, Ghost Stories is recommended; a very pleasant treat for fans that has some worthwhile stuff for more casual listeners. Most importantly, it’s a strong enough album to keep the Cult rolling happily along until it’s time for the successor that The Symbol Remains really deserves.