Blue Öyster Cult looks back on their golden days with final album, “Ghost Stories”
After my first listen to Ghost Stories, I decided to watch a video of the producers of the album, Steve Schenck and Richie Castellano, explaining its creation. As I listened, I perused the comments (as all people do), surprised to find such a wide variety of die-hard Blue Öyster Cult fans: a man reminiscing on discovering the band on Alice Cooper’s tour in the 70s, a twelve-year-old girl praising Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser’s guitar skills, calling him her hero, a father announcing his purchase of two LPS–one for himself, and one for his son. The band has a cult following, even after 57 years and a carousel of members–one commenter even said they’d seen BÖC a whopping forty-two times. Ghost Stories makes it easy to see why–the album is a wonderful reminder of how the band originally captured the attention of so many, and gained fans for life.
Full of reimagined hits and unreleased songs, the bulk of the album was originally recorded on analog tapes–Schenck and Castellano called in George Geranios, the band’s original audio engineer, to transfer them to digital audio. Though, it wasn’t just a matter of transferring the music and releasing it–some of the songs were unfinished, others were damaged in the audio transfer process, and some were straight-up unusable once recovered. The duo used AI demixing to sort through the tracks and see what was left to dub over, adding drums, guitar, and vocals to get the album to where it is today. Eric Bloom, Albert and Joe Bouchard, Allen Lanier, and Donald Roeser can all be heard on the lost gems from the golden era, with overdubs by Rick Downey, Richie Castellano and Joe Bouchard. Only Bloom and Roeser return for their cover of The Beatles’ “If I Fell,” recorded in 2016, but they’re joined this time around by Castellano, Kasim Sulton, and Jules Radino.
When the first song begins, there’s no doubt this is a classic Blue Öyster Cult record; “Late Night Street Fight” is the perfect way to begin the album, featuring some swampy, moody keyboards and a guitar solo any rock musician will be jumping to learn. “Cherry” follows it up wonderfully, keeping the energy high with a hook bound to get stuck in your head.
“So Supernatural,” the longest song on the album, shifts tones into something a little more psychedelic with its The Cure-esque instrumentals; it could easily fit on one of the band’s albums from the late 70s/early 80s. On track four, the band switches gears once again with a cover of The Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place.” Added keyboard accompaniment and fuller guitar riffs make this song instantly the band’s own, a distinctly Blue Öyster Cult twang added to put a spin on a beloved classic. “Gun” marks the halfway point of the album, a strong backbeat kicking the tempo up a notch.
When I first start a new album, I like to listen absentmindedly and see which songs grab me from the get-go–“Shot In The Dark” is one of those songs. It’s fun from the start: a private detective regales us with the story of a boring, late-night shift turned meeting with a girl who flips his world upside down. The guitar is fierce, the drums sharp, and the chorus catchy–an instant favorite of mine (not to mention, the theater kid in me loves a good dramatic intro). “The Only Thing” is what I consider one of the bests on the record, lyrically: hours after listening I find myself humming, “The only thing that lasts forever / Is the power pulling us along.” Track nine has been a crowd favorite for decades, and now fans have finally received the highly-anticipated studio version: “Kick Out The Jams” is electric, and it’s quickly obvious why the cover has been so beloved.
“Money Machine” and “Don’t Coming Running To Me” artfully round out the album, retaining an unmistakably 70s/80s rock sound–they’re relics of their time with a modern day polish. Ghost Stories ends with a cover of The Beatles’ “If I Fell,” and it feels like a goodbye with its abrupt shift in sound: short, sweet, and almost entirely acoustic, the cover is a lovely closing to this final chapter.
A testament to their talent and a labor of love, Ghost Stories is a beautiful end to the Blue Öyster Cult era. You can find it now on all streaming platforms.