Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties
Eric Bloom (Lead Vocals, Keyboards, Guitar), Joe Bouchard (Bass, Vocals), Albert Bouchard (Drums, Vocals), Allen Lanier (Keyboards, Rhythm Guitar, Synthesizer), Donald (Buck Dharma) Roeser (Lead Guitar, Vocals)
Written by Albert Bouchard (A1, A3, B1, B3, B4), Patti Smith (A1), Eric Bloom (A2, A3, A4, B2, B3), Sandy Pearlman (A2, A3, A4, B3, B4), Donald Roeser (A4, B2, B3), Richard Meltzer (B1, B2), Joe Bouchard (B4)
1 LP, standard sleeve, insert
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : black
Speed : 33 RPM
Size : 12'’
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : Pallas
Label : Speakers Corner
Original Label : Columbia
Recording: 1974 by Tim Geelan and Jerry Smith
Production: Murray Krugman and Sandy Pearlman
Remastered by Willem Makkee
Originally released in April 1974
Reissued July 2014
Tracks :
Side A :
1. Career Of Evil
2. Subhuman
3. Dominance And Submission
4. ME 262
Side B :
1. Cagey Cretins
2. Harvester Of Eyes
3. Flaming Telepaths
4. Astronomy
Reviews:
« 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. » AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek
Back in the days of hard rock and surrounded by fierce competitors with such great names as the Doors, Black Sabbath and the Rolling Stones, a band had to attract attention with far more than histrionic pathos, biker boogie, an adept lead guitarist and a sharp-tongued singer. The band Blue Öyster Cult, founded on Long Island in 1971, possessed all this and much more, relating short scenarios in their lyrics, which conjured up people’s imagination. Rolling Stone magazine enthused that it was "like listenin’ to Hitchcock and Kubrick swap stories about their wet dreams", and that the group "mix aesthetics and ass-kicking rock to such good advantage".
In their third studio album "Secret Treaties", BÖC reached the pinnacle of their musical evolution with such memorable songs as "Career Of Evil", "Subhuman" and "Astronomy". The lyrics have literary value but are certainly not intended for sensitive souls – the phrases are direct and intentionally drily articulated. The music is as blatant and extroverted as the lyrics: the guitar sound is steely and straightforward, occasionally padded out with a see-sawing Hammond groove, and topped again and again by wonderfully rough string solos that speak the language of hard, merciless and full-bodied rock.
Ratings :
Allmusic : 4.5 / 5 , Discogs : Rate Your Music :