Blue Oyster Cult - On Your Feet Or On Your Knees (Live) (1975)

Year: February 27, 1975 (CD October 25, 1990)
Label: Columbia Records (U.S.), CGK 33371
Style: Rock, Hard Rock
Country: New York, U.S.
Time: 76:03
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 441 Mb

Blue Oyster Cult is sometimes referred to as the first heavy metal band; the group is even credited by some with coining the term "heavy metal" (note the early use of the unpronounced umlaut in a band's name [over the O]). The New York-based ensemble formed in the late 1960s, originally as an alternative to the slick corporate rock of the era. After releasing several acclaimed albums during the 1970s, Blue Oyster Cult's popularity began to wane, their music seemingly eclipsed by younger, more bombastic heavy metal acts.

Beginning in the 1980s, a series of personnel changes and contractual difficulties conspired to keep Blue Oyster Cult from releasing new material, but a boost from novelist Stephen King in the the early 1990s helped put the band back in the public eye. King wanted to use Blue Oyster Cult's biggest hit, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," on the soundtrack for a television version of one his books. The band's label, however, refused to comply with King's request. So a deal was struck with another label to re-record the Cult's biggest hits. The result was the 1994 release Cult Classic, which contained the original, analog-recorded songs remastered with digital technology. Reviewing the compilation for Rolling Stone, Matt Diehl noted, "At their best, BOC create distinctive hard rock that betrays a bitter core, couching perverse, apocalyptic lyrics in deceptively catchy compositions."

Blue Oyster Cult's origins stretch back to late-1960s Long Island, New York. Two of the members, drummer Albert Bouchard and guitarist Donald Roeser, were students at Clarkson College of Technology. They became members of a cover band called The Disciples. Bouchard also began playing in an act called The Lost and Found, where he met future Blue Oyster Cult vocalist Eric Bloom. The Disciples changed their name to The Travesty, and Bouchard and Roeser tried unsuccessfully to relocate the band to New York City.

Bouchard then headed to Chicago, where he met poet, performance artist, and future punk singer Patti Smith. Meanwhile, Roeser became friends with Sandy Pearlman, then a writer for the influential rock magazine Crawdaddy. Roeser also befriended Richard Meltzer. When Bouchard returned from Chicago he formed Soft White Underbelly. Pearlman and Meltzer served as a management/production team and wrote songs for the band, which had also thought of calling itself "Cow."

(Full version: musicianguide.com/biographies/1608000191/Blue-Oyster-Cult.html)

01. The Subhuman (07:29)
02. Harvester Of Eyes (04:58)
03. Hot Rails To Hell (05:29)
04. The Red & The Black (04:33)
05. Seven Screaming Dizbusters (08:49)
06. Buck's Boogie (07:06)
07. Last Days Of May (04:37)
08. Cities On Flame (04:05)
09. Me 262 (08:18)
      Bonus Tracks:
10. Before The Kiss (A Redcap) (05:12)
11. Maserati GT (I Ain't Got You) (09:02)
12. Born To Be Wild (06:21)

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