BLUE ÖYSTER CULT: Secret Treaties

Produced by Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman

Released: 1973

After two early albums on which they blatantly (but skilfully) ripped off everyone from Black Sabbath to Cream and even the Grateful Dead, in 1973 Blue Öyster Cult and their Svengali-like manager Sandy Pearlman brought forth their one true masterpiece.

Secret Treaties is by all accounts a concept album, with the songs forming something called the Imaginos Cycle, a tale set in some kind of chaotic universe wherein events have no specific timeline so past, present and future all happen at once. The idea is so confusing that it's difficult to see how it all fits together, and it's more likely that this "concept" was invented after the fact (the band -- or Pearlman at least -- was not above such things), but nevertheless, Secret Treaties is arguably Blue Öyster Cult's most consistent release, a near-perfect portrait of one of America's most unique 70s rock bands at the height of its creative power.

Beginning with the surging, organ- driven pop-rock of "Career of Evil" - with lyrics by Patti Smith - Secret Treaties lovingly shows off Albert Bouchard's deft songwriting with a combination of nifty drum work, multi-layered guitars, typically blistering soloing from Buck D'harma and the band's patented two, three and sometimes ever four-part vocal harmonies. Pearlman's bizarre and thought-provoking lyrics take a truly star turn too, although Richard Meltzer's truly strange "Harvester of Eyes" tops the charts for oddness: "Well just last week I took a ride/So high on eyes, I almost lost my way". For tripped out lyrics, few other acts came close to Blue Öyster Cult.

"ME262" is flat-out hard rocking boogie like a meaner, dirtier version of Status Quo and represents possibly one of the band's most misunderstood songs, with some people at the time believing that merely writing a song about Hitler's Luftwaffe meant a band had to be endorsing Nazism in some way (in spite of the fact both the lyricist and vocalist were Jewish men born in the mid-1940s). "Harvester of Eyes" has a nice chugging riff that would have been nothing short of face-ripping at the time and, as mentioned, lyrics that border on the absurd. "The Subhuman" and the suitably rocking "Dominance and Submission" with its apparent themes of incest and other sexual depravity are also worthy tracks, but the best is left until last. "Flaming Telepaths" is absurdly simple and immediately catchy, displaying a keen pop sensibility that would more fully emerge on later albums. It builds to a climax that ends sharply with the gentle piano intro of "Astronomy", a sublime track that is without doubt one of BÖC's greatest ever songs. Perhaps better known these days as a Metallica cover, "Astronomy" encapsulates every element of the band's best qualities in six minutes of sophisticated eloquence.

After Secret Treaties BÖC would move into a more commercial direction, before touching on true metal even later, but they would never again piece together an album as complete as this. Don't listen to this expecting to hear the heaviest rock ever recorded either, because by today's standards it's very tame indeed, but this is an album that inspired a generation of metal acts to come and for this reason alone it's one to check out.

1. Career of Evil


2. The Subhuman


3. Dominance and Submission


4. ME 262


5. Cagey Cretins


6. Harvester of Eyes


7. Flaming Telepaths


8. Astronomy

Rating: 94%