Tyranny And Mutation
On Tyranny and Mutation the Blue Öyster Cult achieved the seemingly impossible: They brightened their sound and deepened their mystique. The band picked up its tempos considerably on this sophomore effort, and producers Sandy Pearlman and Murray Krugman added a lightning bolt of high-end sonics to their frequency range. Add to this the starling lyrical contributions of Pearlman rock critic Richard Meltzer and poet cum rocker Patti Smith (who was keyboardist Allen Lanier s girlfriend at the time), the split imagery of Side One's thematic, The Red and Side Two's The Black, and the flip-to-wig-city, dark conspiracy of Gawlik s cover art, and an entire concept was not only born and executed, it was received. The Red side of Tyranny and Mutation is its reliance on speed, punched-up big guitars, and throbbing riffs such as in "The Red and the Black," "O.D'd on Life Itself," "Hot Rails to Hell," and "7 Screaming Diz-Busters," all of which showcased the biker boogie taken to a dizzyingly extreme boundary; one where everything flies by in a dark blur, and the articulations of that worldview are informed as much by atmosphere as idea. This is screaming, methamphetamine-fueled rock and roll that was all about attitude, mystery, and a sense of nihilistic humor that was deep in the cuff. Here was the crossroads: the middle of rock s Bermuda triangle where BÖC marked the black cross of the intersection between New York's other reigning kings of mystery theater and absurd excess: the Velvet Underground and Kiss -- two years before their first album -- and the " 'it's all F#$&%* so who gives a rat's ass" attitude that embodied the City's punk chic half-a-decade later. On the Red Side, beginning with the syncopated striations of "Baby Ice Dog," in which Allen Lanier s piano was as important as Buck Dharma s guitar throb, elements of ambiguity and bluesy swagger enter into the mix. Eric Bloom was the perfect frontman: he twirled the words around in his mouth before spitting them out with requisite piss-and-vinegar, and a sense of decadent dandy that underscored the music's elegance, as well as its power. He was at ease whether the topic was necromancy, S&M, apocalyptic warfare, or cultural dissolution. By the LP's end, on "Mistress of the Salmon Salt," Bloom was being covered over by a kind of aggressively architected psychedelia that kept the '60s at bay while embracing the more aggressive, tenser nature of the times. While BÖC s Secret Treaties is widely recognized as the Cult s classic album, one would do well to consider Tyranny and Mutation in the same light. On the 2001 remastered version, Legacy added live versions of "Cities on Flame With Rock & Roll," "7 Screaming Diz-Busters," and "O.D.'d on Life Itself," as well as a studio read of Buck Dharma s "Buck's Boogie," but they add little to the power and sinister majesty of the original album. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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Credits »
Blue Öyster Cult - Main Performer
Steven Berkowitz - A&R
Tim Geelan - Engineer
Lenny Kaye - Liner Notes
Murray Krugman - Producer
Sandy Pearlman - Producer
Lou Schlossberg - Recording
Jack Ashkinazy - Mastering
Howard Fritzson - Reissue Art Director
Vic Anesini - Mastering
Patti Matheny - Artist Coordination
Bruce Dickinson - Reissue Producer
Mark Feldman - Project Director
Darren Salmieri - Artist Coordination
Don Hustein - Photography
Emily Goldberg - Packaging Manager
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