Blue Oyster Cult - The Essential Blue Öyster Cult (2012) [Official Digital Download]

Since the mid-'90s, Blue Öyster Cult have had their catalog pillaged for hits collections on almost a yearly basis, so the appearance of yet another such beast isn't the welcome return of an old friend that it should be. True, there was a time when a greatest-hits collection was sorely needed, but the double-CD set Workshop of the Telescopes took care of that in 1995, and if that was too massive a retrospective, there was 2000's single-disc Don't Fear the Reaper: The Best of Blue Öyster Cult. Add to those a number of re-recordings and misleadingly packaged live collections and it's hard to justify The Essential Blue Oyster Cult. However, if you look at the collection saga of Blue Öyster Cult as a perfecting of the formula a thinning of the herd then Essential starts to prove its worth as a lean machine all killer, no filler. No BOC collection can stand without their biggest acknowledged hits, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "Burnin' for You," and both of those are here. So is the over-the-top madness of "Godzilla" and the cult hit yes, cult, BOC is a band whose fan base is so disparate there are mainstream and underground fans "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)," which somehow slipped by the previous single-disc collection. Others, like "Veterans of Psychic Wars" and "Harvester of Eyes," carry equal heft and help Essential live up to its name.

Tracklist:

[04:03] 1. Blue Oyster Cult - Cities On Flame with Rock and Roll
[04:58] 2. Blue Oyster Cult - Before the Kiss, a Redcap
[03:43] 3. Blue Oyster Cult - Stairway to the Stars
[03:21] 4. Blue Oyster Cult - Transmaniacon MC
[05:18] 5. Blue Oyster Cult - Buck's Boogie
[04:23] 6. Blue Oyster Cult - The Red & the Black
[04:47] 7. Blue Oyster Cult - O.D.'d On Life Itself
[07:00] 8. Blue Oyster Cult - 7 Screaming Diz-Busters
[04:00] 9. Blue Oyster Cult - Career of Evil
[05:18] 10. Blue Oyster Cult - Flaming Telepaths
[06:24] 11. Blue Oyster Cult - Astronomy
[05:27] 12. Blue Oyster Cult - Hot Rail to Hell
[04:52] 13. Eric Bloom - Harvester of Eyes
[08:02] 14. Eric Bloom - M.E. 262
[06:25] 15. Blue Oyster Cult - Born to Be Wild
[05:08] 16. Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper
[02:22] 17. Albert Bouchard - This Ain't the Summer of Love
[05:17] 18. Blue Oyster Cult - E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)
[03:41] 19. Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla
[04:24] 20. Blue Oyster Cult - I Love the Night
[03:13] 21. Eric Bloom - Goin' Through the Motions
[03:50] 22. Blue Oyster Cult - In Thee
[06:39] 23. Blue Oyster Cult - Black Blade
[05:27] 24. Eric Bloom - The Marshall Plan
[04:49] 25. Blue Oyster Cult - Veteran of the Psychic Wars
[04:54] 26. Blue Oyster Cult - Joan Crawford
[04:31] 27. Blue Oyster Cult - Burnin' for You
[09:06] 28. Blue Oyster Cult - Roadhouse Blues
[07:10] 29. Blue Oyster Cult - Shooting Shark
[04:31] 30. Blue Oyster Cult - Take Me Away
[04:01] 31. Blue Oyster Cult - Dancin' In the Ruins



All thanks go to the original releaser