Secret Treaties - BLUE OYSTER CULT***

Career Of Evil/Subhuman/Dominance & Submission/ME 262/Cagey Cretins/Harvester Of Eyes/Flaming Telepaths/Astronomy

Secret Treaties was the third album from the New York hard-rock band Blue Oyster Cult. They would enjoy steady but unspectacular commercial success during the 1970s. (US:53)

“The third and final release of Blue Öyster Cults seminal ‘black and white’ trilogy, Secret Treaties is far and away their best album. To me it took the quirky subtle humour of their debut and mixed it with the brooding and hard rocking guitars of Tyranny & Mutation and mashed them into a beautifully consistent and well-crafted record.”

“Without a single bad moment Secret Treaties hammers through your mind - the blinding keyboard solos, the surrealist science fiction poetry lyrics, the walls of riffs.”

“Every song is pretty much a hard hitting classic, from the Cult favourite Career Of Evil to open up with the catchy organ riff, the psyched out Dominance & Submission, the piano rocker Flaming Telepaths, and of course the classic laid back Astronomy that became another huge hit.”

“Although still rather commercial, this time around, their sound has taken on a mild progressive edge, a half step back in the right direction for my taste. Featuring less emphasis on guitar, and not as heavy as earlier releases, there is some use of synth.”

“Blue Öyster Cult were one of the better hard rock bands of the seventies and Secret Treaties contains some of their best work. They've mellowed somewhat from their previous release but have by no means stopped rocking. Instead, they've focused more on song writing and texture, those little bits here and there that take a good song and make it great and memorable. There's an attention to detail here you just don't see from other bands, that makes it really stand out.”

“Secret Treaties is the best release ever by Blue Oyster Cult. A brilliant combination of dark and brooding subjects, driven home with screaming guitars, haunting lyrics and very progressive melody changes. The band were at the top of their game here, and while all the songs are rockers, they are subtle in ways that make you want to listen to the music over and over again.”