After a year of listening to Re Imaginos and an in depth discussion with the man himself, I thought I’d have a better grasp of the Imaginos concept as a whole. While I feel like I do, I don’t think anything could’ve prepared me for some of the renditions on Bouchard’s latest album, Imaginos 2 – Bombs Over Germany (Minus Zero and Counting). The second installment in Bouchard’s current Imaginos trilogy, Bombs Over Germany sees the legendary Blue Öyster Cult drummer dipping into his back catalog and reimagining their classic songs in the scope of the Imaginos mythos.
The eerie, evil proto-black metal scorcher “7 Screaming Diz-Busters” has been revamped as a cold, pulsating industrial metal beast à la Godflesh. “OD’d on Life Itself” has been stripped down to its barest elements and is perhaps even more haunting in a singer/songwriter arrangement than its original metallic form. “Quicklime Girl (Mistress of the Salmon Salt)” has a newfound psychedelic edge thanks to the addition of 60s strings and what I believe is an electric sitar. On paper, none of this should work, but it sure does when piped through my earbuds. Furthermore, if anyone is going to properly revamp these songs, it’s the guy who helped create them in the first place.
Not all the songs are complete 180s from their originals. “ME 262”, which has been retitled for this affair as “Bombs Over Germany”, is as heavy and pummeling as ever, while “Before the Kiss, a Redcap” maintains its initial southern twang. Then we get to “When War Comes” and “Shadow of California”, two BÖC songs recorded after Bouchard’s 1981 departure, which are reinvented into a World War 1 marching hymn and an atmospheric dark folk piece respectively. Stylistically speaking, Bouchard leaves few stones unturned.
Perhaps most interesting of all are the Sandy Pearlman penned originals that didn’t previously see the light of day. There are a handful showcased on here. I could totally imagine “Independence Day” being a spacey jam circa Agents of Fortune. “Il Duce” is classic Spectres era BÖC lyrically and musically: quirky upbeat pop rock with an unsettling twist. Bouchard’s former bandmate Buck Dharma even makes an appearance for the semi-acoustic oddball, “Three Sisters”. One can only wonder how these songs would’ve translated 45-50 years ago and the role they’d play in the band’s history.
When it comes to re-recordings, re-imaginings, re-arrangings, or any other “re” prefix word, Bombs Over Germany is as good as it gets. Bouchard’s ability to make the old new again is compelling, impressive, and downright unmatched. Two volumes into this trilogy and next year’s grand finale cannot arrive soon enough! How will the tale of Imaginos end? Let’s hope we’re not all captured in the trance of the black mirror come then.
8 out of 10
Label: Deko Music
Genre: Hard Rock
For fans of: Blue Öyster Cult, Rush, Ghost