If you’re as big a Blue Öyster Cult fan as I am, 2020 has been a great year. The legendary band released their first album in nearly 20 years, The Symbol Remains. If that wasn’t enough, newcomers like Freeways and Night are keeping their mysterious hard rock sound fresh for the future. And if you’re still not satisfied, there’s former members Joe and Albert Bouchard. Both of these multi-talented brothers released solo offerings this year, Joe with Strange Legends and Albert with Re Imaginos.
If your knowledge of BÖC is limited to Saturday Night Live and classic rock radio, allow me to give some background. Imaginos is an epic saga written by manager, mentor, and honorary member, Sandy Pearlman. The basic summary is that Imaginos is centered around an alien child who’s able to alter world history. It goes a lot deeper than that, but if I tried to explain, we’d be here until 2050. Over the years, BÖC took elements of the story as inspiration for lyrics.
It wasn’t until 1988 when rhythm guitarist Albert Bouchard decided to make Imaginos a full fledged rock opera. There was only one problem. The record company didn’t have faith in a Bouchard solo project. Similar to Black Sabbath’s Seventh Star (1986), which was intended to be a solo vessel for Tony Iommi, Imaginos was released under the BÖC moniker with minimal involvement from the other members.
Fast forward 32 years later. Albert Bouchard is back with what he claims is Imaginos the way it was intended to be heard. Now as much as I love Bouchard and all his creative contributions (This is the man who wrote and sang “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll”.), I wasn’t holding my breath for this “reimagining”. Why? Because most “reimaginings” end up being run of the mill re-recordings that leave a bad taste in the mouth. This is not. Considering the original Imaginos is an 80s metal album, I’m surprised just how well some of these songs translate with a stripped down approach. I shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, Imaginos is Bouchard’s baby.
The chanting harmonies on “In the Presence of Another World” resonate more since they’re not crowded by the heavy handed riffing and mind boggling rambling of the original. Meanwhile, “The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein’s Castle at Weisseria” and “Blue Öyster Cult” are just as dark and eerie ever. Bouchard strips these tracks down to their bare elements without sacrificing their ominous atmosphere. My choice cut is “Del Rio’s Song”, which takes a 180 from a radio ready 80s hard rocker to a country flavored ballad I’d expect to find on Spectres (1977). It’s the one track I can unequivocally say I prefer over the original.
When it comes to the three new songs (“Girl That Made Love Blind”, “Gil Blanco County”, “Black Telescope”), I’m neutral. They’re decent, but take away from the cohesion of the original track listing, which itself has been reordered. Furthermore, I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of this version of “Astronomy”, though in my defense, the same goes for the ’88 version. At the end of the day, “Astronomy” will always be the grand finale of Secret Treaties (1975) and nothing more.
If I were Albert Bouchard, I’d pat myself on the back. I can’t think of anyone else who has recorded two top notch interpretations of the same body of music. Some might say Mr. Bungle with their latest album, although that strictly falls into the “re-recording” category. Thanks to Bouchard, I’m thinking reimagination may not be such a bad thing after all.
7 out of 10
Label: Rockheart Records
Genre: Hard Rock
For fans of: Blue Öyster Cult, Rush, Ghost