My own ranking (of studio albums only) would be: 1. Fire of Unknown Origin 2. Secret Treaties 3. Cultosaurus Erectus 4. Agents of Fortune 5. Spectres 6. Tyranny and Mutation 7. Heaven Forbid (their heaviest album, I really like it but I can understand old school BOC fans not liking it) 8. Curse of the Hidden Mirror 9. The Symbol Remains 10. Blue Oyster Cult 11. Mirrors 12. Imaginos 13. Revolution by Night 14. Club Ninja 15. Ghost Stories Such a strong catalogue and very difficult to rank, I enjoy even my bottom 5 there and to me all their albums are classic, such a great band.
(Don't Fear) The Larry ;) Like you Larry. Blue Öyster Cult is one of my favorite bands and our ranking would be very similar. One advice to people who might not know.. There is a longer version of "Some Enchanted Evening" 2007 CD re-issue bonus tracks and it is a must have in the collection. I agree with you that the original is too short to really rank higher than what you did. However. With the bonus-tracks it might be S-tier for me. Definitely worth searching up instead of the original version!
I pretty much agree with your rankings. I've listened to them for a long time and am a fan of their stuff. "Golden Age of Leather" is one of my favorites by them, but I have to admit I haven't heard much from their days as The Stalk-Forrest Band. Technically speaking, BÖC had one other live album before On Your Feet etc., but it wasn't commercially released, it was for promotion only. Plus I believe there was one released as part of BMG Records' Extended Version series of live recordings that can be found at a budget price. They also have several anthologies and Greatest Hits collections.
We all know, had OYFOOYK had "Dominance & Submission"(with Albert's original vocals), "Flaming Telepaths" & "Astronomy" on it, it perhaps would be the greatest live LP ever. Eric's pipes were at their peak in the early 70s. Listen to "Astronomy" on their TERRIBLY-recorded "Live 1976", and compare Eric's pipes on that to the much touted version on their "Some Enchanted Evening". IMO, even with the substandard recording of "Live 1976", his vocals were stronger there.
Ha (ha) I was just looking at a Blue Oyster Cult box set on Amazon, and clicked on a video there. It's Larry Graves in the video! "Hi there?" What?! No "Welcome fans of high quality entertainment?!" Don't think I'm buying the whole box set at this time, unless that guy in the video convinces me to buy it.Thought I might get their 1st album and Agents of Fortune (the one with Don't Fear the Reaper on it - CD's; haven't been into vinyl lately), but IDK yet.
Personal ranking (70s and 80s albums) Fire of unknown origins (1981) Blue oyster cult (1972) The revolution by night (1983) Secret treaties (1974) Agents of fortune (1976) Mirrors (1979) Tyranny and mutation (1973) Spectres (1977) Cultosaurus erectus (1980) Club ninja (1985) Imaginos (1988)
S tier: 1. Cultosaurus Erectus 2. Fire of Unknown Origin A tier: 3. Spectres 4. Secret Treaties 5. Tyranny and Mutation B tier: 6. Heaven Forbid 7. The Symbol Remains 8. Imaginos 9. Blue Oyster Cult C tier: 10. Agents of Fortune 11. Mirrors 12. The Revolution by Night 13. Club Ninja 14. Curse of the Hidden Mirror D tier: 15. Ghost Stories
One of my top five favorite bands. Your list would be very close to mine, although I seem to be one of the few people who thinks Heaven Forbid is their worst album. I much prefer Curse of the Hidden Mirror. I call HF a framed album, first two and last two studio tracks are good, but everything in-between is average. As my friend said about HF "It sounds like a garage band trying to do BOC." I sadly couldn't disagree with him.
I'm back to watch this a second time. I would like to see where the albums I just bought are in the rankings.. I ordered their 1st 4 albums on CD's on Amazon. The purchase was made after spot checking the songs on UA-cam Music. All the songs sounded great, to me, so I went for all 4 of these albums, at only $8 USD a piece. Regarding the $65 box set: I already have 2 of the live albums; the one with the limousine on the cover and the e.t. one, plus a greatest hits album. The $8 price for each of the albums surely was a deciding factor, too. Now I'm back because I don't remember all of the rankings.. One other thing: That album Heaven Forbid seems to be rare and is expensive. I almost was going to get that one but decided on not spending a lot of money on it. So now I should sleep better, knowing that that album with the creepy, scary coveris not lurking about in my CD collection!!!!! ...So, after watching again, I see that 3 of the 4 are S tier and the other one is in A. Pretty good, eh?!
Been a fan since 1976
My own ranking (of studio albums only) would be:
1. Fire of Unknown Origin 2. Secret Treaties 3. Cultosaurus Erectus 4. Agents of Fortune 5. Spectres 6. Tyranny and Mutation 7. Heaven Forbid (their heaviest album, I really like it but I can understand old school BOC fans not liking it) 8. Curse of the Hidden Mirror 9. The Symbol Remains 10. Blue Oyster Cult 11. Mirrors 12. Imaginos 13. Revolution by Night 14. Club Ninja 15. Ghost Stories
Such a strong catalogue and very difficult to rank, I enjoy even my bottom 5 there and to me all their albums are classic, such a great band.
(Don't Fear) The Larry ;)
Like you Larry. Blue Öyster Cult is one of my favorite bands and our ranking would be very similar. One advice to people who might not know.. There is a longer version of "Some Enchanted Evening" 2007 CD re-issue bonus tracks and it is a must have in the collection. I agree with you that the original is too short to really rank higher than what you did. However. With the bonus-tracks it might be S-tier for me. Definitely worth searching up instead of the original version!
And adding that partial concert footage on DVD made it even better. The tour with the lasers. 🙂
Like you Larry I have been a fan also since 1975! No argument about the list! Fire of unknown origin is my favourite album of theirs! 👍
Larry's tiers matter!
Like I've said, I love these tier list, because I trust your judgement and know where to start collecting with these artist. It's really helpful.
I pretty much agree with your rankings. I've listened to them for a long time and am a fan of their stuff. "Golden Age of Leather" is one of my favorites by them, but I have to admit I haven't heard much from their days as The Stalk-Forrest Band. Technically speaking, BÖC had one other live album before On Your Feet etc., but it wasn't commercially released, it was for promotion only. Plus I believe there was one released as part of BMG Records' Extended Version series of live recordings that can be found at a budget price. They also have several anthologies and Greatest Hits collections.
I was listening to Mirrors again the other day and remembered how cool BOC are. They made so many great songs.
Was hoping you would do a BOC ranking. These seem to vary quite a bit from fan to fan. Thanks for doing this. Fun watch 👍
One of my favorite bands my favorite album is tied between the symbol remains and mirrors
I need to listen to Cultosaurus more! Otherwise totally agree with the S and As
We all know, had OYFOOYK had "Dominance & Submission"(with Albert's original vocals), "Flaming Telepaths" & "Astronomy" on it, it perhaps would be the greatest live LP ever. Eric's pipes were at their peak in the early 70s. Listen to "Astronomy" on their TERRIBLY-recorded "Live 1976", and compare Eric's pipes on that to the much touted version on their "Some Enchanted Evening". IMO, even with the substandard recording of "Live 1976", his vocals were stronger there.
I enjoyed seeing your ranking as I still have some BOC albums to get.
Ha (ha) I was just looking at a Blue Oyster Cult box set on Amazon, and clicked on a video there. It's Larry Graves in the video! "Hi there?" What?! No "Welcome fans of high quality entertainment?!" Don't think I'm buying the whole box set at this time, unless that guy in the video convinces me to buy it.Thought I might get their 1st album and Agents of Fortune (the one with Don't Fear the Reaper on it - CD's; haven't been into vinyl lately), but IDK yet.
Personal ranking (70s and 80s albums)
Fire of unknown origins (1981)
Blue oyster cult (1972)
The revolution by night (1983)
Secret treaties (1974)
Agents of fortune (1976)
Mirrors (1979)
Tyranny and mutation (1973)
Spectres (1977)
Cultosaurus erectus (1980)
Club ninja (1985)
Imaginos (1988)
S tier:
1. Cultosaurus Erectus
2. Fire of Unknown Origin
A tier:
3. Spectres
4. Secret Treaties
5. Tyranny and Mutation
B tier:
6. Heaven Forbid
7. The Symbol Remains
8. Imaginos
9. Blue Oyster Cult
C tier:
10. Agents of Fortune
11. Mirrors
12. The Revolution by Night
13. Club Ninja
14. Curse of the Hidden Mirror
D tier:
15. Ghost Stories
Thank you! I have not bought Ghost Stories yet, and no rush to...
is this tier thing available to mear mortals? I would like to play with MY BOC tier list!
Tier maker website.
I honestly don't know their material Larry so I really can't say anything about your rankings. Bob
At least you are giving it to us straight!
One of my top five favorite bands. Your list would be very close to mine, although I seem to be one of the few people who thinks Heaven Forbid is their worst album. I much prefer Curse of the Hidden Mirror. I call HF a framed album, first two and last two studio tracks are good, but everything in-between is average. As my friend said about HF "It sounds like a garage band trying to do BOC." I sadly couldn't disagree with him.
I'm back to watch this a second time. I would like to see where the albums I just bought are in the rankings.. I ordered their 1st 4 albums on CD's on Amazon. The purchase was made after spot checking the songs on UA-cam Music. All the songs sounded great, to me, so I went for all 4 of these albums, at only $8 USD a piece. Regarding the $65 box set: I already have 2 of the live albums; the one with the limousine on the cover and the e.t. one, plus a greatest hits album. The $8 price for each of the albums surely was a deciding factor, too. Now I'm back because I don't remember all of the rankings.. One other thing: That album Heaven Forbid seems to be rare and is expensive. I almost was going to get that one but decided on not spending a lot of money on it. So now I should sleep better, knowing that that album with the creepy, scary coveris not lurking about in my CD collection!!!!! ...So, after watching again, I see that 3 of the 4 are S tier and the other one is in A. Pretty good, eh?!