Live tracks from 1974-1981 with one previously unreleased

The Legacy division of Sony continues to explore new ways to keep the CD relevant. Their Playlist series was the first out of the gate with eco-friendly packaging that used 100% recycled cardboard, no plastic, and on-disc PDFs in place of paper booklets. Their new Setlist series follows the same path of a single disc that provides an aficionado’s snapshot of an artist’s catalog. In this case the anthologies turn from the studio to the stage, pulling together tracks from an artist’s live repertoire, generally all previously released, but in a few cases adding previously unreleased items. As with the Playlist collections, the Setlist discs aren’t greatest hits packages; instead, they forgo some obvious catalog highlights to give listeners a chance to hear great, lesser-known songs from the artist’s stage act.

Inexplicably, Blue Oyster Cult’s entry in the series doesn’t include the booklet on disc. Instead, the cardboard slipcase provides a URL from which the booklet (as a PDF) can be viewed and downloaded. Once retrieved it provides liner notes from Lenny Kaye and detailed credits of the tracks’ origins. Many are pulled from the group’s previous live albums, On Your Feet Or On Your Knees, Some Enchanted Evening, Extraterrestrial Live, but the set also includes a promo-only version of “Godzilla” recorded in 1977, a 1981 take of “Flaming Telepaths” that was available on a British 12-inch single, and a previously unreleased 1979 version of “The Vigil” recorded in Berkeley, California. Taken together they provide a good view of the band’s live sound from their key years of 1974 through 1981.

BOC is a classic album-oriented rock band, placing only two singles on the Top 40 while scoring gold albums, minting FM turntable hits and turning itself into a solid arena draw. Their biggest single, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” is included here in a 1981 performance, but it’s the album tracks and the hard-charging jams that really excite the crowd. Their music reflects a number of improvisational threads, including San Francisco and Southern rock, but with a touch of prog-rock changes and a heavy metallic edge. Fans of the band’s carefully crafted studio albums may find themselves bewildered by these elongated versions (there are some Tap-like moments here), but if the live rock album boom of the 1970s is your cup of tea, this is a good sampler of BOC’s stage charms. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]