In what is likely to be the final album in the illustrious career of New York hard rock legends Blue Öyster Cult, the band has decided to release a collection of unused and unreleased tracks, an 'odds & sods' as you will (to quote another noteworthy band), mostly culled from the late '70s and the early '80s. While to some, this must come as a disappointment after the glorious return to form that was The Symbol Remains from a few years ago, longtime fans hoping that the band would dust out all remaining tracks from the vaults, that's essentially what you get here. Most of these twelve tracks on what is being called Ghost Stories come across as unused demos, re-mixed and de-mixed by current member Richie Castellano and Steve Schenck, using some AI technology to bring these songs to a fuller life. Fans of the classic line-up of BOC that includes Eric Bloom, Albert Bouchard, Joe Bouchard, Buck Dharma, and Allen Lanier, will be happy to know that all appear on these old tracks, with some additional guitar, keys, and vocals from Castellano.
While nothing here screams 'classic BOC', there are a couple of fun songs to be found. "Late Night Street Fight" is a grower, a hook-laden hard rocker that gets better with each listen, and "Cherry", despite its 'woaa oohhh ohhhhh' at the beginning, is actually a crisp Buck rocker with a catchy chorus and some tasty guitars. "So Supernatural" might be the strongest song here, a creepy, atmospheric rocker, sung by Joe Bouchard, and a song that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Spectres or Fire of Unknown Origin. We've all heard the band playing covers of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" and "Kick Out the Jams" in a live setting before; here you get the studio demos...fun renditions for sure. "Soul Jive" sounds like a leftover Doors song, and not all that interesting, while "Gun" is another of my favorites here, a fast paced hard rock song sung by Albert, and including another strong chorus. "Shot in the Dark" is sung by Eric (we don't hear enough of him here), and is more of a bluesy boogie, "The Only Thing" sees the band cranking out some atmospheric, dreamy space-pop, complete with a soaring Buck vocal and nice use of synths and organ, and "Money Machine" is another Joe Bouchard hard rocker...decent enough, but somewhat generic sounding. The final two tracks are "Don't Come Running to Me", a dark heavy rocker with eerie keys and big, bold riffs (is that Eric on vocals?), and the album closes with the cover of The Beatles "If I Fell", which was recorded in 2016...that one should have stayed in the vaults in my view.
Overall, nothing top-shelf here on Ghost Stories, but a few decent curiosities for those who want to have everything the band ever laid to tape over their career. While it would have been nice to have a final release be a follow-up to the excellent The Symbol Remains, it seems that this album is more of a 'this is all we got left, thanks for the ride' statement to the fans, which, will have to suffice.
Track Listing
1) Late Night Street Fight
2) Cherry
3) So Supernatural
4) We Gotta Get Out of This Place
5) Soul Jive
6) Gun
7) Shot in the Dark
8) The Only Thing
9) Kick Out the Jams
10) Money Machine
11) Don't Come Running To Me
12) If I Fell
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