Tales of the Psychic Wars, Vol. 1

What to say? The first of two volumes of archival live material -- originally recorded for radio broadcast (and edited that way) reveal Blue Öyster Cult as a major concert draw. Tales of the Psychic Wars, Vol. 1 contains a concert recorded in New York City in 1981 with the original lineup and featuring the great Albert Bouchard on drums in one of his last gigs with the band. Musically, the 1981 show (part of the Fire of Unknown Origin tour) has its moments -- "Burnin' for You," remains soulful and has great guitar work by Buck Dharma Roeser and a fine vocal by Eric Bloom. The title track from Fire is simply bad, and Bloom blows the vocal big time. "Joan Crawford" is at its theatrical and campy best. The older material, "Hot Rails to Hell," from Tyranny and Mutation, is raucous and wooly , and "Me 262" from Secret Treaties is dynamite. The versions of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," are fine emotional reads with great vocals and guitar work, and Allen Lanier's keyboards don't overwhelm. And for a song that has been played so much, it still has plenty of fire in it. Not so for "Godzilla," which was tossed off . This gig features two covers that became BÖC staples: Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" and the Doors' "Roadhouse Blues." They have a crackling energy and spark across the board, and there is an argument that BÖC made these tunes their own, as evidenced by these performances.