HIGH BIAS -- July 22, 2001 -- Blue Oyster Cult, Tony Hill, Mellow, Mint, The Pee Wee Fist, Rosa Chance Well

Album reviews of new music by:

Tony Hill: Hill picks up where the late 60s left off, writing and playing his bluesy acid rockers with an uncommon amount of taste. (more)
Mellow: Mellow leader Patrick Woodcock is a former schoolmate and associate of Air's Nicolas Godin, but while the two bands share a certain analog aesthetic, they're conceptually quite different. (more)
Mint: Brooklyn's boisterous Mint revel in the sound of the power pop trio on their second album American Style. (more)
The Pee Wee Fist: Music strong enough to make the issue of nomenclature (nearly) irrelevant. (more)
Rosa Chance Well: Melodies and tones may induce a nagging familiarity, but they work so well together in context you'll never put your finger on it. (more)

Refreshed

BLUE ÖYSTER CULT
Blue Öyster Cult
Tyranny and Mutation
Secret Treaties
Agents of Fortune
(Columbia/Legacy)
It's easy to underestimate Blue Öyster Cult. Like many great bands from the 70s, BÖC shifted with the winds of commercial fortune when the 80s hit, mutating from a quirky heavy rock quintet into what's essentially a talented but predictable pop metal trio with a rotating rhythm section. It may be hard to fathom watching the band grind out their AOR hits on the stage at some state fair in Middle America, but BÖC was once a musical force of surprising creativity and awesome potency.

After a couple of years under the names Soft White Underbelly and Stalk-Forrest Group, the quintet that became the Cult solidified in 1971 with the lineup of singer/guitarists Eric Bloom and Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, drummer/singer Albert Bouchard, his bassist brother Joe and keyboardist/guitarist Allen Lanier. Armed with their collective skill at composing memorable riffs and sophisticated melodies and the whacked-out lyrics of their manager Sandy Pearlman and critic Richard Meltzer, BÖC released a spate of now-classic albums that freely mixed bludgeoning boogie, psychedelic melody, horrific imagery and a satirical sense of humor. This set of remastered reissues shows the band at its sinister best. (more)

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