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Blue \u00d6yster Cult\u2019s classic lineup spotlighted on Ghost Stories<\/i>, a new AI-meets-archives set<\/b><\/p>\nBlue \u00d6yster Cult\u2019s classic lineup spotlighted on Ghost Stories<\/i>, a new AI-meets-archives set<\/b><\/p>\n
Masters of what used to be called metal (known these days as melodic hard rock), Long Island\u2019s Blue \u00d6yster Cult has been making records and touring since the late 1960s. B\u00d6C has a well-earned reputation for crafting intelligent, witty lyrics, wedding those to hard-as-nails yet catchy melodies. The group scored its first major commercial break with a live document, 1975\u2019s On Your Feet or on Your Knees<\/i>. The next year, the band broke through in a big way with the mega-hit album Agents of Fortune<\/i>, propelled by its single, the now-classic \u201cDon\u2019t Fear the Reaper.\u201d Many more live and studio albums followed.<\/p>\n
The group enjoyed a sustained creative peak in the late \u201870s and early 1980s. And it was during that period that B\u00d6C let tape roll during various rehearsal sessions. But with no plans to release the songs they had laid down, those tapes were all but forgotten. Yet recently, B\u00d6C rescued that unheard material from obscurity, and through the wonders of artificial intelligence technology, they sought to bring the audio up to releasable standards. Though the resulting tracks feature some 21st<\/sup> century tweaks, the songs on Ghost Stories<\/i> likely represent the final set of previously-unheard material from Blue \u00d6yster Cult\u2019s original lineup. I spoke with guitarist Buck Dharma and lead singer Eric Bloom about the new record.<\/p>\n Bill Kopp: When I interviewed both of you in 2020 around the time of the release of <\/b>The Symbol Remains<\/b><\/i>, you made the point the that in general, making albums isn\u2019t really financially rewarding for Blue \u00d6yster Cult. With that in mind, what led to the release of <\/b>Ghost Stories<\/b><\/i>? <\/b><\/p>\n Buck Dharma: The label was clamoring for something new, and we obliged them by coming up with Ghost Stories<\/i>. And it was a big surprise that Ghost Stories<\/i> sounds like a lost B\u00d6C record from the day. The songs that are on it didn\u2019t make the source records of the time [Mirrors<\/i>, Cult\u00f6saurus Erectus<\/i>, Fire of Unknown Origin<\/i> and The Rev\u00f6lution by Night<\/i>], but that was mainly because you could only fit four or five songs on a vinyl side. If [those albums] had been [originally issued on] CD, they would have been on those records at that time.<\/p>\n Eric Bloom: We wanted to give them something that was worthwhile, without beating our brains out writing a whole new record. Our front-of-house sound man George Geranios is retired, and he\u2019s been sitting on some of this stuff. He talked to our manager and said, \u201cThis is the best way to get some of it out in a professional way.\u201d So Richie Castellano gave it the professional polishing it needed.<\/p>\n Since so much time has passed, when these tapes were brought back to you, did you even remember these songs?<\/b><\/p>\n Eric Bloom: I did remember the songs after listening, but a lot of what I did forget was: \u201cWho wrote this?\u201d I did remember, of course, that \u201cCherry\u201d was a Buck song. But when you\u2019re sitting in a room and writing a song \u2013 or somebody brings in a song and you add something to it \u2013 the credits change. So we did have to put our heads together by telephone, email or whatever, and we had to go over this: \u201cWho added the bridge to this? What are the writing credits on the song?\u201d The songs weren\u2019t copyrighted back then because they weren\u2019t used for anything. To use the vernacular, these were outtakes.<\/p>\n Did any of those songs get as far as being worked on in the studio during that era?<\/b><\/p>\n Buck Dharma: Not in the 24 track studios, no. They\u2019re all pre-production recordings by our sound engineer. Some of them were two track, and some of them were eight track, half inch. Where the multitrack tapes existed, we used the multitracks, and where they didn\u2019t, we used the stereo mixdowns, and then deconstructed those with the AI technology of today.<\/p>\n Eric Bloom: Most of these songs were worked up in that time [\u201879-\u201983]. They didn\u2019t quite make it, or we couldn\u2019t decide how they should be used, so they sort of fell by the wayside. We were rehearsing at George Geranios\u2019 loft, and luckily he ran tape.<\/p>\n These analog tapes were 40 years old. Did they physically require restoring?<\/b><\/p>\n Buck Dharma: Yes. George baked the tapes when he transferred them. Some were damaged because they weren\u2019t adequately stored over the years. The tape formulations of the \u201880s were not as durable as some of the older tape formulations. A lot of our masters were done on Ampex 456, which turned out not to be a durable medium. The binders of the magnetic material tend to gum up with time. They attracted moisture; it\u2019s notoriously problematic.<\/p>\n Why was the decision made to demix, remix and overdub these tracks?<\/b><\/p>\n Buck Dharma: In some cases, it was to restore deteriorated tape recordings, and in other cases, just to enhance them. The 2024 mix of the record gave Richie Castellano the ability to improve the sonics, the ambiance and the effects of today.<\/p>\n Eric Bloom: Richie, our very bright young man in our band, got the software that has AI built into it. That allows us to take stereo tracks and separate bass from drums. As Richie explains it, we got the dime store version of the AI software; we got better [instrument] isolation, and it allowed us to overdub digitally. For instance, \u201cSo Supernatural\u201d has present-day Joe Bouchard on it. The vocal from back then had deteriorated too far, so Joe came in a couple of months ago and came in and re-sang. None of my vocals are new.<\/p>\n