Dopo la deludente prova fornita con Mirrors (’79), album eccessivamente aperto al soft rock della west coast, i Blue Öyster Cult entrarono nella fase più critica della loro decennale attività, dovendo decidere se proseguire nella loro personale conversione al pop rock, enfatizzando il percorso iniziato con Agents of Fortune (’76), o tornare alle proprie radici, all’hard rock oscuro e viscerale che aveva contraddistinto la prima parte della loro carriera.
Cultösaurus Erectus (’80), conferma il momento difficile della band, trattandosi di un album di compromesso, in cui l’attitudine leggera degli ultimi lavori del gruppo viene parzialmente abbandonata a favore di un prepotente hard rock, suonato con eccelsa competenza e prodotto, in maniera estremamente professionale, da quel Martin Birch che, nei primi anni ’70, aveva contribuito ad edificare il muro del suono dei Deep Purple. Come tutti gli album di passaggio, anche Cultösaurus Erectus risente delle incertezze di fondo della band e della difficoltà dei BÖC a ricollocarsi su una scena musicale ormai presidiata dai gruppi più giovani ed aggressivi, provenienti soprattutto da oltremanica, in cui l’estetica del Culto sembra un po’ sbiadita, pur essendo di gran lunga il miglior lavoro prodotto dal gruppo sin dai tempi del menzionato Agents of Fortune.
L’album si apre con l’eccellente Black Blade, in cui i classici temi fantascientifici del gruppo si mescolano alle rinnovate sonorità impresse da Birch, con le chitarre di Roeser a tessere una ritmica sghemba e stralunata: il cantato di Bloom torna ai vecchi passaggi teatrali e recitati, fino all’implosivo finale, con tanto di voce digitale ad accompagnare l’ascoltatore verso mondi ignoti. La successiva Monster, dal riff tirattissimo, si contraddistingue per gli improvvisi break dei fiati d’impronta jazzistica, per riprendere nel violento ed incisivo tema principale. Divine Wind, dai toni più compassati e dal chitarrismo quasi new wave, suona quasi come una Vera Gemini part. II, pur risultando, alla lunga, piuttosto ripetitiva: ciò non toglie che la malinconia e l’inquietudine che promanano dal pezzo restino a lungo impressi nella mente dell’ascoltatore. Deadline, contraddistinta da numerose aperture melodiche, risulta forse troppo legata al recente passato per piacere agli aficionados del gruppo, e appare destinata ad un’intensa programmazione sulle principali stazioni fm rock: tipico pezzo da autoradio, per intenderci. The Marshall Plane, con finte sovrincisioni live, prosegue con un rock un po’ stantio (ed un intermezzo centrale che cita espressamente Smoke on the Water…. tributo al produttore?), anche se il cantato di rimane sempre di prima classe, malvagio il giusto. Hungry Boys, segnato dall’insistito pianoforte di Lanier, è altra canzone piuttosto facile, e forse troppo simile, nello svolgimento, alla coeva Rough Boys di Pete Townshend (in Empty Glass). Assai simile alla precedente è Fallen Angel, melodica e trascinante, anche se, dall’ascolto, si intuisce il principale mutamento nello stile dei ‘Cult: l’inquietudine che trasudava dai solchi dei primi dischi, implicita e destinata a crescere con l’ascolto di quei brani, viene qui restituita nel suo profilo esteriore: ai sussurri dei primi album, fanno eco le grida di questi pezzi più recenti, intense ma forse artificiose, ripetizione di uno schema che sembra ormai stantio. Lips in the Hills risolleva fortunamente le sorti dell’album, grazie ad un riff secco, potente e stentoreo, ottima introduzione allo strepitante Bloom: quasi una nuova versione di Hot Rails to Hell, riattualizzata ai tempi. Unknown Tongue chiude l’album in maniera più che degna, dolente e morbosa al punto giusto, rinverdendo i fasti del passato, anche se, nell’ascoltatore più accorto, si è fatta ormai strada l’idea che il combo newyorkese abbia ormai dato il meglio.
Un album interessante ma non indispensabile dunque, inferiore al successivo Fire of Unknown Origin, ma sempre ben confezionato, con solito riguardo all’artwork di copertina. Il voto è un giusto mezzo, anche se il Cultösauro ci fa capire, non senza autoironia, come in quel 1980 gli Öyster Boys fossero ormai cresciuti, e, musicalmente parlando, fossero ormai preistoria.
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01 Black Blade (06:33)
I have this feeling that my luck is none too good
This sword here at my side don't act the way it should
Keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave
Hauling me faster and faster to an early, early grave
And it howls! It howls like hell!
I'm told it's my duty to fight against the law
That wizardry's my trade and I was born to wade through gore
I just want to be a lover, not a red-eyed screaming ghoul
I wish it'd picked another to be its killing tool
Black Blade, Black Blade
Forged a billion years ago
Black Blade, Black Blade
Killing so its power can grow
It's death from the beginning to the end of time
And I'm the cosmic champion and I hold a mystic sign
And the whole world's dying and the burden's mine
And the black sword keeps on killing 'til the end of time
Black Blade, Black Blade
Bringing chaos to the world we know
Black Blade, Black Blade
And it's using me to kill my friends
Black Blade, Black Blade
Getting stronger so the world will end
Black Blade, Black Blade
Forcing my mind to bend and bend
I am the Black Blade
Forged a million billion years ago
My cosmic soul it goes on for eternity
Carving out destiny
Bringing in the Lords of Chaos
Bringing up the Beasts of Hades
Sucking out the souls of heroes
Laying waste to knights and ladies
My master is my slave
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
You poor fucking humans
02 Monsters (05:11)
Keep goin' getting higher
New worlds waiting in the sky
Escape the feasting and the hunger
Not the monsters in our minds
Got our hands on a ship
And stole away into the night
The four of us and Pasha dear
She to steer and we to fight
Fed up with rules and regulations
No more laughter left on Earth
Outer Space our one salvation
May God help us in our search
We fled so fast that we grew younger
Put the ship on cruise control
We all did our best with Pasha
But not as good as good ol' Joe
Monsters, monsters, monsters.....In the night
Monsters, monsters, monsters.....In black and white
Monsters, monsters, monsters.....Out of control
Monsters, monsters, monsters.....When you're alone
Monsters, monsters, monsters.....Feed on themselves
Monsters, monsters, monsters.....On the road to hell
Love never should have entered
It was never in the plan
We were finally going to have her
And let Joe be damned!
Joe awoke from a stupor
It was clear something was wrong
He rushed in and found us with her
And in his rage he aimed his gun
One shot and it was over
Pasha smiled and then was gone...
04 Deadline (04:27)
You said you'd be here at a quarter to five
I didn't know if you were dead or alive
How long you think that I can sharpen my knife
I've got better things to do with my life
It's almost the deadline
Don't miss the deadline, darling
When all your bad dreams will come true
Don't miss the deadline
It's almost the deadline, darling
I wouldn't want it to happen to you
Phil screamed at him, and he hung up the phone
I wonder if he ever felt more alone
He never finished his coffee that night
The photo they showed David was a terrible sight
He missed the deadline
He passed the deadline, darling
And I believe that somehow he knew
He crossed the deadline
He passed the deadline, darling
There wasn't a thing anybody could do
Listen my darling, now, don't play with fire
You find a way to balance faith and desire
It's almost the deadline
Don't miss the deadline darling
Consequences are easily misconstrued
Don't miss the deadline
It's almost the deadline, darling
I couldn't live if it happened to you
05 The Marshall Plan (05:23)
In a dark horse town, in the middle of the west
Where Friday takes so long to arrive
Johnny wakes up dreaming turns on the radio
The he jumps up plays his guitar in the mirror
Starts his day with a rock and roll pose
Tonight's the night that Susie and he
Are going to a rock and roll show
Tonight! I'm gonna see some rock and roll!
Yeah, my favorite group is playing!
Tonight! I'm gonna see some rock and roll!
Well it's showtime and he's caught up in the crowd
He hates the crush but he loves the music loud
He reaches out and Susie's disappeared,
Now Johnny's standing on a corner after the show
Looking for his Susie dear
But there goes his Susie - in the band's limousine!
Yeah, well that's the way it goes at these rock and roll shows
That's the way it goes - it's rock and roll
That's the way it goes - it's rock and roll
Now Susie's gone, and Johnny hears the thunder
As he rolls another number and he counts
He counts the times he's felt himself to be the hero
'Cause ever since he was a boy
He's heard about adventure
As he looks into the mirror now he knows
He must be the star and play guitar like thunder
Find Susie at his rock and roll show
Boy, if I only had a good guitar and a big amp
Boy, it wouldn't be somebody else taking my girl away...tell ya
I know what I should do...I'll put an ad in the paper
Get a few other guys who want to play as much as I do
Tell ya, I ain't playin' no surf music
I'm gonna play some heavy music
I'm gonna play bad
I'm gonna play loud
I know just what I want it to sound like
It's gonna sound like...
It's gonna sound like...
This is Don Kirshner
And tonight on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
A new phenomenon in the music world
With six million albums to his credit in just two short years
My good friend, here's Johnny!
Now Johnny became a legend in his time
Found it easier to live in pain
Half a hero in a hard-hearted game
Now it's showtime and he's caught up in the flow
He hates the rush but he needs the music so
Still he reaches out but Susie's disappeared
Well that's the way it goes at these rock and roll shows
It's rock and roll
That's the way it goes - It's rock and roll
08 Lips in the Hills (04:25)
I am gripped by what I cannot tell
Have I slipped or have I merely fell
I feel gypped my senses telling lies
I've been stiffed by serpent's soundless cries
Up in the hills
An apparition
Filling me
With superstition
A fiery night the night that I saw,
The night that I saw
The night that I saw
Lips Lips
Lips in the hills in the hills
Lips Lips
Lips in the hills
In the hills
I'm so flipped snared by hidden claws
I've been t-tripped I'm crawling on all fours
I've been stripped the insulation's gone
Wish I'd slept to waking in the morn
Up in the sky
Beyond the chasm
My eyes behold
A rare phantasm
The Godless night, the night that I saw
The night that I saw
The night that I saw
Lips Lips
Lips in the hills in the hills
Lips Lips
Lips in the hills
In the hills
I am gripped by what I cannot tell
Have I slipped or have I merely fell
I feel gypped my senses telling lies
I've been stiffed by serpent's soundless cries
Up in the hills
An appariton
Filling me
With superstition
The Godless night
The night that I saw
The night that I saw
The night that I saw
Lips Lips
Lips in the hills in the hills
Lips Lips
Lips in the hills
In the hills
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