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Categories ROCK & POPULAR Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties - 180g LP
Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties - 180g LP
Product no.: KC32858In stock
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AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head
Speakers Corner / Columbia KC 32858 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl
AAA 100% Analogue - Limited Edition - KC 32858 Columbia
Mastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner - Pressed at Pallas Germany
Speakers Corner 30 Years Pure Analogue This LP is an Entirely Analogue Production
The '70s were not known for fine recordings, and this album from 1974 is no exception. Even with the fine treatment given by Speakers Corner, the sound is flat, muddy and compressed, with little high-end extension and paltry bass -- par for the course back then and especially surprising for an album recorded at Columbia‘s legendary 30th Street studios. Furthermore, the vocals are pushed way back in the mix, making the crusty lyrics, such as from the album’s lead track, "Career of Evil," courtesy of poet and punk goddess Patti Smith (try "I'd like to do it to your daughter on a dirt road"), almost unintelligible over a murky, deep-in-the-mix organ. I’m sure this Speakers Corner reissue renders Secret Treaties as good as it has ever sounded -- and ever will sound. But you can't turn a turnip into a strawberry. This Germany-based label has lavished their usual care and attention to detail here: an all-analog production chain, faithful reproduction of the original cover art and insert, a nice facsimile of the red-on-black Columbia label and a perfectly flat slab of pristine, noise-free vinyl. - The Audio Beat
Back in the days of hard rock and surrounded by fierce competitors with such great names as the Doors, Black Sabbath and the Rolling Stones, a band had to attract attention with far more than histrionic pathos, biker boogie, an adept lead guitarist and a sharp-tongued singer. The band Blue Öyster Cult, founded on Long Island in 1971, possessed all this and much more, relating short scenarios in their lyrics, which conjured up people’s imagination. Rolling Stone magazine enthused that it was »like listenin’ to Hitchcock and Kubrick swap stories about their wet dreams«, and that the group »mix aesthetics and ass-kicking rock to such good advantage
.
In their third studio album "Secret Treaties", BÖC reached the pinnacle of their musical evolution with such memorable songs as "Career Of Evil", "Subhuman" and "Astronomy". The lyrics have literary value but are certainly not intended for sensitive souls – the phrases are direct and intentionally drily articulated. The music is as blatant and extroverted as the lyrics: the guitar sound is steely and straightforward, occasionally padded out with a see-sawing Hammond groove, and topped again and again by wonderfully rough string solos that speak the language of hard, merciless and full-bodied rock.
While the speed-freak adrenaline heaviness and shrouded occult mystery of Tyranny and Mutation is the watermark for Blue Öyster Cult's creative invention, it is Secret Treaties that is widely and critically regarded as the band's classic. Issued in 1974, Secret Treaties is the purest distillation of all of BÖC's strengths. Here the songs are expansive, and lush in their textures. The flamboyance is all here, and so are the overdriven guitar riffs provided by Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom. But there is something else, texturally, that moves these songs out from the blackness and into the shadows. Perhaps it's the bottom-heavy mix by producer and lyricist Sandy Pearlman, with Allen Lanier's electric piano and Joe Bouchard's bass coming to rest in an uneasy balance with the twin-guitar attack.
Perhaps it's in the tautness of songwriting and instrumental architectures created by drummer Albert Bouchard, Bloom, and Don Roeser (Buck Dharma). Whatever it is, it offers the Cult a new depth and breadth. While elements of psychedelia have always been a part of the band's sound, it was always enfolded in proto-metal heaviness and biker boogie. Here, BÖC created their own brand of heavy psychedelic noir to diversify their considerably aggressive attack. Listen to "Subhuman" or "Dominance and Submission." Their minor chord flourishes and multi-tracked layered guitars and Bouchard's constantly shimmering cymbals and snare work (he is the most underrated drummer in rock history) and elliptical lyrics -- that Pearlman put out in front of the mix for a change -- added to the fathomless dread and mystery at the heart of the music.
Elsewhere, on "Cagey Cretins" and "Harvester of Eyes" (both with lyrics by critic Richard Meltzer), the razor-wire guitar riffs were underscored by Lanier's organ, and their sci-fi urgency heightened by vocal harmonies. But it is on "Flaming Telepaths," with its single-chord hypnotic piano line that brings the lyric "Well, I've opened up my veins too many times/And the poison's in my heart in my heart and in my mind/Poison's in my bloodstream/Poison's in my pride/I'm after rebellion/I'll settle for lives/Is it any wonder that my mind is on fire?" down into the maelstrom and wreaks havoc on the listener. It's a stunner, full of crossing guitar lines and an insistent, demanding rhythmic throb. The set closes with the quark strangeness of "Astronomy," full of melancholy, dread, and loss that leaves the listener unsettled and in an entirely new terrain, having traveled a long way from the boasting rockery of "Career of Evil" that began the journey. It's a breathless rock monolith that is all dark delight and sinister pleasure.
While the Cult went on to well-deserved commercial success with Agents of Fortune an album later, the freaky inspiration that was offered on their debut, and brought to shine like a black jewel on Tyranny and Mutation, was fully articulated as visionary on Secret Treaties.
Recording: 1974 by Tim Geelan and Jerry Smith
Production: Murray Krugman and Sandy Pearlman
Musicians:
Eric Bloom - vocals, keyboard, guitar
Allen Lanier - keyboard, guitar, synth
Donald 'Buck Dharma' Roeser - guitar, vocals
Joe Bouchard - bass, vocals
Albert Bouchard - drums, vocals
Selections
1. Career of Evil
2. Subhuman
3. Dominance and Submission
4. ME 262
5. Cagey Cretins
6. Harvester of Eyes
7. Flaming Telepaths
8. Astronomy
25 Years pure Analogue
Are your records completely analogue?
Yes! This we guarantee!
As a matter of principle, only analogue masters are used, and the necessary cutting delay is also analogue. All our cutting engineers use only Neumann cutting consoles, and these too are analogue. The only exception is where a recording has been made – either partly or entirely – using digital technology, but we do not have such items in our catalogue at the present time
Are your records cut from the original masters?
In our re-releases it is our aim to faithfully reproduce the original intentions of the musicians and recording engineers which, however, could not be realised at the time due to technical limitations. Faithfulness to the original is our top priority, not the interpretation of the original: there is no such thing as a “Speakers Corner Sound”. Naturally, the best results are obtained when the original master is used. Therefore we always try to locate these and use them for cutting. Should this not be possible, – because the original tape is defective or has disappeared, for example – we do accept a first-generation copy. But this remains an absolute exception for us.
Who cuts the records?
In order to obtain the most faithful reproduction of the original, we have the lacquers cut on the spot, by engineers who, on the whole, have been dealing with such tapes for many years. Some are even cut by the very same engineer who cut the original lacquers of the first release. Over the years the following engineers have been and still are working for us: Tony Hawkins, Willem Makkee, Kevin Gray, Maarten de Boer, Scott Hull, and Ray Staff, to name but a few.
At the beginning of the ‘90s, in the early days of audiophile vinyl re-releases, the reissue policy was fairly straightforward. Companies such as DCC Compact Classics, Mobile Fidelity, Classic Records and others, including of course Speakers Corner, all maintained a mutual, unwritten code of ethics: we would manufacture records sourced only from analogue tapes.
Vinyl’s newfound popularity has led many other companies to jump on the bandwagon in the hope of securing a corner of the market. Very often they are not so ethical and use every imaginable source from which to master: CDs, LPs, digital files and even MP3s.
Even some who do use an analogue tape source employ a digital delay line, a misguided ’80s and ‘90s digital technology that replaces the analogue preview head originally used to “tell” the cutter head in advance what was about to happen musically, so it could adjust the groove “pitch” (the distance between the grooves) to make room for wide dynamic swings and large low frequency excursions. Over time analogue preview heads became more rare and thus expensive.
So while the low bit rate (less resolution than a 16 bit CD) digital delay line is less expensive and easier to use than an analogue “preview head”, its use, ironically, results in lacquers cut from the low bit rate digital signal instead of from the analogue source!
Speakers Corner wishes to make clear that it produces lacquers using only original master tapes and an entirely analogue cutting system. New metal stampers used to press records are produced from that lacquer. The only exceptions are when existing metal parts are superior to new ones that might be cut, which includes our release of “Elvis is Back”, which was cut by Stan Ricker or several titles from our Philips Classics series, where were cut in the 1990s using original master tapes by Willem Makkee at the Emil Berliner Studios. In those cases we used only the original “mother” to produce new stampers.
In addition, we admit to having one digital recording in our catalogue: Alan Parsons’ “Eye in the Sky”, which was recorded digitally but mixed to analogue tape that we used to cut lacquers.
In closing, we want to insure our loyal customers that, with but a few exceptions as noted, our releases are “AAA”— analogue tape, an all analogue cutting system, and newly cut lacquers.
PALLAS
Audiophile Vinyl - Made in Germany For over 60 years the family business in the third generation of the special personal service and quality "Made by Pallas" is known worldwide. Our custom PVC formulation produces consistently high pressing quality with the lowest surface noise in the industry. Our PVC complies with 2015 European environmental standards and does not contain toxic materials such as Lead, Cadmium or Toluene. Our vinyl is both audiophile and eco-grade!
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