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LYRICS FROM "(DON'T FEAR) THE REAPER"
All our times have come,
Here but now they're gone.
Seasons don't fear the reaper,
Nor do the wind and the sun or the rain . . .
We can be like they are!
Come on baby—don't fear the reaper . . .
Baby take my hand—don't fear the reaper . . .
We'll be able to fly—don't fear the reaper . . .
Baby I'm your man.
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Album Review: One might argue that a "best-of album" is not necessarily the same as a "greatest-hits album." In the case of this collection—Don't Fear The Reaper: The Best of Blue Oyster Cult—the term "greatest-hits album" is a better characterization, despite the title. To truly get the best of Blue Oyster Cult, you would need to get at least five of their original studio albums—the first album, Tyranny and Mutation, Secret Treaties, Spectres, and
Mirrors—and maybe more. Still, this best-of album does capture most of the true classics from the five mentioned albums, and it does a decent job of plucking the better tracks from other BOC albums, too. Top picks include the dark mega-hit "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," and a number of other songs that also got good radio play in their time, including the later hits "Take Me Away" and "Shooting Shark," as well as two other
monster hits, "Godzilla" and "Burnin' For You." It also manages to throw in some of Blue Oyster Cult's lesser-known greats, like the elegant, hypnotic "I Love The Night"; the eerily excellent "Black Blade"; and the early classics "Flaming Telepaths," "Astronomy" and "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll." If I could have chosen the songs for this CD, I would have included a few missing "best BOC songs"—take your pick from
"Nosferatu," "Wings Wetted Down," "Career of Evil," "The Vigil," "Golden Age of Leather," or "Fireworks"—in place of a few of the lesser songs on the CD. Still, best-of discs tend to end up with the songs the fans liked most, not the songs that music critics liked most, and of all the single-disc BOC collections out there, this one does the best job of draining the essence from Blue Oyster Cult's long career.
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