Got to throw this in early before work. 70's: Spectres 80's: Cultosaurus Erectus (w/ Birch) / Imaginos (tie) 90's: Heaven Forbid 00's: Curse Of The Hidden Mirror (stellar disc) 20's: The Symbol Remains (would like to think Allen Lanier would've dug this) Thanks Pete, Ryan and Craig, I'll watch the video this evening. Cheers!
Awesome BOC story: In the summer of 2019 they were booked to play the firefighter's carnival in the Western NY town of Hilton - a village of like 5,000 people 25 minutes west of Rochester. The show was on a Tuesday night and I was feeling bummed about such a legendary band playing a setting like that. I was expecting there to be an embarrassing scene with like a handful of people next to a ferris wheel. We got there and the place was jam packed. There must have been about 2,000 people in the sectioned-off area where the stage was. The crowd was totally into it, the band was totally on and my friends and I all left there feeling really pumped up by the vibe of the show.
I recently went through their discography and made up four CDs of all my favourite songs, going in chronological order. My son was never much into them, so I gave him copies and he said he really likes them.
There is not one record by this band I do not like and it was a tough call to pick some but here it goes: '70s - BOC [The record that got me hooked on the band, still possibly the most played one to date] '80s - Imaginos [I know the story behind it but still is included on lists of official band releases] '90s - Heaven Forbid [Even with the 'dont buy me' cover it is good music] 2000's - Curse of the Hidden Mirror 2020 - The Symbol Remains [Richie, Danny and Jules provide such solid support for Buck and Eric] I know concert records were not included but there are two that are in a dead heat tie for me - Live IN The West 1975 and A Long Day's Night.
Blue Öyster Cult (1972). Cultösaurus Erectus (1980). Heaven Forbid (1998). A Long Day's Night (2002). The Symbol Remains (2020). "Cultösaurus Erectus" was the first record I bought when I was 8 years old so it holds a special place for me. That's not the only reason but 'Black Blade', 'Monsters', 'Deadline', 'The Marshall Plan', and 'Hungry Boys' are pretty bad ass songs.
My favorite band of all time. My thoughts echo what Pete, Ryan, and Craig said. Not one bad album and all albums sound so different from the next and each song within different because of different singers and song writers. Just epic material from dark and spooky, science fiction, macabre, fantasy, and quirky too! What's not to love? First song that got more into them as a lifelong fan was Veteran of the Psychic Wars off the Heavy Metal Soundtrack. No turning back after that! Picking is near impossible but: 70s - Agents of Fortune (close second, Spectres) These are two go-to October Halloween 🎃 time albums. 80's - Fire of Unknown Origin (the perfect rock album for the early 80's and my favorite from them as it epitomized my early teens) 90's - Heaven Forbid (super solid especially with See You In Black and Harvest Moon - 2 of their best) 2000's - The Symbol Remains - epic come back album. Mix of super heavy and catchy poppy stuff. Secret Road and Fight are 2 sleepers on the album. Just fantastic catalogue of the most unique rock anywhere ever. How can they be beat?
The live version of Veteran of the Psychic Wars from Extraterrestrial Live is absolutely mind blowing. If you could pick a live album as part of this series, that would be my pick for the 80s
70s: Secret Treaties with Spectres being a close second. The last 3 songs and especially Astronomy giving the nod to Secret Treaties. 80s: Fire of Unknown Origin - My favourite album by the band, a perfect album from start to finish and in my all-time Top-10. Also one of my most played albums ever. A classic! 90s: Heaven Forbid: A good album, very hard rocking. Harvest Moon is a great moody song. 00s/10s: Definitely The Symbol Remains: The Alchemist is phantastic! The whole album is quite diverse and the new players fit well. Hopefully there will be another one!
Saw BOC for the first time in ‘78 on the Spectres tour in Columbus, GA with the full laser show. Incredible. Two songs from that show made the Some Enchanted Evening live album.
Can we all agree that the Symbol Remains is SURPRISINGLY KICK-ASS!!! Not any surprise that they are great but no one had any right to expect such a solid album. I can't wait to see this live. The Alchemists will be epic -BÖC still bangin'.🤘😎🤘
They may have released very few albums in the last few decades, but I really feel that they have still released strong albums in their more recent discography 70s. Secret Treaties 80s Cultosaurus Erectus 90s Heaven Forbid 2000 +. The Symbol Remains
Cool show! BÖC are my second favourite hard rock band. 70s - Secret Treaties 80s - Fire of Unknown Origin (close second: Cultosaurus) 90s - Heaven Forbid since 2000 - The Symbol Remains This band is so unique. They manage to combine hard rock, heavy metal approaches, pop, progressive rock and humorous, occult lyrics and it always makes sense. Buck Dharma is one of the most underrated guitar players in my opinion.
I like this format a lot. Not too many people & it doesn't go on for hours. I find when its a smaller group I tend to listen closer to what you guys are talking about & it's more interesting because of it.
70's Mirrors (runner up: Spectres) 80's Fire Of Unknown Origin (runner up: Imaginos) 90's Heaven Forbid (runner up: Bad Channels Soundtrack) 00's The Columbia Album Collection (runner up: The Symbol Remains)
The Whole Weekend, I was listening to Blue Oyster Cult. 70's - Tyranny and Mutation (Hard Choice) 80's - Fire of Unknown Origin (Another Hard Choice) 90's - Heaven Forbid 00's - Curse of the Hidden Mirror 20's - Symbol Remains That's All Floks!
Saw BOC in a bar in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada) about 1986. My ears rang for days. Also the Heavy Metal soundtrack is amazing! 1970s: Secret Treaties 1980s: Fire of Unknown Origin 1990s: Heaven Forbid 2000s: The Symbol Remains
Glad to see you, Pardo, defending "Curse of the Hidden Mirror"..... Stone of Love, Eye of the Hurricane, Dance On Stilts, The Old Gods Return, Out of the Darkness...all great Top-Tier BOC tunes, along with several other goodies. Very wrongly maligned album. Anyhow, it's always good to see BOC fans together discussing this phenomenal band without a dud album in the pack. Cheers!
70s-- Tyranny and Mutation (My favorite BOC!) '80s-- Fire of Unknown Origin (but I do love "The Revolution by Night" much more than many fans!) '90s-and '00s-- Honestly, I still need to hear these albums (I know, I know, hehe) '20s-- The Symbol Remains (Best album of 2020, for me, by any band!)
70s - Agents of Fortune 80s - Fire of Unknown Origin 90s - Heaven Forbid 00s - The Symbol Remains The new album is fantastic. That Was Me and The Alchemist hooked me immediately. That Long Days Night live DVD From 2002 was great as well. Shame the original version lacked Joan Crawford and Astronomy, which at least the remaster that was released in the past six months apparently does?
I’m so happy to see live for SPECTRES, also my favorite BOC album. Later decades, again another band whose material I’ve failed to explore that deep and need to. If you want to hear good IMAGINOS stories, check out on RUclips the Zetro’s Toxic Vault episode with Marc Biedermann from Blind Illusion - who also plays a few solos on IMAGINOS. Apparently his solos were composites of multiple takes, a total cut and paste job. Really fascinating to hear.
Ive said it here before, but i only got into this band like 5-6 years ago! Quickly became a favorite though...easily one of my top 5 bands from the 70s.
BOC is one of my fav bands of all time so chosing a fav album each decade is going to be tough but here is mine anyway: Tyranny and mutation (1973) Hot rails to hell and seven screaming diz busters are so good especially when performed live. Imaginos (1988) Underrated imo album from the band plenty to like here disapointing they didn't make a followup. Heaven forbid (1998) A bit uneven but love the shifts from heavy metal to soft rock really fun album dispite being a bit uneven here and there first half is amazing tho. Curse of the Hidden Mirror (2001) Great album but some of the songs suffer from some poor production and lack that bit of polish which stops some of the songs from being BOC classics. The symbol remains (2020) Brilliant return to form for the band definatley one of there best studio outputs imo good amounts of hard rock on display here and every member is on top form. My album of the year.
I agree Imaginos is very underrated. I guess the circumstances around it plus the idea that it could have been even better as a 'proper' BOC album, if all the original members and band were there and behind it...I can understand that, but it still ended up being really good in my opinion.
So cool that Ryan has seen them so much as they are a local band! Hope they get to the West Coast soon once again! Great discussion-ditto what everyone said!
God I love BOC, the most underrated rock band that's ever had platinum and gold albums. 70's: Tyranny & Mutation 80's: Fire of Unknown Origin 90's: Heaven Forbid 00's & 10's: The Symbol Remains
70's - Secret Treaties 80's - Imaginos 90's - Heaven Forbid 00's - The Symbol Remains I love Fire of Unknown Origin, but I gave the win to Imaginos by a nose. For anyone interested, Albert Bouchard has recorded and released his own version of Imaginos as he originally envisioned it with the track listing reshuffled and extra tracks added in. It's called Re-Imaginos, and it's an interesting listen. I won't say it's better than the official released version, but it will grow on you...if you give it a chance.
For me BOC has always been a 70's band for me, I did do a dive into the 80's albums and on to make my picks. BOC (T&M can take this spot on any given day) Cultösaurus Erectus Heaven Forbid (Heavy for sure!) The Symbol Remains (Great album!)
Pete, I know you get overwhelmed with requests for shows, and I try to requests to a minimum, but Favorite Albums Through the Decades with SAGA would be AMAZING! They have amazing albums in the 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's, 10's and even one this year, which you reviewed! Either way, keep up what you do, as your content is top shelf.
Great show on a great band and really enjoyed having Ryan and Craig in the co-captains chairs. Like them, my choice for the 70s would be my introduction to the band which is the Blue Oyster Cult eponymous debut which I bought on release. Bought because of the album cover but quickly know they were something special. Any 70s album would be a great choice. For the 80s and up, generally agree with the choices made by the Craig, Ryan and Pete. Thanks, guys, for another enjoyable Through The Decades episode.
Cheers Pete, Ryan and Craig. 70’s-Secret Treaties 80’s-Cultosaurus Erectus (My first BOC that I bought too Pete when it came out and still my sentimental favorite but Fire of Unknown Origin is so so close. Black Blade and Monsters are two of the best album opening tracks ever). 90’s-Heaven Forbid 00’s-The Symbol Remains ( Great comeback)
One of my top 10 bands of all time. I am in total agreement with Pete on his list, but to be honest, I think they did no bad album, over all. And I am so glad that their last album was so good... One of my favorite listens of the last months. Lets hope they do more in the future.
70’s: Mirrors (strange choice, I know, but I love the production and catchiness of the songs) 80’s: Cultosaurus Erectus 90’s: Heaven Forbid 2000’s-present: The Symbol Remains
I love Mirrors. The haunting backing vocals by Ellen Foley on "Lonely Teardrops" give me chills every time. And "the Great Sun Jester", "the Vigil", "I Am the Storm"...and "Dr. Music" (which it took me years to figure out was about BDSM...)...That one gets a lot of spins at my home.
1st got into BOC when I saw them live at Dunstable Civic Hall in 1981. They were great. My pick is: Agents of Fortune Fires of Unknown Origin (1st album I got) Heaven Forbid The Symbol Remains.
That was Albert's last show .. he arrived about 5 songs into the gig & got voted out afterwards, I saw them 2 days later at Donnington Park. You saw the better show (& the audio is on YT).
Great video Pete! Love what you post. I am a newer subscriber. 36-year-old rock/metal fan. 70s: Spectres 80s: Cultosaurus Erectus 90s: Heaven Forbid 00s: The Symbol Remains
70s- I’m pulling a Pardo, saying “Secret Treaties” and “Spectres” in a tie. The former is majestic and hook filled front to back; but I do love the Hammer like variable sounds, styles, and storylines permeating the latter. 80s - oof! This is tough. Fire is the best album of the decade, and kicks ass . . But right now I’m in a place where I’m feeling “Cultosaurus Erectus” above the rest and “Imaginos” in third. 90s - well it’s one of my all time favorite BÖC releases, and Heaven Forbid just owns! 00s-present: Symbol Remains. Not even a discussion.
Pretty traditional picks for me. I've had "Agents" since I was a little kid in some form or other and "Fire" for many years, but am 5ish years familiar with the extended catalog: 70s: Secret Treaties (just outstanding) 80s: Fire of Unknown Origin 90s: Heaven Forbid 00s+: The Symbol Remains (I play this all the time now) And it's painful to pick favorites, I like all of the albums for one reason or another. But have yet to play "Imaginos". Saving that one for a special occasion.
A band close to my heart, first time I saw them was Club Ninja tour Cardiff, UK back in 1985-6 then last time Bristol, UK only a few years ago. I hope it isn't the last time I get to see them. I can't pick my favourite albums, some are stronger than others but none are bad.
70s: Secret Treaties, a couple honorable mentions would be T&M, Spectres. 80s: Fire of Unknown Origin, Cultosaurus Erectus close second. 90s: Heaven Forbid, very underrated. Good heavy stuff on it. 2000s: Curse of the Hidden Mirror 2020s: The Symbol Remains
70s BOC (their psychedelic Underbelly/Stalk Forrest past + their metal future), 80s Imaginos (quasi reunion but also a prog metal nugget), 90s Heaven Forbid (Allen Lanier’s swansong), 00s Symbol (Al Bouchard’s cameo return on “That Was Me”’)
Post 80ies is easy. Both those albums are amazing. 70ies: Spectres (my first full album). And of course Fire of Unknown Origin for the 80ies. An absolute masterpiece. Top to bottom : perfection!
70s Tyranny And Mutation ( the album that me a lifelong fan. But ALL the 70s albums are worthy) 80s Cultosaurus Erectus (Tomorrow could be FOUO) 90s Heaven Forbid (Their heaviest album but uneven, pretty good) 2000s and beyond The Symbol Remains (Surprisingly excellent album, nice flow, it's long but feels right!)
This is a bit like asking a parent to pick their favorite child, but okay... '70s - Spectres (although if you ask me on a different day, I might choose the self-titled, Agents of Fortune, or even Mirrors -- I love all of BOC's '70s albums) '80s - Fire of Unknown Origin (although Cultosaurus Erectus is right up there) '90s - Heaven Forbid (by default) New Millennium - The Symbol Remains (such a great album; ranks right up there with the band's '70s-'80s output)
HEAVEN FORBID for me. SEE YOU IN BLACK IS ONE OF THE GREATEST HARD ROCK SONGS OF ALL TIME, ITS GOT A RIDE THE LIGHTNING LIKE VIBE TO IT. IF BOC AND METALLICA MELDED TOGETHER IT WOULD SOUND LIKE THAT. POWER BEHIND DESPAIR "is another classic...and there's many more. Epic, killer LP! Among BOC best.
Another great show. One of my all time favorite bands. I have a question for you guys Pete. Of these new live CD/DVD BOC have been releasing what is the best one to get?
Not sure if live albums are allowed so will rank my favourite studi albums fr each decade and where applicable a live album from the same decade - yet again very difficult to choose but this time not just the 70's but the 80's also 1970's - Spectres / Some Enchanted Evening - if live is allowed this pips Spectres 1980's - Cultosaurus Erectus - Fire of Unknown Origin is a very very close second 1990's - Heaven Forbid 2000's - Curse of the Hidden Mirror / A Long Days Night if live is allowed this would be no 1 2010's - The Symbol Remains As my list was done before the show I'll go with The Symbol remains for post 2000's.
70's : Secret treaties 80's: Fire Of Unknown Origin 90's: Heaven Forbid 00's: Curse of the Hidden Mirror 20's: The Symbol Remains. The lack of production after the 80's makes the last 4 decades pretty easy.
Love them all, impossible to make a list. Club Ninja is alot of fun, love the huge AOR production. Madness to the Method is a top BÖC track for me. On another topic. I'm still giggling that Alo is so sick, he bought a 35MM film print of the Black and Blue concert. Ha!
Thanks Guys, for this excellent BOC Album retrospective! This will really help me, admittedly, a "Casual BOC fan" go straight to the better material and not be "THAT GUY" who only listens to Godzilla and Don't Fear the Reaper over and over. haha :)
My favourite BÖC: *1970's:* 1) Mirrors / 2) Agents of Fortune *1980's:* 1) Fire of Unknown Origin / 2) Extraterrestrial Live / 3) The Revolution by Night *1990's:* Heaven Forbid *2000's:* The Symbol Remains
Great stuff! Can't mess with the 70s stuff My picks 70s-secret treaties 80s-fire of unknown origin 90s-heaven forbid 00s-Curse of the hidden mirror 20s-symbol remains
I made a late entry into BOC fandom....didn't enjoy their first 2 albums & really didn't identify with their catalog 'till the late seventies. 70's: Mirrors 80's: Fire Of An Unknown Origin 90's: Heaven Forbid after that,I hadn't listened to them 'till The AWESOME Symbol Remains was released in 2020. I do think many of their albums are under-appreciated....including Club Ninja & Imaginos.
I really like the fact that "The Symbol Remains" does have so much from other members especially Richie Castellano. Legacy bands without the classic line-up should bring in the new guys more overall. Had the album been just Eric & Buck sort of like "The Curse of the Hidden Mirror" I think it still would have been good but not great. Richie Castellano puts in some energy and fresh ideas in it all. Making the whole record more interesting. I get that his vocals might not suit everyone.. But honestly. If Allen, Albert and Joe did got to sing before.. Why not Richie Castellano now? It does make sense. I think some legacy bands have lost steam trying to sound like before when they clearly doesn't (singer is not a strong, strongest riffs are already done, solos aren't as interesting, many songs sound the same). This sound like the next step into the bands career.. Not a half step.
BOC is one of the greatest bands ever. Too bad people dont get them. My favs are 1970s-Secret Treaties(2nd place for me is the debut) 1980s-Revolution By Night 1990s-Heaven Forbid 2000s-The Symbol Remains
I’ve seen them 3 times in the last 2 years before the pandemic so I hope you have a good time, and they still got it all those years. Hopefully they play new tunes live!
70s: Secret Treaties 80s: Fire Of Unknown Origin 90s: Heaven Forbid (what else) Post 2000: The Symbol Remains No big surprise from me, but what can a guy do? 😸
These classic albums are so hard to do. You almost have to allow for maybe 3 in the 70's, due to classic nature of those times, and the quality output for those groups especially BOC, or any of the bands covered so far. The majority of their best material is in those classic albums in the 70's. Maybe a countdown, 3,2,1, ?? Just hate seeing so many great albums left off! Great idea, and makes for a quick show for sure.. as some of the later output was marginal. Kiss, prime example, 1 from the 70's? Basically the whole of the classic period, from start to Love Gun maybe! Then onward up. Tough challenge. Maybe a tweak, again great show! Long time viewer and continued supporter. Time for a Sea banquet, I'll make the trip to the Hudson Valley!!!
70’s: 1. Secret Treaties 2. Agents of Fortune 80’s: 1. Fire of Unknown Origin 2. Mirrors 90’s: 1. Heaven Forbid 00’s: 1. Curse of the Hidden Mirror 20’s: 1. The Symbol Remains (much better than the two released before it).
Their only album I can't get into is Curse of the Hidden Mirror. Ryan- Martin Popoff has a good book about Imaginos- The Flaming Telepaths. It's a timeline book and a wild collection of influences being tied together. There''s also an excellent video.on RUclips about Imaginos.
Too hard to pick a favorite from any decade. Tyranny & Mutation is the best of all. I once saw them playing in the Nuernberg Zeppelin Field, site of the Nazi rallies of the 1930s. Been a huge fan since '72.
Me too. That entire HM Soundtrack is solid but Veteran and Heavy Metal by Don Felder are my two favorites. I got into BOC right away after hearing and became obsessed! Haha
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Thank you for recognizing BOC. They need to be inducted into the R&R HOF!
Got to throw this in early before work.
70's: Spectres
80's: Cultosaurus Erectus (w/ Birch) / Imaginos (tie)
90's: Heaven Forbid
00's: Curse Of The Hidden Mirror (stellar disc)
20's: The Symbol Remains (would like to think Allen Lanier would've dug this)
Thanks Pete, Ryan and Craig, I'll watch the video this evening. Cheers!
70’s- Secret Treaties
80’s- Fire Of Unknown Origin
90’s- Heaven Forbid
00’s- Curse Of The Hidden Mirror
2020’s- Symbol Remains
same ranking here.
Awesome BOC story: In the summer of 2019 they were booked to play the firefighter's carnival in the Western NY town of Hilton - a village of like 5,000 people 25 minutes west of Rochester. The show was on a Tuesday night and I was feeling bummed about such a legendary band playing a setting like that. I was expecting there to be an embarrassing scene with like a handful of people next to a ferris wheel. We got there and the place was jam packed. There must have been about 2,000 people in the sectioned-off area where the stage was. The crowd was totally into it, the band was totally on and my friends and I all left there feeling really pumped up by the vibe of the show.
I recently went through their discography and made up four CDs of all my favourite songs, going in chronological order. My son was never much into them, so I gave him copies and he said he really likes them.
Love this band 🤘 One of all time favorites
70s Spectres (My favorite BÖC album)
80s Cultösaurus Erectus
90s Heaven Forbid
00s The Symbol Remains
Glad Spectres got a mention. My favorite BOC album.
Totally agree, a couple of albums like Treaties & FOUO may be "greater" but I love Spectres.
I seen them tour this album'78 Lakeland Florida,be bop deluxe opened.
Spectres is a pure gem!
Spectres just gets better after every listen.
There is not one record by this band I do not like and it was a tough call to pick some but here it goes:
'70s - BOC [The record that got me hooked on the band, still possibly the most played one to date]
'80s - Imaginos [I know the story behind it but still is included on lists of official band releases]
'90s - Heaven Forbid [Even with the 'dont buy me' cover it is good music]
2000's - Curse of the Hidden Mirror
2020 - The Symbol Remains [Richie, Danny and Jules provide such solid support for Buck and Eric]
I know concert records were not included but there are two that are in a dead heat tie for me - Live IN The West 1975 and A Long Day's Night.
Blue Öyster Cult (1972).
Cultösaurus Erectus (1980).
Heaven Forbid (1998).
A Long Day's Night (2002).
The Symbol Remains (2020).
"Cultösaurus Erectus" was the first record I bought when I was 8 years old so it holds a special place for me. That's not the only reason but 'Black Blade', 'Monsters', 'Deadline', 'The Marshall Plan', and 'Hungry Boys' are pretty bad ass songs.
Unknown Tongue at the end is epic too!
Just listened to the debut. It's amazing. I like the other two black and white albums better but you can't go wrong with any of the first 8.
My favorite band of all time. My thoughts echo what Pete, Ryan, and Craig said. Not one bad album and all albums sound so different from the next and each song within different because of different singers and song writers. Just epic material from dark and spooky, science fiction, macabre, fantasy, and quirky too! What's not to love?
First song that got more into them as a lifelong fan was Veteran of the Psychic Wars off the Heavy Metal Soundtrack. No turning back after that!
Picking is near impossible but:
70s - Agents of Fortune (close second, Spectres)
These are two go-to October Halloween 🎃 time albums.
80's - Fire of Unknown Origin (the perfect rock album for the early 80's and my favorite from them as it epitomized my early teens)
90's - Heaven Forbid (super solid especially with See You In Black and Harvest Moon - 2 of their best)
2000's - The Symbol Remains - epic come back album. Mix of super heavy and catchy poppy stuff.
Secret Road and Fight are 2 sleepers on the album.
Just fantastic catalogue of the most unique rock anywhere ever.
How can they be beat?
The live version of Veteran of the Psychic Wars from Extraterrestrial Live is absolutely mind blowing. If you could pick a live album as part of this series, that would be my pick for the 80s
70s: Secret Treaties with Spectres being a close second. The last 3 songs and especially Astronomy giving the nod to Secret Treaties.
80s: Fire of Unknown Origin - My favourite album by the band, a perfect album from start to finish and in my all-time Top-10. Also one of my most played albums ever. A classic!
90s: Heaven Forbid: A good album, very hard rocking. Harvest Moon is a great moody song.
00s/10s: Definitely The Symbol Remains: The Alchemist is phantastic! The whole album is quite diverse and the new players fit well. Hopefully there will be another one!
Saw BOC for the first time in ‘78 on the Spectres tour in Columbus, GA with the full laser show. Incredible. Two songs from that show made the Some Enchanted Evening live album.
Can we all agree that the Symbol Remains is SURPRISINGLY KICK-ASS!!!
Not any surprise that they are great but no one had any right to expect such a solid album. I can't wait to see this live. The Alchemists will be epic -BÖC still bangin'.🤘😎🤘
Symbol Remains is one of their best So many incredible songs through the years
I love Cagey Cretins
They may have released very few albums in the last few decades, but I really feel that they have still released strong albums in their more recent discography
70s. Secret Treaties
80s Cultosaurus Erectus
90s Heaven Forbid
2000 +. The Symbol Remains
Cool show! BÖC are my second favourite hard rock band.
70s - Secret Treaties
80s - Fire of Unknown Origin (close second: Cultosaurus)
90s - Heaven Forbid
since 2000 - The Symbol Remains
This band is so unique. They manage to combine hard rock, heavy metal approaches, pop, progressive rock and humorous, occult lyrics and it always makes sense. Buck Dharma is one of the most underrated guitar players in my opinion.
I like this format a lot. Not too many people & it doesn't go on for hours. I find when its a smaller group I tend to listen closer to what you guys are talking about & it's more interesting because of it.
70's Mirrors (runner up: Spectres)
80's Fire Of Unknown Origin (runner up: Imaginos)
90's Heaven Forbid (runner up: Bad Channels Soundtrack)
00's The Columbia Album Collection (runner up: The Symbol Remains)
Thanks for including BOC in this series! My list:
70 secret treaties
80 cultosaurus erectus
90 heaven forbid
00 - 20 symbol remains
The Whole Weekend, I was listening to Blue Oyster Cult.
70's - Tyranny and Mutation (Hard Choice)
80's - Fire of Unknown Origin (Another Hard Choice)
90's - Heaven Forbid
00's - Curse of the Hidden Mirror
20's - Symbol Remains
That's All Floks!
Saw BOC in a bar in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada) about 1986. My ears rang for days. Also the Heavy Metal soundtrack is amazing!
1970s: Secret Treaties
1980s: Fire of Unknown Origin
1990s: Heaven Forbid
2000s: The Symbol Remains
Glad to see you, Pardo, defending "Curse of the Hidden Mirror"..... Stone of Love, Eye of the Hurricane, Dance On Stilts, The Old Gods Return, Out of the Darkness...all great Top-Tier BOC tunes, along with several other goodies. Very wrongly maligned album. Anyhow, it's always good to see BOC fans together discussing this phenomenal band without a dud album in the pack. Cheers!
70s secret treaties
80s imaginos - magnificent underrated album dat no one bought
Only decades that matter
I bought it and saw the tour in Edinburgh 1989. I love Imaginos.
I love Imaginos.
My favorite band of All Time
Great Skow Thanks
My husband and I (in our 60s) can't stop listening to the new album!
It is awesome. What are your favorite 3- 5 songs off the album?
70s-- Tyranny and Mutation (My favorite BOC!)
'80s-- Fire of Unknown Origin (but I do love "The Revolution by Night" much more than many fans!)
'90s-and '00s-- Honestly, I still need to hear these albums (I know, I know, hehe)
'20s-- The Symbol Remains (Best album of 2020, for me, by any band!)
I remember seeing Richie Scarlett and Buck Darma blazing at the west ester county guitar show in the min-90's. Awesome!
70s - Agents of Fortune
80s - Fire of Unknown Origin
90s - Heaven Forbid
00s - The Symbol Remains
The new album is fantastic. That Was Me and The Alchemist hooked me immediately.
That Long Days Night live DVD From 2002 was great as well. Shame the original version lacked Joan Crawford and Astronomy, which at least the remaster that was released in the past six months apparently does?
I agree with everything you said here 100%. The Long Days Night re-release. I've been wanting it. How can you get it?
I haven't found it myself, but I think they released the remastered one as a blu ray?
@@DarkVegetaman yes pretty sure you're right. I believe Frontier Records did it too
I’m so happy to see live for SPECTRES, also my favorite BOC album. Later decades, again another band whose material I’ve failed to explore that deep and need to.
If you want to hear good IMAGINOS stories, check out on RUclips the Zetro’s Toxic Vault episode with Marc Biedermann from Blind Illusion - who also plays a few solos on IMAGINOS. Apparently his solos were composites of multiple takes, a total cut and paste job. Really fascinating to hear.
1970's: Secret Treaties
1980's: Fire Of Unknown Origins
1990's: Heaven Forbid
2000's: Curse Of The Hidden Mirror
2020's: The Symbol Remains
Ive said it here before, but i only got into this band like 5-6 years ago! Quickly became a favorite though...easily one of my top 5 bands from the 70s.
I just love the BÖC talk.
Bring it!
BOC is one of my fav bands of all time so chosing a fav album each decade is going to be tough but here is mine anyway:
Tyranny and mutation (1973) Hot rails to hell and seven screaming diz busters are so good especially when performed live.
Imaginos (1988) Underrated imo album from the band plenty to like here disapointing they didn't make a followup.
Heaven forbid (1998) A bit uneven but love the shifts from heavy metal to soft rock really fun album dispite being a bit uneven here and there first half is amazing tho.
Curse of the Hidden Mirror (2001) Great album but some of the songs suffer from some poor production and lack that bit of polish which stops some of the songs from being BOC classics.
The symbol remains (2020) Brilliant return to form for the band definatley one of there best studio outputs imo good amounts of hard rock on display here and every member is on top form. My album of the year.
I agree Imaginos is very underrated. I guess the circumstances around it plus the idea that it could have been even better as a 'proper' BOC album, if all the original members and band were there and behind it...I can understand that, but it still ended up being really good in my opinion.
So cool that Ryan has seen them so much as they are a local band! Hope they get to the West Coast soon once again! Great discussion-ditto what everyone said!
I love music in general, but my "Holy Trinity" is: BOC, Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash... 😎 Glad to listen when you talk about any of those 3!!!
God I love BOC, the most underrated rock band that's ever had platinum and gold albums.
70's: Tyranny & Mutation
80's: Fire of Unknown Origin
90's: Heaven Forbid
00's & 10's: The Symbol Remains
I agree
Phenomenal albums And one of the best live bands ever yet still underrated
70's - Secret Treaties
80's - Imaginos
90's - Heaven Forbid
00's - The Symbol Remains
I love Fire of Unknown Origin, but I gave the win to Imaginos by a nose. For anyone interested, Albert Bouchard has recorded and released his own version of Imaginos as he originally envisioned it with the track listing reshuffled and extra tracks added in. It's called Re-Imaginos, and it's an interesting listen. I won't say it's better than the official released version, but it will grow on you...if you give it a chance.
For me BOC has always been a 70's band for me, I did do a dive into the 80's albums and on to make my picks.
BOC (T&M can take this spot on any given day)
Cultösaurus Erectus
Heaven Forbid (Heavy for sure!)
The Symbol Remains (Great album!)
Pete, I know you get overwhelmed with requests for shows, and I try to requests to a minimum, but Favorite Albums Through the Decades with SAGA would be AMAZING! They have amazing albums in the 70's, 80's, 90's, 00's, 10's and even one this year, which you reviewed! Either way, keep up what you do, as your content is top shelf.
Great show on a great band and really enjoyed having Ryan and Craig in the co-captains chairs. Like them, my choice for the 70s would be my introduction to the band which is the Blue Oyster Cult eponymous debut which I bought on release. Bought because of the album cover but quickly know they were something special. Any 70s album would be a great choice. For the 80s and up, generally agree with the choices made by the Craig, Ryan and Pete. Thanks, guys, for another enjoyable Through The Decades episode.
Cheers Pete, Ryan and Craig.
70’s-Secret Treaties
80’s-Cultosaurus Erectus (My first BOC that I bought too Pete when it came out and still my sentimental favorite but Fire of Unknown Origin is so so close. Black Blade and Monsters are two of the best album opening tracks ever).
90’s-Heaven Forbid
00’s-The Symbol Remains ( Great comeback)
One of my top 10 bands of all time. I am in total agreement with Pete on his list, but to be honest, I think they did no bad album, over all. And I am so glad that their last album was so good... One of my favorite listens of the last months. Lets hope they do more in the future.
70’s: Mirrors (strange choice, I know, but I love the production and catchiness of the songs)
80’s: Cultosaurus Erectus
90’s: Heaven Forbid
2000’s-present: The Symbol Remains
I love Mirrors. The haunting backing vocals by Ellen Foley on "Lonely Teardrops" give me chills every time. And "the Great Sun Jester", "the Vigil", "I Am the Storm"...and "Dr. Music" (which it took me years to figure out was about BDSM...)...That one gets a lot of spins at my home.
1st got into BOC when I saw them live at Dunstable Civic Hall in 1981. They were great. My pick is:
Agents of Fortune
Fires of Unknown Origin (1st album I got)
Heaven Forbid
The Symbol Remains.
That was Albert's last show .. he arrived about 5 songs into the gig & got voted out afterwards, I saw them 2 days later at Donnington Park. You saw the better show (& the audio is on YT).
@@stevenwilkinson1265 thanks Steven, I’ll check that out. Also I was unaware of the band turmoil at the time.
Great video Pete! Love what you post. I am a newer subscriber. 36-year-old rock/metal fan.
70s: Spectres
80s: Cultosaurus Erectus
90s: Heaven Forbid
00s: The Symbol Remains
70s- I’m pulling a Pardo, saying “Secret Treaties” and “Spectres” in a tie. The former is majestic and hook filled front to back; but I do love the Hammer like variable sounds, styles, and storylines permeating the latter.
80s - oof! This is tough. Fire is the best album of the decade, and kicks ass . . But right now I’m in a place where I’m feeling “Cultosaurus Erectus” above the rest and “Imaginos” in third.
90s - well it’s one of my all time favorite BÖC releases, and Heaven Forbid just owns!
00s-present: Symbol Remains. Not even a discussion.
Pretty traditional picks for me. I've had "Agents" since I was a little kid in some form or other and "Fire" for many years, but am 5ish years familiar with the extended catalog:
70s: Secret Treaties (just outstanding)
80s: Fire of Unknown Origin
90s: Heaven Forbid
00s+: The Symbol Remains (I play this all the time now)
And it's painful to pick favorites, I like all of the albums for one reason or another. But have yet to play "Imaginos". Saving that one for a special occasion.
A band close to my heart, first time I saw them was Club Ninja tour Cardiff, UK back in 1985-6 then last time Bristol, UK only a few years ago. I hope it isn't the last time I get to see them.
I can't pick my favourite albums, some are stronger than others but none are bad.
outside of 3-4 songs, i really love Revolution By Night.
70s: Secret Treaties, a couple honorable mentions would be T&M, Spectres.
80s: Fire of Unknown Origin, Cultosaurus Erectus close second.
90s: Heaven Forbid, very underrated. Good heavy stuff on it.
2000s: Curse of the Hidden Mirror
2020s: The Symbol Remains
Pete was holding back laughter when home boy mentioned Club Ninja 😂 lmao
70s BOC (their psychedelic Underbelly/Stalk Forrest past + their metal future), 80s Imaginos (quasi reunion but also a prog metal nugget), 90s Heaven Forbid (Allen Lanier’s swansong), 00s Symbol (Al Bouchard’s cameo return on “That Was Me”’)
Post 80ies is easy. Both those albums are amazing. 70ies: Spectres (my first full album). And of course Fire of Unknown Origin for the 80ies. An absolute masterpiece. Top to bottom : perfection!
'70s:
1. Secret Treaties (1974)
2. Tyranny and Mutation (1973)
3. Spectres (1977)
4. Blue Oyster Cult (1972)
5. Agents of Fortune (1976)
6. Mirrors (1979)
'80s:
1. Cultosaurus Erectus (1980)
2. Fire of Unknown Origin (1981)
3. Imaginos (1988)
4. Club Ninja (1985)
5. The Revolution by Night (1983)
1998-2020:
1. Heaven Forbid (1998)
2. The Symbol Remains (2020)
3. Curse of The Hidden Mirror (2001)
70s Tyranny And Mutation ( the album that me a lifelong fan. But ALL the 70s albums are worthy)
80s Cultosaurus Erectus (Tomorrow could be FOUO)
90s Heaven Forbid (Their heaviest album but uneven, pretty good)
2000s and beyond The Symbol Remains (Surprisingly excellent album, nice flow, it's long but feels right!)
This is a bit like asking a parent to pick their favorite child, but okay...
'70s - Spectres (although if you ask me on a different day, I might choose the self-titled, Agents of Fortune, or even Mirrors -- I love all of BOC's '70s albums)
'80s - Fire of Unknown Origin (although Cultosaurus Erectus is right up there)
'90s - Heaven Forbid (by default)
New Millennium - The Symbol Remains (such a great album; ranks right up there with the band's '70s-'80s output)
HEAVEN FORBID for me. SEE YOU IN BLACK IS ONE OF THE GREATEST HARD ROCK SONGS OF ALL TIME, ITS GOT A RIDE THE LIGHTNING LIKE VIBE TO IT. IF BOC AND METALLICA MELDED TOGETHER IT WOULD SOUND LIKE THAT. POWER BEHIND DESPAIR "is another classic...and there's many more. Epic, killer LP! Among BOC best.
Another great show. One of my all time favorite bands. I have a question for you guys Pete. Of these new live CD/DVD BOC have been releasing what is the best one to get?
They are supposed to have redone the Long Summers Night concert DVD from early 2000's. In my opinion that would be the one to get. It was awesome.
@@russellgentile4719 Thanks I'll check it out, I plan on picking up a couple of these DVD concerts.
70s: Spectres
80s: Fire of Unknown Origin
00s: The Symbol Remains
Cultösaurus Erectus and Fire of Unknown Origin kind of meld into one one huge eargasm for me...
Good topic.
70s. Secret treaties
80s. Fire of Unknown 0rigin
90s. Heaven Forbid
00s. Curse of the Hidden Mirror
20s. Symbol Remains the Same
Not sure if live albums are allowed so will rank my favourite studi albums fr each decade and where applicable a live album from the same decade - yet again very difficult to choose but this time not just the 70's but the 80's also
1970's - Spectres / Some Enchanted Evening - if live is allowed this pips Spectres
1980's - Cultosaurus Erectus - Fire of Unknown Origin is a very very close second
1990's - Heaven Forbid
2000's - Curse of the Hidden Mirror / A Long Days Night if live is allowed this would be no 1
2010's - The Symbol Remains
As my list was done before the show I'll go with The Symbol remains for post 2000's.
70’s Agents of Fortune
80’s-Cultosaurus Erectus
90’s- Heaven Forbid
00’s- The Curse of the Hidden Mirror
10’s- The Symbol Remains
70's : Secret treaties
80's: Fire Of Unknown Origin
90's: Heaven Forbid
00's: Curse of the Hidden Mirror
20's: The Symbol Remains.
The lack of production after the 80's makes the last 4 decades pretty easy.
Love them all, impossible to make a list. Club Ninja is alot of fun, love the huge AOR production. Madness to the Method is a top BÖC track for me.
On another topic.
I'm still giggling that Alo is so sick, he bought a 35MM film print of the Black and Blue concert.
Ha!
Yeah wish I could see it!
1. Spectres
2. Fire of Unknown Origin
3. Heaven Forbid
4. Symbol Remains
Why this band is not more popular ?
Side A from Club Ninja is perfect, doesn't get much love...
Agreed. It gets passed over because of the time period production style. Those songs need to be heard live to be fully appreciated.
Agents of Fortune, Fire of Unknown Origin, Heaven Forbid, Curse of the Hidden Mirror. Haven’t heard the new one yet.
The first 5 albums are perfect, but my favorite is the debut album.
It's got a great sound and spooky feel to it doesn't it?
Thanks Guys, for this excellent BOC Album retrospective! This will really help me, admittedly, a "Casual BOC fan" go straight to the better material and not be "THAT GUY" who only listens to Godzilla and Don't Fear the Reaper over and over. haha :)
70s - Secret Treaties. 80s Fire Of Unknown Origin. 90s Heaven Forbid and the other decades speak for themselves. Looking forward to the Motorhead one
70’s- Agents of Fortune
80’s- Fire Of Unknown Origin
90’s- Heaven Forbid
00’s- Symbol Remains
Great band. One of my favourites
My favorite band of all time.........MIRRORS being my #1 fave.....on a side note....have all you guys heard of JORN before ?
My favourite BÖC:
*1970's:* 1) Mirrors / 2) Agents of Fortune
*1980's:* 1) Fire of Unknown Origin / 2) Extraterrestrial Live / 3) The Revolution by Night
*1990's:* Heaven Forbid
*2000's:* The Symbol Remains
Nice......i would add Cultasaurus.
70s Tyranny And Mutation
80s Fire Of Unknown Origin
90s Heaven Forbid
00s-20s The Symbol Remains
Spectres and Imaginos are my faves!!
Lips In The Hills!!!
70s: Secret Treaties
80s: Cultösaurus Erectus
90s: Heaven Forbid
2000s: Curse of the Hidden Mirror
2020s: The Symbol Remains
Great stuff! Can't mess with the 70s stuff
My picks
70s-secret treaties
80s-fire of unknown origin
90s-heaven forbid
00s-Curse of the hidden mirror
20s-symbol remains
I made a late entry into BOC fandom....didn't enjoy their first 2 albums & really didn't identify with their catalog 'till the late seventies. 70's: Mirrors 80's: Fire Of An Unknown Origin 90's: Heaven Forbid after that,I hadn't listened to them 'till The AWESOME Symbol Remains was released in 2020. I do think many of their albums are under-appreciated....including Club Ninja & Imaginos.
I really like the fact that "The Symbol Remains" does have so much from other members especially Richie Castellano. Legacy bands without the classic line-up should bring in the new guys more overall. Had the album been just Eric & Buck sort of like "The Curse of the Hidden Mirror" I think it still would have been good but not great. Richie Castellano puts in some energy and fresh ideas in it all. Making the whole record more interesting. I get that his vocals might not suit everyone.. But honestly. If Allen, Albert and Joe did got to sing before.. Why not Richie Castellano now? It does make sense. I think some legacy bands have lost steam trying to sound like before when they clearly doesn't (singer is not a strong, strongest riffs are already done, solos aren't as interesting, many songs sound the same). This sound like the next step into the bands career.. Not a half step.
70s: Spectres
80s: Fire of Unknown Origin (favorite BOC album)
90s: Heaven Forbid
00s: Curse of the Hidden Mirror
20s: The Symbol Remains
BOC is one of the greatest bands ever. Too bad people dont get them. My favs are
1970s-Secret Treaties(2nd place for me is the debut)
1980s-Revolution By Night
1990s-Heaven Forbid
2000s-The Symbol Remains
Do the Strawbs!
Imaginios was meant as an Al Bouchard solo project but the label wanted the other members on it.
Spectres was my first full BOC that heard. Still love it. Imagino is an amazing CD Club Ninja ahh not so much
For me Tyranny and mutation is the best album followed by The Symbol Remains, Secret Treaties and Fire of unknown origin.
Cant wait to see BOC for the first time ever in July. 70s: Agents of Fortune, 80s: Revolution by Night, 90s: Heaven Forbid
I’ve seen them 3 times in the last 2 years before the pandemic so I hope you have a good time, and they still got it all those years. Hopefully they play new tunes live!
70s: Secret Treaties
80s: Fire Of Unknown Origin
90s: Heaven Forbid (what else)
Post 2000: The Symbol Remains
No big surprise from me, but what can a guy do? 😸
These classic albums are so hard to do. You almost have to allow for maybe 3 in the 70's, due to classic nature of those times, and the quality output for those groups especially BOC, or any of the bands covered so far. The majority of their best material is in those classic albums in the 70's. Maybe a countdown, 3,2,1, ?? Just hate seeing so many great albums left off! Great idea, and makes for a quick show for sure.. as some of the later output was marginal. Kiss, prime example, 1 from the 70's? Basically the whole of the classic period, from start to Love Gun maybe! Then onward up. Tough challenge. Maybe a tweak, again great show! Long time viewer and continued supporter. Time for a Sea banquet, I'll make the trip to the Hudson Valley!!!
70’s: 1. Secret Treaties 2. Agents of Fortune
80’s: 1. Fire of Unknown Origin 2. Mirrors
90’s: 1. Heaven Forbid
00’s: 1. Curse of the Hidden Mirror
20’s: 1. The Symbol Remains (much better than the two released before it).
Tyranny And Mutation,forever my favorite album from BOC (and a top 10 by anybody).
Their only album I can't get into is Curse of the Hidden Mirror.
Ryan- Martin Popoff has a good book about Imaginos- The Flaming Telepaths. It's a timeline book and a wild collection of influences being tied together. There''s also an excellent video.on RUclips about Imaginos.
Here is the link to that video on Imaginos-
ruclips.net/video/WprUq_gxkJg/видео.html
70s - Spectres
80s - Fire Of Unknown Origin
70s - Secret Treaties
80s - Cultosaurus Erectus
90s - Heaven Forbid
00s - Curse of the Hidden Mirror
10s - n/a
20s - The Symbol Remains
Saw 'em in Oshkosh acoupla weeks ago and they sounded great! Didn't play anything of the new disc though.
At Sea World in March either. I was hoping for a couple.
Too hard to pick a favorite from any decade. Tyranny & Mutation is the best of all. I once saw them playing in the Nuernberg Zeppelin Field, site of the Nazi rallies of the 1930s. Been a huge fan since '72.
Here's my take:
1970’s- Mirrors
1980’s- Cultosaurus Erectus
1990’s- Heaven Forbid
2000’s- Curse Of The Hidden Mirror
2020’s- The Symbol Remains
Just like Ryan, first contact with BOC I had was via Heavy Metal movie and album.
Me too. That entire HM Soundtrack is solid but Veteran and Heavy Metal by Don Felder are my two favorites.
I got into BOC right away after hearing and became obsessed! Haha