The curtains part, and landscapes fall
The writing is done, in blood
Like a mummy's inscription and a bat-wing tongue
Well, the mouth of the cave will open up wide
Wide as the world that's mine,
It's still mine!"
Imaginos II: Bombs Over Germany (minus zero and counting) is an album by founding Blue Öyster Cult member Albert Bouchard. It also contains guest appearances by other Blue Öyster Cult members Buck Dharma, Eric Bloom, Richie Castellano, and Joe Bouchard. It was released in October 2021.
Bombs Over Germany is a long-belated Act II in the Imaginos series of Rock Operas always planned for Blue Öyster Cult by their producer Sandy Pearlman, who wrote many lyrics based on a fictional universe he had created called The Soft Doctrines of Imaginos. Pearlman and Bouchard co-wrote the plot of the Soft Doctrines, which follows a shapeshifting, sex-swapping, time-hopping Humanoid Abomination named Imaginos/Desdinova who is charged with corrupting human society and causing wars by seven god-aliens referred to as "Les Invisibles". Various production conflicts and real-life logistics delayed the production of an Imaginos album proper until 1982, with the recording of Albert Bouchard's demo tape, the original form of the 1988 Imaginos album that was eventually released by Blue Öyster Cult among legal issues.
After Sandy Pearlman's death in 2016, Albert Bouchard decided to finish the saga in his honor, vowing to finally complete and elucidate the long-obscured narrative and rescue The Soft Doctrines of Imaginos from being an Orphaned Series.
The plot of Imaginos II has not been officially clarified by Bouchard at this time and is still relatively up in the air. However, it focuses on the large-scale effects of Imaginos' manipulation of history and society on the orders of Les Invisibles during the 20th century, specifically spanning the years 1918 to 1999. Having already indirectly caused World War I Imaginos seems to style himself as a sort of Rebel Leader, leading an oppressed group in revolution and founding a "dream-state" known as Plutonia. The presence of Imaginos' "revolutionaries", the oyster-like alien Blue Öyster Cultists and the Magna of Illusion are also implied to heavily corrupt society and lead to the chaos that defined the 20th century. Most of the songs on the album are not narrated by Imaginos and follow a variety of characters like Jack, the narrator of "Dominance and Submission" who becomes ambiguously involved with Imaginos' cult, and Captain von Ondine, a Luftwaffe pilot and probable cultist who participates in the final air battle of World War II during "Bombs Over Germany". The album ends with the destruction of human civilization through nuclear war, implicitly through the involvement of Imaginos and Plutonia.
The songs on the album are reworked versions of older material written by Pearlman, Bouchard, and Blue Öyster Cult (with the exception of one track, "Il Duce"). Most were previously released as Blue Öyster Cult tracks. Some of the songs, like "Half Life Time", were always intended as part of the Soft Doctrines, while others like "Quicklime Girl" were inserted into the setting afterwards. Albert Bouchard is planning to release the final installment of the saga in 2022, along with an accompanying graphic novel.
Tracklist
- "When War Comes" (7:51)
- "Independence Day" (3:47)
- "7 Screaming Dizbusters" (7:37)
- "OD'd on Life Itself" (4:03)
- "Il Duce" (3:59)
- "Bombs Over Germany" (4:50)
- "Before the Kiss (A Redcap) (5:02)
- "Three Sisters" (3:37)
- "Quicklime Girl (Mistress of the Salmon Salt)" (6:14)
- "The Red and the Black" (4:54)
- "Dominance and Submission" (5:44)
- "Shadow of California" (6:04)
- "Cities on Flame (With Rock and Roll)" (4:33)
- "Half Life Time" (6:20)
Tropes found in Imaginos II: Bombs Over Germany (minus zero and counting) include:
- '80s Hair: The Imaginos puppet in "OD'd on Life Itself" has this, though it's a slightly modified Native American hairstyle.
- All Bikers are Hells Angels: "Shadow of California" is about a Hells Angels-like gang of bikers being affected by a symbol (implicitly the Blue Öyster Cult logo) that "emanates darkness" beneath a San Bernardino freeway.
- Alternate Universe: Bouchard compares it to Dark.
- Antagonist Title: He is referred to exclusively as Imaginos in the second album and its promotional media, with his alternate female persona of Desdinova never directly referenced, though presumably in operation in Plutonia since she is known as "Desdinova of Plutonia".
- Artifact of Doom: The extremely cursed obsidian Aztec mirror known as the Magna of Illusion, which is responsible for World Wars I and II, as well as implicitly the Vietnam War and a civilization-destroying nuclear conflict. It's bad news.
- The Chessmaster: Imaginos' evil plans are even more elaborate this time around, including forming his own nation and eventually engineering the destruction of humanity.
- Color Motif: Red and black, contrasting the original album's blue and black.
- Cover Version: Most of the tracks are re-imaginings of songs previously released on Blue Öyster Cult albums, with the rest (except "Il Duce") being taken from unreleased material written by Bouchard and Pearlman.
- The Cover Changes the Meaning: Some of the songs, like "The Red and the Black", were not originally intended as part of the Soft Doctrines of Imaginos universe but were reworked as examples of Imaginos' wide-reaching dark influence in the world.
- Creepy Doll: A creepy miniature sock monkey representing Les Invisibles appears in the video for "OD'd on Life Itself"
. - Daddy's Little Villain: Suzy appears in "Before the Kiss (A Redcap)" and "Dominance and Submission", is suggested to be involved with Imaginos' revolutionaries, and is widely believed to be his daughter or granddaughter going by the way Desdinova addresses her in "Astronomy".
- Dark Messiah: Imaginos really leans into this characterization in II, much moreso than in the original album. Here he has a large number of followers who look up to him as a revolutionary who promises to "turn our oppressors' bones to dust", and he refers to himself as a "creator, destroyer" whose ultimate goal may be to destroy and remake the world. "Half Life Time" also refers to him as The Chosen One.
- Deadly Euphemism: "Half Life Time" for global nuclear war.
- Double Meaning: Though less directly focused on the Imaginos narrative this time, the lyrics are still full of Sandy Pearlman's elaborate wordplay and obscure symbolism.
- Draft Dodging: "The Red and the Black" is inspired by Bouchard's experiences as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. In his words the military tribunal "objected to his objection" and he was forced to flee to Canada. The song depicts bloodthirsty Canadian mounties on the hunt to drag the narrator back to America to die in the Vietnam War.
- Egopolis: Plutonia, named after Imaginos' ship.
- The End of the World as We Know It: The album ends with the destruction of human civilization through World War III and the implicit extinction of humanity. Thanks, Plutonia.
- Foreshadowing: The album cover shows two rows of seven bombs dropping, presumably on Germany. However, it turns out to be an entirely different set of bombs that are important...
- Fictional Country: Plutonia is either this or another state of existence (or both).
- Garden of Evil: Quicklime Girl takes the bodies of the murdered dead and buries them in her garden, where the plants that grow from their graves are "rotten somehow to the core". The last verse implies they're not just rotten- they're growing actual human body parts.
- Horrible History Metal: "Bombs Over Germany", which is from the perspective of Nazi ME-262 pilot Captain von Ondine.
- Looped Lyrics: Fewer than on Imaginos, where they were on nearly every track, but still present- "When War Comes" and "7 Screaming Dizbusters" being examples.
- Mushroom Samba: The video for "OD'd on Life Itself" features Prince Omeganote taking "Imaginos 500mg" pain pills, which cause him to hallucinate himself as a puppet version of Imaginos.
- Previously on…: "When War Comes" (and "OD'd on Life Itself" in its music video) opens with a short narration by Eric Bloom recapping the end of the previous Imaginos album. "When that black mirror of illusion corrupts the Europeans..."
- Rebel Leader: Imaginos, though it seems questionable if his intentions of freedom for the oppressed are genuine.
- Restart the World: This or Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence seems to be the cult's plan going by the lyrics of "Half Life Time", and their overall focus on destruction and rebirth. "Easter Sunday, St. John's Night..."
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Imaginos' revolution seems to end up either directly or indirectly destroying the world with nuclear war.
- Secret Societies: According to Bouchard, "7 Screaming Dizbusters" is at least partially about a secret society connected with the Magna of Illusion.
- Unplugged Version: "The Red and the Black" and "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll".
- World War III: How the album ends. And Imaginos note is responsible for all three of them.
- Villain Protagonist: Imaginos is "offscreen" for large portions of the album, but the narrative still follows the large-scale effects of his schemes to make the world an overall worse place. Captain von Ondine also counts as a one-song Villain Protagonist.
- Villain Song: "When War Comes" and "OD'd on Life Itself" seem to serve this purpose on the second album. "When War Comes" features Imaginos with a borderline god complex fresh after causing World War I, while "OD'd on Life Itself" depicts an older and more experienced Imaginos referencing his globe-spanning plans of death and declaring that the world is still his.
- "The Villain Sucks" Song: "Il Duce" serves as this for Mussolini, suggesting the main reason his tactical decisions failed is that one of his lovers dumped him for a "French vibrator".
- "...too much revolution, then?"
