Line #4 Music/Spectres


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/90447344b4a14e01a93f26346c7c0769.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: ''Come on, come on! There's a new tune playing! Are you ready to rock?!'']]
3
4	''Spectres'' is the fifth studio album by Music/BlueOysterCult, released in 1977. It's best remembered for the radio hits "Death Valley Nights", "R.U. Ready 2 Rock", "I Love the Night" and, of course, "Godzilla". It was preceded by ''Music/AgentsOfFortune'' and the next studio LP in 1979 would be the critically disliked ''Music/{{Mirrors\|Album}}''. The band would return to favour in 1980 with the LP after ''Mirrors'' - ''Music/CultosaurusErectus''.
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6
7	'''Tracklist'''
8
9	[[AC: Side One]]
10	# "Godzilla" (3:41)
11	# "Golden Age of Leather" (5:53)
12	# "Death Valley Nights" (4:07)
13	# "Searchin' for Celine" (3:35)
14	# "Fireworks" (3:14)
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16	[[AC: Side Two]]
17	# "R.U. Ready 2 Rock" (3:45)
18	# "Celestial the Queen" (3:24)
19	# "Goin' Through the Motions" (3:12)
20	# "I Love the Night" (4:23)
21	# "Nosferatu" (5:23)
22
23	'''Personnel'''
24	* Eric Bloom: vocals, guitar
25	* Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser: vocals, guitar
26	* Allen Lanier: vocals, guitar, keyboards
27	* Joe Bouchard: bass guitar, guitar, vocals
28	* Albert Bouchard: vocals, harmonica, drums
29	* The Newark Boys Chorus: vocals on "The Golden Age Of Leather".
30	* [[Music/MottTheHoople Ian Hunter]]: co-author of ''Goin' Thru The Motions''
31
32	!! ''With some purposeful tropes...''
33	* ACappella: "Golden Age Of Leather" starts of with the band members singing in unison before the song sets in.
34	* BreakingAndBloodsucking: "Nosferatu"
35	--> ''So chaste so calm, she gave herself''
36	--> ''To the pleasure of her dreaded master''
37	--> ''He sucked the precious drops of life''
38	--> ''Throughout the long and cold dark night''
39	* CoverVersion: ''Goin' Thru The Motions'' was co-written by British singer Ian Hunter [[note]]Hunter's involvement is possibly the reason why the LP uses British English spelling '''Spectres''' and not ''Specters'', as you might have expected.[[/note]]. Hunter recorded a version with his band Music/MottTheHoople. The big British hit was a cover recorded by Music/BonnieTyler in the early 1980's. BOC's version was released as a single in Great Britain but barely charted.
40	* DrunkenSong: "Golden Age Of Leather"
41	--> ''Raise your can of beer on high''
42	--> ''And seal your fate forever''
43	--> ''Our best years have past us by''
44	--> ''The golden age of leather''
45	* EtherealChoir: "Golden Age Of Leather" ends with a boy choir whose voices slowly fade away after the orchestra stops playing.
46	* FaceOnTheCover: The band seen around a table.
47	* GaiasVengeance: "Godzilla"
48	--> ''History shows again and again''
49	--> ''How nature points up the folly of men''
50	* GratuitousJapanese: The intermission of "Godzilla" has a Japanese newscaster talking about the beast's rampage in Tokyo and alerting listeners to run for shelter immediately. During live shows, Eric Bloom recites this part.
51	* HeavyMeta: "R.U. Ready 2 Rock"
52	* HeavyMithril: "The Golden Age of Leather", an operatic piece about a gang of bikers who ride out into the desert and fight to the death after an all-night [[HookersAndBlow orgy and meth party]], because they've realized they've grown too old to rock anymore. "Nosferatu" summarizes the plot of the [[Film/{{Nosferatu}} classic silent film of that name]].
53	* {{Kaiju}}: "Godzilla", about the [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Japanese film monster of the same name]].
54	* Letters2Numbers: "R.U. Ready 2 Rock".
55	* LightAndMirrorsPuzzle: the LP cover illustrates this trope, with a beam of laser light bouncing around the band members.
56	* LyricalDissonance: "Golden Age of Leather" marries West Coast harmonies, surfer music and Beach Boys-style singing to the dark topic of old Hell's Angels going out with one last gang-bang of a ''wanton child, too dead to care, that each could find his pleasure as he might..." followed by a pitched battle to the death.
57	* OneManSong: "Godzilla" and "Nosferatu".
58	* OneWomanSong: "Celestial the Queen".
59	* OneWordTitle: The album title "Spectres" and the song "Fireworks".
60	* ThePowerOfRock: "R.U. Ready 2 Rock"
61	--> ''Come on come on thru the cities of night''
62	--> ''Come on come on everybody's praying''
63	--> ''Come on come on for the wonder of light''
64	--> ''Come on come on there's a new dance breaking''
65	* RecordProducer: Murray Krugman, Sandy Pearlman and David Lucas.
66	* ShoutOut: "Godzilla" is a shout-out to Franchise/{{Godzilla}} and "Nosferatu" to ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}''. Interestingly enough two years after the release of this album would Creator/WernerHerzog make his acclaimed remake of the classic movie.
67	** "Godzilla" in itself has been used as the theme music of many promos for monster movie marathons on American TV.
68	* SinisterSouthwest: The track "Death Valley Nights," which is about the infamous desert, and the rock-operatic track "Golden Age Of Leather", about old Hell's Angels who decide the world no longer has a place for them and choose to die in a blaze of glory in the remote desert.
69	* TheTokyoFireball: One of the songs is about Franchise/{{Godzilla}}. Hell, one of the lyrics is "Oh, no, there goes Tokyo."
70	* WholePlotReference: "Nosferatu" basically tells the plot of the film in song.

Context Music / Spectres