Blue Oyster Cult: Eric Bloom (vocals); Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (guitar, vocals); Albert Bouchard (guitar, percussion, vocals); Joe Bouchard (keyboards, vocals); Allen Lanier (keyboards). Additional personnel: Jack Secret, Joey Cerisano, Jon Rogers (vocals); Joe Satriani, Robbie Krieger, Aldo Nova, Tommy Moringello, Jack Rigg, Marc Biedermann, Kevin Carlson (guitars); Kenny Aaronson (bass); Thommy Price (drums); Shocking U (background vocals). Recorded at Alpha & Omega Studios, San Francisco, California. All songs written by members of Blue Oyster Cult. Personnel: Albert Bouchard (vocals, guitar, percussion); Donald Roeser (vocals, guitar); Joe Bouchard (vocals, keyboards); Eric Bloom, Jack Secret (vocals); Tommy Moringiello, Jack Rigg (guitar); Tom Zvoncheck, Allen Lanier (keyboards); Tommy Price (drums). Liner Note Author: Scott Schinder. Recording information: 1981-1988. Blue ?yster Cult went out with a bang as a major-label recording act on their 14th and last new Columbia album, Imaginos. The idea for this concept album came as early as Secret Treaties, on which some of its music appeared, and the recording took place over a six-year period. (As a result, album credits give the erroneous impression that the original band had reformed.) The story line, which is easier to appreciate in the liner notes than on the record, concerns a mysterious, protean 19th century figure who has a talent for turning up at key moments in history and influencing them for the worse. This is perhaps B?C's most consistent album, certainly its most uncompromising (none of its usual nods to pop accessibility), and also the closest thing to a real heavy-metal statement from a band that never quite fit that description. Unfortunately, this ambitious work came out as B?C was dropping out of the frontline of the music business, so the album that comes closest to defining Blue ?yster Cult turned into its creative swan song. ~ William Ruhlmann

• Genre: Pop
• Format: CD
• Released: 04/30/2013