Blue Oyster Cult On Your Feet Or On Your Knees CD

2 LPs on 1 CD.
Blue Oyster Cult: Eric Bloom (vocals, stun guitar, synthesizer); Albert Bouchard (vocals, guitar, drums); Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (vocals, guitar); Joe Bouchard (vocals, bass); Allan Lanier (guitar, keyboards).
Engineers include: Kurt Kuntzel, Aaron Baron, Tim Geelan.
Recorded live at Academy Of Music, New York, New York; Paramount Theatre, Portland, Oregon; Paramount Theatre, Seattle, Washington; Show Palace, Phoenix, Arizona; Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California; P.N.E. Coliseum, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Blue Öyster Cult's first live album was also its first to peak inside the Top 40, which is more of an indication of the audience the group was building up through extensive touring than of its quality. Songs that had a tight, concentrated impact on studio albums got elongated here, and that impact was dissipated. And the song selection left a great deal to be desired if this were to be a fitting summation of the band's career so far. By its 1974 tour, BÖC had dropped some classics from its first album, and the less impressive material from the third album was no substitute. ~ William Ruhlmann
On Your Feet Or On Your Knees, Blue Öyster Cult's first live album (there would be two more), was also its first to peak inside the Top 40 best-sellers, which is more of an indication of the audience the group was building up through extensive touring than of its quality. Songs that had a tight, concentrated impact on studio albums got elongated here, and that impact was dissipated. And the song selection left a great deal to be desired if this were to be a fitting summation of the band's career so far. Perhaps by its 1974 tour, BOC had dropped such classics from its first album as "Transmaniacon MC," "I'm on the Lamb but I Ain't No Sheep," and "Stairway to the Stars," but the less impressive material from the third album was no substitute. (The album did mark the first commercial release of a version of "Buck's Boogie" as well as covers of The Yardbirds' "I Ain't Got You" and Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild.") ~ William Ruhlmann
Throughout its first three studio albums, Blue Oyster Cult merged intelligently written lyrics shaded with dark occult and sci-fi imagery with a crunching attack, which helped generate comparisons to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. As good as these records were, playing live was what BOC truly excelled in thanks to extensive touring. Backing up this assertion is the band's first live album, ON YOUR FEET OR ON YOUR KNEES. Although the band was still a year away from its first crossover hit, this live collection was its first album to crack the Top 40.
Powered by the duel guitars of Eric Bloom and Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, the band included extended versions of epics from the then-recent SECRET TREATIES ("Subhuman," "Me 262") and the prior TYRANNY AND MUTATION ("Seven Screaming Diz Busters"). Other highlights include a great version of "Cities on Flame" (the band's first official single) and "Buck's Boogie," a Roeser instrumental showcase previously available on the ultra-rare 1972 EP LIVE BOOTLEG. The inclusion of crunching covers by Steppenwolf ("Born to Be Wild") and Jimmy Reed ("Maserati GT," a.k.a. "I Ain't Got You") round out what is considered by many to be the first phase of Blue Oyster Cult's career.