Blue Öyster Cult-The Revölution By Night (1983)

 

Artist: Blue Öyster Cult

Title: The Revölution By Night

Label: Columbia 

Format: LP 

Cat #: FC-38947

Year of Release: 1983

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1983 Gold Stamp Promo

Sold Price: $5.99

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 9/5/20

Discogs Last Sold: 8/20/20

Low: $2.00

Median: $5.00

High: $9.47

Current low price: $8.00 NM/NM

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 38

Have/Want: 1701/157

Where Sold: Canandiagua, NY

Time it took to sell: 4 years

Where and When Bought: Al Bums, Worcester, MA sealed for $4.49

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+

Sad To See It Go?: Yes

I saw this tour in March 1984 at the Worcester Centrum (two days after Judas Priest, both brought on motorcycles onstage for encores).  The arena was entirely empty on the upper tier, and BÖC were then forever relegated to theatre status at least in New England.  It was the 6th arena concert I ever saw (Ozzy, Kinks, Sabbath, AC/DC in '83, plus the aforementioned Priest).  Not bad for my 13th year of existence considering I was funded by paper route.  

Of course, if I was seeing a band, I would buy the tour album before the show.  This would also put a band on accelerated discography completion for general used purchasing.  I had to have every single Blue Öyster Cult release for my collection.  Thinking back I somehow never got Mirrors and even Fire Of Unknown Origin (I had "Burnin For You" on a dollar promo compilation) but I did have everything else before bailing by the time Club Ninja came out in 1985, the year I caught up on the independent underground and became a 15 year old "alternative" DJ snob on WICN in Worcester with my old friend John McKeag, with whom I saw the aforementioned concerts.  In recent years I've seen the BÖC as bar band phase around a half dozen times, most recently on a Staten Island ferry voyage with UFO opening at the St. George Theatre for a friends birthday blowout last year.

So anyway, I decided to listen to The Revölution By Night in headphones loud before it went out the door a couple weeks ago.  I always considered it a bit "mid-tier" but I did enjoy the radio hits "Take Me Away" and particularly "Shooting Shark."  The other song that stood out in my mind before playing it was "Shadows of California" which was decidedly not a hit but a stand out for my 13 year old self.  They encored with "Lets Go" a self penned band anthem, so I remembered that one well even though it wasn't their best.  I have to say, despite my cranking, the songs that were unmemorable to me in 1983 were still unmemorable two weeks after listening.  Still, I thought the album as a whole was a pleasant loud headphones listen,  It ain't the first 3, hell by this point I might even prefer Mirrors, but I'd say it's a solid album.

As far as the physical record, I bought this new as a promo for $4.49 shortly after it was released so either late '83 or definitely before March '84 when I saw them.  I'm pretty sure it was re-shrink wrapped because somebody had markered the label with an arrow pointing to "Take Me Away" and I know it wasn't me.  But at the time I was psyched to get it brand new for ONLY $4.49 at my within-walking-distance-local Al Bums. This was better than the on sale $5.99 or the dreaded $7.29 you would see at the local Strawberries chain for a new 1983 release.  Another thing to note is that I have a decent Technics turntable in storage, but I recently bought one of those $100 hybrid compact jobs because about 20 years ago I bought these massive speakers that wound up in a friends storage space several moves ago and I haven't got around to "reuniting the family."  One thing with those cheap turntables then and now is that certain skips show up in places that better turntables ignore.  At 13 I had one of those "Sears specials"--turntable/cassette/AM/FM jobs (pre-CD era).  On said turntable "Take Me Away" skipped in one spot when I bought it.  Sure enough with this new cheap turntable I was reminded of the single skip in the very same place.  I sent it out hoping this flaw wouldn't happen on a better turntable and got back the "Very happy with this record! Very fair price and condition was exactly as described" positive feedback.  My hard fought rating above 99% will stand another day.  It's funny, the records I worry about are never the records that give me problems.  More often than not, with problems, there is something in the $5-10 range that someone complains about, often in a bulk purchase when they were haggling for a deal in the first place.  Generally with my buyers if there is a problem, then we have a discount or return conversation and sort it out, unless they give me a bad review before discussion, then case is closed.