Blue Öyster Cult – Agents Of Fortune (1976)


 

Artist: Blue Öyster Cult

Title: Agents Of Fortune

Label: Columbia

Format: 8-Track

Cat: PCA 34164

Year of Release: 1976

Country and Year of Edition: US 1976

Sell Price: $9.99 VG/VG 8/18/24

Discogs Last Sold: 11/3/22 VG+/generic $8.00

Low: $5.00

Median: $8.00

Average: $8.16

High: $11.11

Current low price: $7.96

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 1

Have/Want: 83/103

Where Sold: Austin, TX

Time it took to sell: 4 days

Where and When Purchased: ebay 8-track lot

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A

Sad To See It Go: No

I decided to diversify into tapes about a half year ago with my Discogs sales.  The next frontier is 8-tracks.  They can be found cheaply in lots and there is a neatness factor about them.  The first machine I bought crapped out on me after 2 tapes within the ebay return frame so I shipped that back despite the sellers pleas to simply replace the belt and and bought an in-one Japanese vintage machine for $60.  The first 8-track from a few lots I bought has sold: BOC's Agent Of Fortune!

On my birthday, I was pretty hungover and included my copy of Agent of Fortune instead of the copy of Some Enchanted Evening in an order I wrote about.  Mercifully, the buyer sent it back to me, so I have a copy in the house on LP and Cassette as well as on my hard drive.  I know I bought the remastered CD but I must have sold it before writing this blog.

The machine I bought is so vintage that it doesn't automatically click to the next track.  This is a blessing and a curse.  A curse because if I don't rush over to the machine in time the track starts over and you have to wait the length of the program--in this case roughly 9 minutes--before having a chance to hear the start of the program cleanly.  This is a blessing in the case of thereversecollector (TM) because I try to listen to everything 3 times before I publish an article.  Of course, I've listened to Agent Of Fortune enough times in my life by now that I don't really HAVE to listen to it 3 times, but I gotta put this 8-track player to the test anyway.

Track 2 is a prime example of the joys of 8-track programming.  "Don't Fear The Reaper" then the Patti Smith cameo on "The Revenge of Vera Gemini."   Tracks 3 & 4 have the dark side of 8-track programming: the programming of a song over 2 tracks.  In this case the victim is the song "Tenderloin" coming after "Tattoo Vampire" and "Morning Final" on track 3 and before "Sinful Love" and "Debbie Denise" on track 4.  With this machine you really gotta pay attention if you wanna hear all of "Tenderloin."  Also the 3:54 song gets faded out during a guitar part and fade in on track 4 as the vocal resumes. I guess I could just break out the vinyl or cassette or set out that Bluetooth wifi so my old mac in the bedroom will play music in the kitchen where I'm listening to stuff of late.  But what fun is that when you want the fun of hearing it on 8-track?

Actually the Allen Lanier written "Tenderloin" isn't the least played live track of the album.  According to setlist.fm, they have played it more than "The Revenge of Vera Gemini" and the other Patti Smith written song (with Al Bouchard) "Debbie Denise."  The cool thing about 8-tracks is the track order you know and love often gets thrown out the window.  

I'm kinda lovin' 8-tracks.

For Further Review:

Curse of The Hidden Mirror (2001)

The Revolution By Night (1983)

Some Enchanted Evening (1978)

Buck Dharma-Flat Out (1982)



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