The clock strikes 12 and moondrops burst, out at you from their hiding place

In case you didn't know, Blue Öyster Cult is just about the greatest band ever. OK, maybe they're not everyone's cup of tea, but from time to time it strikes me just how awesome they were for a period of time... a time I like to revisit quite often. I have my stepmother to thank for turning me on to them. She gave me her extra copy of their second album, Tyranny & Mutation, and I was immediately hooked. From the cranked-up boogie of opener "The Red & The Black" (a sped up version of "I'm On The Lamb But I Ain't No Sheep" from their debut) to side 1 closer "7 Screaming Dizbusters", through last track "Mistress Of The Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl)". It was a psychedelic heavy metal joyride that I didn't fully understand, and to this day their lyrics still make little sense to me, but I do know they meant every word they sang and every note they played. This was a band that was truly doing their own thing and that was almost always what I was looking for. It may be a cliché for a middle-aged man to say, but there isn't much currently that can hold a candle to music in the 70s and BÖC is a perfect example of "they don't make 'em like that anymore".

As I usually do when I discover a new band, I ran out and got as much of their other material as I could find, which by then was probably 4 or 5 studio albums and a couple live albums. For a long time BÖC was the band I'd seen the most (partly because I liked them so much and partly because they were from Long Island and played there constantly). In high school I was elected among my friends to choose and carry the music we listened to while we hung out at night in our neighborhood. Some Enchanted Evening, BÖC's second live release, was a staple (along with Deep Purple's Deepest Purple and KISS ALIVE!). It featured what is still the finest version of "Astronomy" and a fantastic cover of MC5's "Kick Out The Jams". Their studio output didn't capture their live energy (much like Cheap Trick wasn't able to capture their true sound on record until Live At Budokan came out) but the first 10 years of their releases are still in heavy rotation.

My latest BÖC obsession is the Rhino Handmade release of Stalk-Forrest Group - St. Cecelia (The Elektra Recordings). SFG was what BÖC was called (with a different bass player) before they signed to Columbia Records, and St. Cecelia was the album they recorded for and was rejected by Elektra. It's closer to a psychedelic jam-band sound than their later material, but no less interesting. They already had lyricist/guru Sandy Perlman in the fold (strictly on a sideline basis, as Perlman was not a musician) and 4/5 of the future writing team, so you can hear the BÖC sound kinda bubbling under the surface. The CD was limited to 500 copies and I foolishly passed on it when it was initially released in 2001. I regretted it for years but kept my eye peeled for a copy. Then, on a trip to The Princeton Record Exchange this past Record Store Day, I came across it in the BÖC section (which I always check, just in case). However, at $30, I once again passed up the opportunity and instead spent my budget on other, more "important" items. For days after I could do little else but wonder how long the SFG CD was going to sit there and if I'd have another chance at owning (and subsequently listening to) it. Later that week my obsession won out and I went back to PREx. Luckily it was still there, so I snatched it up. I'm able to justify purchases like that because of the amount of money I save by buying mostly used CDs. I know I won't listen to the SFG as much as I do BÖC, but there's a certain comfort in knowing that it's there in my collection.

Now to decide if it goes with the other BÖC releases or gets stored on its own between Staggering Statistics and Stars Of Track And Field.