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This 2 CD set is yet another example of Sony attempting to cash in on substandard live recordings of the past. The set is taken from two live performances, CD 1 from the Fire of Unknown Origin tour, and CD 2 from the Revolution by Night tour (though, oddly, there are no songs from that album on this live disc). While BOC were certainly in fine form both nights, the recordings are little better than bootleg. It is obvious that when digitalizing, there was no attempt made by Sony to remaster. CD 1 suffers most from a poor sound mix. CD 2 suffers from, among other things, tape drag - which was faithfully transferred to the CD by the rather lackluster performance of 'Ground Control", the company in charge of "mastering". The song list of CD 1, not surprisingly, contains versions of several songs from the album, Fire of Unknown Origin. They are adequate, but, in general, there are better live versions available on ET Live. CD 2 repeats two of these songs, "Burnin' For You", and "Joan Crawford" (along with a repeat of "Don't Fear the Reaper"). Again, adequate versions, but definatley not better than what can be heard on ET Live. The remainder of the CD set is made up of live versions of several classics from the early days. As a matter of fact, CD 2 contains six songs from BOC's first three albums. CD 1 contains "Hot Rails to Hell" (which is repeated on CD 2) and "ME 262". If there is a redeeming quality to this set, it is the inclusion of these songs from the early days. "Stairway to the Stars", "Harvester of Eyes", "Workshop of the Telescopes", "Hot Rails", "Seven Screaming Dizbusters" - all reasonably good performances. "Cities on Flame" is also there, on CD 2, sung by Eric Bloom. Call it a personal bias, but I believe the only person who should sing that song is Albert Bouchard. It was his frenzied, frenetic vocals that made Cities on Flame the dark heavy metal anthem that it was. Eric's version is just pop. As with all BOC's live albums, there are the obligatory covers. I've never cared much for these, on any of the live albums. There are two versions each of "Born to Be Wild" and "Roadhouse Blues", all forgetable, as is a version of "Born to Rock", on CD 2, from Buck Dharma's solo album. Finally, there is something of a hidden gem here. With the exception of a couple of songs on ET Live, CD 1 is the last live recording of BOC with Albert Bouchard on drums. CD 2 would probably be the last live recordings to include original bassist, Joe Bouchard. These live performances truly were the last days of the original Blue Oyster Cult, and are immortilized on CD 1 with the classic live favorite, "5 Guitars". So, all that being said, for the hardcore BOC fan, this is a rather expensive, and poorly recorded novelty to stick on the CD shelf. For most folks however, I recommend spending your money instead on ET Live, and for the old classics live, you cna't beat, On Your Feet or On Your Knees.Read full review
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