from Duelling Banjos to Blue Oyster Cult

[Art Blade]

Duelling Banjos, a purer audio version with a guitar teacher duelling himself (plays both parts in a video collage). Nice to listen to as well as to watch the two instruments in action :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8reNgcIVFU

[Fiach]

(plays both parts in a video collage).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8reNgcIVFU

pfft...real men play two instruments at the same time  >:D

Michael Angelo Batio Double-Guitar Solo


But yeah Duelling Banjos rules :)

[PZ]

I've never seen anything quite like that!  :-()

[Art Blade]

impressive :) around 5.20 I recognised a quote from "smoke on the water" ;)

[Fiach]

impressive :) around 5.20 I recognised a quote from "smoke on the water" ;)

Yes, I was wondering if anyone would spot that! :)

It's also very iconic, check this out, You need to listen to the lyrics for the SotW intro to make sense at 2.30 (pretty awesome song imo).

Blue Oyster Cult: The Marshall Plan

[Art Blade]

dang, I can't. Germany and their copyright issues..  :D

[Fiach]

dang, I can't. Germany and their copyright issues..  :D

Well, yeah I can see why there maybe an issue with BÖC in Germany, they have songs like ME262 and Bormann the Chauffeur, sorry about that :(.

Anyway the song is called The Marshall Plan (its a pun on the actual Marshall Plan and Marshall guitar amps), its a kind of rock n roll story about this guy who loves metal, he goes with his girlfriend to a gig and she buggers off as a groupie with the band.

The guy is distraught and comes up with a plan, he's going to learn guitar, get a band together and become a star (as you do :)), Then he can get his girlfriend back, So, he describes the music he's going to play and it starts of with a REALLY badly played intro to SotW as he's learning guitar and graduates into his being introduced as a megastar and then letting rip with a really good solo.

Shame you cant listen to it mate, its quite good :(

Try this link :
http://mp3lemon.org/song/129972/Blue_Oyster_Cult_-_11_-_The_Marshall_Plan

[fragger]

That's my favourite song on that album :-X

[Art Blade]

Link didn't w@&k but I found this one: BLUE OYSTER CULT The Marshal plan Live 1980

[Art Blade]

I just split this off of the movie recommendation topic.. else, we'd never find it again  :-()

Oh, the Marshall Plan: and again I heard that quote from smoke on the water  ^-^

[Fiach]

Nice find, never heard that version, cheers :)

[Dweller_Benthos]

In the video, where the girlfriend first takes off with the band in their limo, it's of course, the BÖC guys in the back.....

That is one of their best albums, the last of the "70's rock" albums, I'm afraid, Fire of Unknown Origin was good, but started to suffer from the 80's malaise that happened to so many 70's rock bands. After that, it was just downhill, a few shining moments here and there, but never a full album's worth of good songs.

[fragger]

I like the video D_B mentioned :-X Also in that vid, when "...Johnny's standing on the corner, after the show", Johnny is wearing a BÖC T-shirt.

I also haven't seen (or should I say heard) that clip that Art found, nice one mate :-X

Whenever I see old photos of Eric Bloom he makes me think of that Steven Hyde character in That 70's Show, who's appearance is very obviously based on Bloom's :-()

For fans of BÖC there's a fairly recently recorded 9-part interview series with Bloom on You Tube (the afro is long gone though!) He's quite a likeable guy. Here's part one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkazdWUsTFE#ws

To see the others, go to You Tube or Google and paste this link in the address bar, you'll see all the other parts at the top of the list in You Tube (Leave out the square brackets, of course!):

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkazdWUsTFE#ws]

[Fiach]

In the video, where the girlfriend first takes off with the band in their limo, it's of course, the BÖC guys in the back.....

That is one of their best albums, the last of the "70's rock" albums, I'm afraid, Fire of Unknown Origin was good, but started to suffer from the 80's malaise that happened to so many 70's rock bands. After that, it was just downhill, a few shining moments here and there, but never a full album's worth of good songs.

I never particularly liked FoUO, it seemed very bland, Psychic and Vengeance are the only tracks I really like.

I read someone described them as the Edgar Allan Poe of rock, kinda apt I think :)

@ Fragger, thanks for that link, I'll savour those tonight when I have time to listen, cheers  :-X

[fragger]

No worries mate :)

I agree with you about the FoUO songs, although I also like Don't Turn Your Back. Don't care much for the rest of the album.

[JRD]

Man... I keep reading Dweller_Benthos on the topic.....  ????

[PZ]

  :-X

[Dweller_Benthos]

Cool, I'll have to watch that interview. I almost met Eric & Buck, I was at a show in a club/bar and I'm pretty sure they were playing as BÖC and not Soft White Underbelly at the time. After the show, I was hanging around the bar playing some video games then decided to leave. One of the people I worked with at the time was also supposed to be there, but I never caught up with them (in a time before cell phones, this was a bit more difficult than it is now). So after a few games, I left. Next day at w@&k, I talk to the guy and he said he was sitting at the bar and Eric Bloom walks up and orders a beer. Buck Dharma came out a few minutes later. He said hello to them, saying he enjoyed the show, but he wasn't a huge BÖC fan, so he didn't hang around too much, and left after he finished his drink.

:D

If I was more of a drinker, I would have probably hung around and met them too.

As far as Fire Of Unknown Origin goes, it is OK, and if you take it for what it originally was supposed to be, which is the soundtrack to the first Heavy Metal movie, it makes more sense. Turns out the movie producers ended up just using Veterans and getting songs from a bunch of other people for the soundtrack. Made Don Felder's career.

[fragger]

Pity you didn't get to talk to Eric and Buck, Dweller. From what I've heard they're pretty down-to-earth and quite approachable guys, no pretentious arrogance or egotistical "rock star" attitudes.

Bloom has been selling custom-painted guitars online, the instruments decorated with themes from classic BÖC songs. They've all sold out though at this remove. You can still see them here:

http://ericbloomguitars.com/guitars.asp

My fave is the ME-262 one, me being a WWII-era fighter buff, closely followed by the "Veteran" one :-X

I didn't know about Fire of Unknown Origin being intended for the soundtrack to Heavy Metal. You're right, it does make more sense in that light. I did hear somewhere that Sole Survivor was based on an old Twilight Zone episode, dunno if that's true or not (I don't recall any episode having a storyline like that, but it has been over 40 years...)

Thanks for the info :-X

[Fiach]

I collect guitars myself, they are some interesting works of art there! I think his kronos guitar looks a bit stupid, but I can understand the marketing behind it.

it's a great link to see what Eric is doing now.  :-X

[fragger]

Just spotted this at Bloom's custom guitar site:

Special Delivery: Eric will hand-deliver each guitar to the purchaser. If the purchase is final, Eric will communicate with the buyer to deliver the guitar at a Blue Öyster Cult concert of their choosing, handsigning it, posing for photos and playing the guitar at that show on the song depicted by the guitar. Special Delivery is included in the purchase price. If the purchaser doesn't care for the Special Delivery, the guitar will be shipped insured via UPS or FEDEX at the purchaser's expense.

That's a cool gesture :-X

[Fiach]

It sure is, that is the best provenance you can get that Eric played the guitar, when he dies it will be worth alot more money!  >:D

Cant help wishing it was buck making them though if its gonna be played by a BÖC member  >:D:)

[Dweller_Benthos]

Those guitars are pretty cool, would be nice to see them in person. I don't have the room to store one or the talent to play one, so owning one would be a little pointless for me, but they are pretty cool.

As for Fire Of Unknown Origin, not the entire album was written for the movie Heavy Metal, and Veteran wasn't one of them, but it's the one that got on the soundtrack, go figure. Vengeance The Pact, Heavy Metal Black and Silver (duh), probably After Dark and Sole Survivor (maybe) were the ones written for it I would guess.

[Fiach]

I forgot Heavy Metal was on it, easily one of their best songs, iirc it was written for the movie but wasn't used, but I could be wrong about that, maybe there wasn't enough cowbell in it  >:D ^-^

[fragger]

(smacks forehead) of course, Heavy Metal... I knew there was another song on that album that I liked ::)

LOL "wasn't enough cowbell in it"