Tyranny and Mutation
- The Red & The Black -- (A. Bouchard, E. Bloom, S. Pearlman)
- O.D.'d On Life Itself -- (E. Bloom, A. Bouchard, J. Bouchard, S. Pearlman)
- Hot Rails To Hell -- (J. Bouchard)
- 7 Screaming Diz-Busters -- (A. Bouchard, J. Bouchard, D. Roeser, S. Pearlman)
- Baby Ice Dog -- (A. Bouchard, E. Bloom, P. Smith)
- Wings Wetted Down -- (A. Bouchard, J. Bouchard)
- Teen Archer -- (D. Roeser, E. Bloom, R. Meltzer)
- Mistress Of The Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl) -- (A. Bouchard, S. Pearlman)
- *Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll (Live)
- *Buck's Boogie (Studio Version)
- *7 Screaming Diz-Busters (Live)
- *O.D.'d On Life Itself (Live)
* only available on Columbia/Legacy Re-Master
Release Notes: Released February 1973 by Columbia. A quadraphonic pressing of this album was also made. Re-mastered on "gold" CD together with Blue Oyster Cult and released May 1999 by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, with restored and expanded liner notes. Also re-mastered with bonus track "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll" (from Blue Oyster Cult) together with *Secret Treaties* (which bonus track "Stairway To The Stars" from Blue Oyster Cult) and released in 2000 by the French label Axe Killer - with expanded liner notes (taken from the BOC Fanclub website, without credit). Re-mastered by Columbia/Legacy (with bonus tracks, lyrics, and expanded liner notes) and released June 2001. Produced by Murray Krugman and Sandy Pearlman.
Instruments: Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (guitar, vocals), Eric Bloom (vocal, stun guitar, all synthesizers), Albert Bouchard (drums, vocals), Joe Bouchard (bass, vocals, keyboard), Allen Lanier (keyboards, rhythm guitar).
Additional Notes: The album is the only one in the band's discography where the band is listed as *THE* Blue Oyster Cult. The album was originally planned to be titled, "The Red And The Black", and the sides of the final product were dubbed (tracks 1-4) "The Black" (physical, sensual, aural activation) and (tracks 5-8) "The Red" (phantasmagorical id-teasers and supernatural beings). The following was printed in the liner notes: "Seepage from deep, black, brittle experiments which failed and transformations too hard to find. 'I was overcome and turned to red.' Duster's dust became the sale. Lucifer the light. A restless motion came to move and then subside. In endless knocking at the door - it's time. Tyranny & Mutation. Tyranny & Mutation." According to Bolle Gregmar, the riff in "The Red & The Black" (a reworked version of "I'm On The Lamb, But I Ain't No Sheep" from *Blue Oyster Cult*) was inspired by the Captain Beefheart song, "Out Of The Frying Pan And Into The Fire". According to Joe Bouchard, most of the lyrics for "Wings Wetted Down" came from a book of poems by Pablo Neruda, a Chilean poet (referred to as one of the 3 or 4 greatest Spanish-language poets of this century, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971). According to Albert Bouchard, the music to "Baby Ice Dog" was inspired by the Blues Project song, "I Can't Keep From Crying." The live version of "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll" was recorded live in 1972, and previously not commercially issued, but released on 12-inch vinyl (on *The BOC Bootleg EP*) to radio stations. The studio version of "Buck's Boogie" is an outtake from this album's recording sessions - the re-master liner notes incorrectly credit the song to (S. Pearlman, E. Bloom, A. Bouchard), when it should in fact be (A. Bouchard, D. Roeser). The live versions of "7 Screaming Diz-Busters" and "O.D.'d On Life Itself" were recorded in July of 1975 (incorrectly listed in the liner notes as July of 1974) and previously only available on the *Live In The West* "bootleg" tape that was created by the band and circulated among friends and family. The liner notes to the re-mastered version incorrectly credit "O.D.'d On Life Itself" to (S. Pearlman, A. Bouchard, D. Roeser, E. Bloom) when it should in fact be (E. Bloom, A. Bouchard, J. Bouchard, S. Pearlman). The liner notes to the re-mastered version also incorrectly credit "Teen Archer" to (A. Bouchard, E. Bloom, R. Meltzer) when it should in fact be (D. Roeser, E. Bloom, R. Meltzer).
References:
Tyranny & Mutation on allmusic.com
Tyranny & Mutation on amazon.com