Review Summary: Your standard 70s hard rock album with the odd banger that, for some reason, released in 2024.
19 years after the disappointing
Curse of the Hidden Mirror, Blue Oyster Cult decided to add to their discography once again with their best and most fresh sounding album since the 80s with
The Symbol Remains. Despite the band's age, they’ve increased upon the grit found within their classic sound and contained some of their most ambitious tracks since
Imaginos. While their 2020 release wasn’t among their very best works, it was good enough that when
Ghost Stories was announced, expectations were high.
However,
Ghost Stories is slightly different as instead of the tracks being all new recordings, they are (almost) all scrapped tracks from the studio sessions of
Mirrors all the way to
Revolution By Night. And you can very much tell. That is not to say that the songs here are bad, because they are not. I wouldn’t even say there is a single track here that is downright horrible, but at the same time, there is nothing here that really stands out. The leading single,
So Supernatural, sounds like an uninspired retread of the band's biggest hit in terms of atmosphere. The closest it comes to reaching the original magic is in its somewhat catchy chorus.
Shot In the Dark starts off with a fairly unique bluesy spoken word intro, but then it devolves into the most familiarly basic 70s hard rock track.
The Only Thing gets points for having a pleasant guitar solo, but it sounds like the first draft of “I Love the Night", which is a track that I’d much rather listen to. Lyrically, again,
Ghost Stories is pretty standard for 70s hard rock, as it is rather forgettable. However, the lyrics in
Cherry do stand out due to them being rather questionable. These gross lyrics really detract from what would otherwise be quite a catchy jam. The closest the album gets to a bad track is with The Beatles cover,
If I Fell, which closes the album. It is clearly the only track here that was recorded in 2016, making it stand out like a sore thumb. As a cover, it doesn’t do much to separate itself from the original, and it is clear that some of the notes are outside Eric Bloom's range, making for a somewhat awkward listen during the chorus.
I do not want to give the impression that
Ghost Stories is without its highlights, though, as that is just plain wrong. The opener,
Late Night Street Fight, starts the album off with an infectious groove, and the MC5 cover,
Kick Out the Jams, is the closest the album gets to recapturing the bands unmistakable grit and edge that is found in their classic records.
Don’t Come Running to Me, the album's second single, features the biggest and catchiest pop rock chorus here. It is probably the only track on the album that I am somewhat surprised didn’t make the original cut.
One of the album's most apparent flaws is with the mix, and it is something I alluded to earlier. The mix here completely fails at achieving the band's infamous grit that most of their albums have. The mix sounds hollow, and the guitars lack any real powerful punches as they are generally away from the forefront. While nothing here is too revolutionary, a better mix could make a lot of these tracks a lot more fun and a lot more memorable.
Overall,
Ghost Stories is fine for what it is. As a collection of scrapped tracks from over 40 years ago, it does its job fine as it brings light to otherwise forgotten songs. Naturally, because of this, nothing here is going to blow your mind. A lot of it is standard hard rock tracks that are pleasant but don’t make much of an impression. It won’t bring in new fans, nor will it revitalise the band's career or anything else. This is purely for the hardcore fans, and I don’t see many others getting anything else from this. And if you are new to this band, do yourself a favour and start with their 70s and early 80s releases, as that is where the true hidden gems are found.
