Stuck in My Head - Imaginos

A bit of background.

My friends and I, in high school, were very much into Blue Oyster Cult, and when their final album for Columbia, Imaginos, hit in 1988, our Junior year, we were all over it. It was played over and over and over again in our cars driving to and from class. We loved the album, and the concept (with Stephen King, I believe, involved conceptually - I could be wrong) even if we didn't quite "get" the whole thing.

The album was simply awesome, IMHO ( For example - the version of Astronomy on this record is definitely my preferred one over the earlier version on the Secret Treaties album). Powerful and melodic. Tending further toward a "metal" (which, yes, we were into) feel than most of BOC's catalog. Lots of hooks, even if a lot of the lyrics were, well, anywhere from "cryptic" to "outright hogwash."

It was their final Columbia album, and the final album, period, for over a decade, I believe. It's status as a "Blue Oyster Cult" album is also in a bit of dispute, as it really seems to have been a solo project for drummer Albert Bouchard (the first of a trilogy, in fact). It was recorded over eight years from 1981 to 1988, and some of the members of BOC were barely involved.

I recently found a remastered copy, and have been enjoying a lot of memories.

I'm sure someone will e-mail me a concise rundown of the concept of Imaginos, which involves an immortal knight, Frankenstein, and...well, y'know, never mind.



Imaginos
by Blue Oyster Cult

Imaginos, approached the sun
In August in New Hampshire
Singing songs, nobody knew
And stories left undone

See this fish
His scales turned green under such a sun
Such a sun, such a sun
Such a sun, such a sun
Such a sun

A tongue and pale of Texas light
Descended on the border
While the bird called Buzzardo
Rattled the bones, he picked the flesh from

See this fish
His scales turned green under such a sun
Such a sun, such a sun
Such a sun, such a sun
Such a sun

Checking the sign of the Moon fleet
Roll your wheel with mine
Sometimes in the light of day
The truth proves hard to find
Actually this Buzzardo
Was Imaginos in disguise, in disguise

Ooo, Imaginos
Ooo, Imaginos
Ooo, ooo, ooo, Imaginos
Ooo, Imaginos
Ooo, Imaginos
Ooo, ooo, ooo

Imaginos approached the sun
In August in New Hampshire
Singing songs nobody knew
And stories left undone

See this fish
His scales turned green under such a sun
Such a sun, such a sun
Such a sun, such a sun
Such a sun

I'm Buzzardo in Texas, last chance
I'm a pinwheel in Vermont, last chance
And gorge the Bungo Pony
Last chance, last chance, last chance

I'm a rocker a roller and a spinner, too
Below that scene of subterfuge
Last chance, last chance, last chance
Which is

The last chance border
Last chance, last chance, last chance
Last chance, last chance, last chance
On the border
Last chance, last chance, last chance
Last chance, last chance, last chance

On the border
Last chance, last chance, last chance
Last chance, last chance
The last exit to Texas