CURSE OF THE HIDDEN MIRROR

As with most bands that don't break up and continue playing into their 50s, Blue Öyster Cult spends most of its studio time trying to recapture their glory days. The big surprise here is that they almost succeed. Indeed, most of the album is pretty good. Dance On Stilts, Pocket, Stone Of Love, and Here Comes That Feeling (note, all Buck Dharma penned) are all very fine rock songs. Why then, do I feel so reluctant to give this album even three stars? I guess it's because for all its strengths, the album still feels like it tries too hard to reach into the past. Nowhere is this more apparent than the embarrassing "The Old Gods Return" and the painfully trite "I Just Like To Be Bad." If this were a new band, with their whole careers ahead of them to develop, I think I would be more generous. That may be unfair, but a band's history cannot help but influence how we perceive their music. In any case, they should be lauded for still being able to write such catchy tunes, even if they will never regain their stardom of days gone by. Three stars it is!