BLUE ÖYSTER CULT

Every band has to start from somewhere. Some can hit the ground running, and others need a few years to get it right. Blue Oyster Cult is in the second half of bands even if there is a slight ''cult'' aura surrounding their debut.

My experience with the group was feeling okay about their hit album AGENTS OF FORTUNE (I actually like lots of the album), then immersing into SECRET TREATIES and hoping that the debut would fall in line with the third album. That, my friends, is called relying too much on wishful thinking. What BLUE OYSTER CULT the album is, is a confused, directionless mess.

Good moments can break through the ice, but whole song consistency is rare on this album unlike SECRET TREATIES where it was hard to hit the skip button. One notable exception to all exceptions on this album is ''Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll''; the song is mean, sinister, it has a fantastic riff to sink your teeth into, and it is a strong song in general. If this song had the SECRET TREATIES production, boy would I babble on about this tune?

Speaking of, the production is quite lackluster; it doesn't really bring the full potential of the band out. Songs like the proggy ''Screams'', the riff-tastic ''Stairway to the Stars'' and the closer that makes the album sound complete ''Redeemed'' could have been truly great had they been produced properly.

The rest of the material (including bonus) is just plain weird. Neither of Buck Dharma's contributions really do anything (''May'' and ''Redcap'') other than try to bring soft rock and country into the album, albeit subtly. There are other tracks like ''She's as Beautiful as a Foot'' and ''I'm on the Lamb But I Ain't No Sheep'' that upon listening, are only amusing for the MadLib-constructed titles; there's nothing musically satisfying about either song, nor the bonus tracks ''What Is Quicksand'' and ''A Fact About Sneakers''.

Thankfully for rock audiences, by albums three and four, BOC pulled out all the stops and gave the world a fantastic album followed by a monster hit single.