ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?

This album is a great compilation. I dont normally like compilations but this one I find myself listening to all the tome. It has their most popular song like Burnin for You and (Don't Fear) The Reaper, but it also has some songs i had never heard of that are great. Godzilla is a great song. So is Marshall Plan. I think this album is wonderful. A great starting point for anyone just starting on Blue Oyster Cult.

For who love U.S.A. way to Prog (not with relation to European Prog) I think that B.O.C. or Kansas are the more famous 70's acts. B.O.C., in this case, is synonym of the more close to Heavy Rock, Hard Rock or Heavy Metal music that a Prog band produced. It is clear that, in my humble opinion, B.O.C. is that type of bands that in Europe have the equivalence in Wishbone Ash or Uriah Heep. Certainly in U.S.A. B.O.C. have the equivalent in some Detroit bands. But it is a detail that for me it is not important because B.O.C.is not more Prog than Yes... Is that B.O.C. is Rock with Prog arrangements, Yes is Classic Music with Rock instruments!

in this sense the music in this 'Are You Ready To Rock' compilation is good to endorse what I said above. Clearly I can not see how, in certain instances, the songs are 100% Hard Rock. But this does not change my opinion. To be honest I think this also for Mountain, another band similar to B.O.C..

Musically, the music of B.O.C. presents simple rhythms, backed by virtuoso passages og electric guitars and/ or organ (or synths). The style of singing is Rock, without departing from the classic R'n'R singing style. It is true, and I admit, that talk of Prog with B.O.C. is really difficult. But not impossible.

The level of 'Are You Ready To Rock' compilation is sute high, proper for the track listing (see above in main compilation page). Certainly, in my humble opinion, this is not the definitive B.O.C. album. But sure 'Are You Ready To Rock' is not a normal compilation.

Blue Oyster Cult has put out about a million compilation albums, it seems. This is an odd one. It has the hits like "Don't Fear the Reaper" and "Burning For You". Some of the other tunes here seem to be just randomly selected (not that they are bad songs, though.) "The Marshall Plan"? "Death Valley Nights"? This total package is a weird mixture of old and new BOC that I think might just confuse a casual listener. BOC went through some real changes in their music that almost need to be treated on seperate discs. There is little resemblence between "Burning for You" and "Tranmaniacon MC" for instance. Also, no time chronology is followed here, just a mix. This is not a bad compliation, just odd. 3 stars.