Fire of Unknown Origin
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| Fire of Unknown Origin | ||
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| Studio album by Blue Öyster Cult | ||
| Released | May 1981 | |
| Recorded | 1980 | |
| Genre | Hard rock | |
| Label | Columbia | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Blue Öyster Cult chronology | ||
| Cultösaurus Erectus (1980) |
Fire of Unknown Origin (1981) |
Extraterrestrial Live (1982) |
Fire of Unknown Origin is an album by Blue Öyster Cult, released in 1981. It was produced by Martin Birch, a producer who worked with many heavy metal bands (with his works with Iron Maiden and the blues-era Whitesnake being amongst the most famous) of the early 80's.
Generally regarded by fans as BOC's last great studio album, Fire of Unknown Origin also happens to be the final studio album featuring the band's original lineup. It continues BOC's tendency to write quirky songs, from the title track's refrain of love lost to the strangely surreal "Joan Crawford (Has Risen From The Grave)".
The album contains the second track that most people think of when BOC's name is mentioned, "Burnin' For You", which showed that behind the quirky psychedelia there still lurked a keen pop songwriting ability. Many of the songs came about for use with the animated film Heavy Metal such as the song "Vengeance (The Pact)", however only the song "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" ended up being used for the film.
Radio Airplay and Album Charting
- Fire of Unknown Origin reached #24 on the Billboard Charts in 1981.
- Burnin' For You reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1981
- Burnin' For You reached #40 on the Pop Singles Chart
- Joan Crawford reached #49 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart
[edit] Track listing
- "Fire of Unknown Origin" (J. Bouchard, P. Smith, E. Bloom, A. Bouchard, D. Roeser)
- "Burnin' For You" (D. Roeser, R. Meltzer)
- "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" (E. Bloom, M. Moorcock)
- "Sole Survivor" (E. Bloom, J. Trivers, L. Myers)
- "Heavy Metal: the Black and Silver" (A. Bouchard, E. Bloom, S. Pearlman)
- "Vengeance (The Pact)" (A. Bouchard, J. Bouchard)
- "After Dark" (E. Bloom, J. Trivers, L. Myers)
- "Joan Crawford" (A. Bouchard, David Roter, Jack Rigg)
- "Don't Turn Your Back" (E. Bloom, J. Trivers, L. Myers)
[edit] Personnel
- Eric Bloom - lead vocals, stun guitar
- Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser - lead guitar, vocals
- Allen Lanier - keyboards, guitar
- Joe Bouchard - bass, vocals
- Albert Bouchard - drums, vocals
