Club Ninja

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Blue Öyster Cult chronology
Club Ninja

Studio album by Blue Öyster Cult
Released	January, 1986 (US)
Genre	Heavy Metal
Label	Columbia Records (US)
Producer(s)	Sandy Pearlman
The Revölution By Night (1983)	Club Ninja (1986)	Imaginos (1988)

Club Ninja is a Blue Öyster Cult album released in 1986. By most anyone's standards, the album was very successful, selling over 150,000 copies, but because it represented a decline in BOC's average, and because of its high cost, Columbia Records executives pronounced it a failure. The album is generally considered by long-time fans of the band to be their worst effort, producer Sandy Pearlman considering it the worst record he has ever been part of. This is the only Blue Öyster Cult album without keyboardist Allen Lanier, who was replaced by Tommy Zvonchek, keyboardist for Aldo Nova's live band and also one of the many performers on the 1988 concept album Imaginos. Lanier's departure left the band with only three original members, insiders referring to the group as "3ÖC". Bassist Joe Bouchard left the band soon after the album, feeling there was an all around lack of creativity and heart, the band then jokingly being nicknamed Two Öyster Cult, with the only remaining members being vocalist Eric Bloom and guitarist Buck Dharma. With the inability to find acceptable replacements for the absent members, the band broke up in late 1986. A reunion was urged by the band's manager Steve Schenck, which caused the return of Allen Lanier to the line-up. Through it all, "Dancin' in the Ruins" managed to get some airplay, and "Perfect Water" is considered to be one the band's more underrated gems.