Heaven Forbid

This article is about the Blue Öyster Cult album. For The Fray song, see How To Save A Life.

Heaven Forbid is the eleventh studio album by the American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult, released in 1998. It was the band's first studio album in a decade (not counting the 1992 soundtrack to Bad Channels). American science fiction and horror writer John Shirley wrote lyrics for several songs on the album. While he is a noted author for his cyberpunk stories, many of the lyrics on this album revolve around early science fiction and mystery motifs. This album's working title was 'Ezekial's Wheel', after the Biblical story that may or may not reference an early visitation by UFOs.

A number of songs on this album have ties to previous songs released within the circle of Blue Öyster Cult. "In Thee" was originally featured on Mirrors. "Still Burnin'" is a sequel to the song "Burnin' for You" that appeared on Fire of Unknown Origin. "Live for Me" shares a number of similarities with Buck Dharma's solo single "Your Loving Heart" from his Flat Out album.

The inspiration for the alternative cover is Morgan Fairchild. This image also appears on the reverse of the insert, and was originally intended to be the front piece as indicated by advertisements from the period.

Track listing

1. "See You in Black" (John Shirley, Eric Bloom, Donald Roeser) – 3:17
2. "Harvest Moon" (Roeser) – 4:55
3. "Power Underneath Despair" (Shirley, Bloom, Roeser) – 3:30
4. "X-Ray Eyes" (Shirley, Roeser) – 3:48
5. "Hammer Back" (Shirley, Bloom, Roeser) – 3:35
6. "Damaged" (Shirley, Roeser) – 4:22
7. "Cold Gray Light of Dawn" (Shirley, Bloom, Roeser) – 3:51
8. "Real World" (Shirley, Roeser) – 5:08
9. "Live for Me" (Shirley, Roeser) – 5:19
10. "Still Burnin'" (Jon Rogers, Roeser) – 3:39
11. "In Thee" (Live) (Allen Lanier) – 3:40

Personnel

Band members

• Eric Bloom – guitars, keyboards, lead vocals on tracks 1, 3, 5, and 7, producer
• Buck Dharma – guitars, keyboards, lead vocals on tracks 2, 4, 6, 8-11, producer
• Allen Lanier – guitars, keyboards
• Danny Miranda – bass guitar on tracks 1, 4-9, 11, backing vocals
• Jon Rogers – bass guitar on tracks 2, 3 and 10, backing vocals
• Bob Rondinelli – drums on track 9
• Chuck Burgi - drums on tracks 1-8 and 10, backing vocals

Additional musicians

• George Cintron – additional vocals
• Tony Perrino – additional keyboards

Production

• Steve Schenck - producer on tracks 2, 3, 10, management
• Paul Orofino – engineer, mixing
• Marc Senesac – engineer and mixing on tracks 2, 3, 10
• Leon Zervos – mastering

References