First off, the name: Oaxaca was the band's name when they recorded these demos, so we'll stick with it - not to mention it sounds way more psychedelic than The Stalk-Forrest Group ('By the way, which one's Forrest?'), under which these demos were finally issued in 2001. Having started out as White Soft Underbelly, the band had recently lost original lead singer Les Braunstein, to be replaced internally by Eric Bloom - and recorded the songs on this album as Oaxaca, essentially rerecording these tracks, as a first recording was done with Braunstein. Oaxaca - still with Andrew Winters on bass instead of Joe Bouchard - then went into the Elektra studios in Los Angeles to lay down a ten track demo. This is that, plus the short track "John L. Sullivan" that is from around the same time, and was issued on the BÖC Rarities album, which itself quickly became a rarity, in an ironic twist the band would surely appreciate.
Overall, this is a fascinating look at the Cult and the road not taken. A year later they remixed or re-recorded some of these a year later in New York to nudge them closer into their burgeoning hard rock direction, by that time the band had been the Stalk-Forrest Group for a while. These are the original recordings of the proto-Blue Öyster Cult, as a full-fledged, Grateful Dead-inspired acid rock/ psych rock band. If you go into another fascinating direction, go the whole way.
Some of the Imaginos stuff is already rearing its head in this very early stage: "Curse Of The Hidden Mirrors" - the opening track here - later gave an otherwise unrelated BÖC album its name, and Albert Bouchard integrated it into its own take on the Imaginos myth, while "Gil Blanco Country" was left off the album in 1987, much to Bouchard's unhappiness, and he put it onto ReImaginos. There is also a very early version of "I'm On The Lamb".
Bloom's lead vocals on these tracks are much more subtle, and in many ways sweeter, than his showman growling on later Cult numbers. So we get the sweet psych folk-rock of the aforementioned "Gil Blanco Country" and during the opening of "St. Cecilia", which then turns into a Gateful Dead-type acid rock instrumental workout. You can almost guess the sound of later BÖC in the driving "Donovan's Monkey", on which Bloom approaches his later vocal stylings. "Arthur Comics" mixes acid/garage rock with blues licks, while "Bonomo's Turkish Raffy", which they dropped from the new demo/album configuration a year later is pure psych guitar pop. Very far from real BÖC, and all the better for it.
Some of it sounds well of its time. "Raggamuffin Dumplin'" with lines like "I'm the magic man with the magic plan" for example, or the weirdness of "Quicksand", which unwisely was a year later chosen as a try-out single that unsurprisingly stiffed. And in some ways, while this is interesting mimicry, the future for these New York area-wise asses didn't lie in Southern Californian acid rock, even if they give it their all, as in fully psyched-out closer "A Fact About Sneakers". But this is not only interesting for historical purposes, ior as a piece of juvenilia from a band that would go on to be bigger and better, it's a genuinely good listen if you're into late 60s acid rock. Which I'm normally not, but I'm digging this, and so should fans of the genre.
So, didn't think you'd ever hear Blue Öyster Cult dress up as The Grateful Dead and doing a good job of it? Then think again and hear what Oaxaca is all about...and dig it, maaaaaaaan!
Meet Oaxaca!
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What's your favorite Band/artist that played completely different music then what they became famous for in their younger years?
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