Blue Oyster Cult – Club Ninja
Details: 1986 (2009 reissue), Lemon, CD
Ladies and gentlemen, Blue Oyster Cult fans, take your seats, or rather, get in your corners, there’s no sitting on the fence with this one. You either love Club Ninja, or you hate it. Historically, the album in the band’s extensive catalogue that’s the most-reviled and criticised (and oft-derided as “all filler, no killer”), this recent re-issue by Cherry Red on their Lemon label gives us the chance to re-assess its merits. Sony have fairly recently undertaken a comprehensive re-mastering of all the Cult’s classic albums, complete with a slew of bonus tracks, from demos to live cuts. Obviously they decided not to waste their time and money on Club Ninja, and have farmed it off to Cherry Red – without any bonus tracks being made available. So you just get the nine-track original album – with nothing to sway the “for or against” arguments in any new direction.
I’m nailing my colours to the mast – I’ve always liked Club Ninja and while no-one would hold it up against Secret Treaties, Tyranny And Mutation or Agents Of Fortune, I am quite prepared to defend it stoutly when compared to the likes of Spectres or Mirrors, and certainly way superior to the horrible The Revolution By Night. 1976’s Agents Of Fortune had perfected the blueprint for their brand of hook-laden metal and all the band’s subsequent studio albums had followed this format – Mirrors was far too lightweight for many fans – and Club Ninja doesn’t upset the boat in that respect.
“White Flags” is a solid opener, with typically inventive lyrics and “Dancin’ In The Ruins” is a catchy offering, much in the mould of “Burnin’ For You” (from Fire Of Unknown Origin). Quality-control slips somewhat on “Rock Not War” which is a bit of a clunker with plodding drums and synthy-keyboards, but, hey, it’s not that bad. (It’s one of a pair of tracks penned by Bob Halligan Junior, the other being the distinctly-average “Beat ‘Em Up” which really is as dubious as its title suggests).
“Perfect Water” however, is a bona fide Cult classic, still in their live set today, and one of those Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser compositions that oozes sheer melodic class, while retaining a hard edge and featuring a great solo. “Spy In The House Of The Night” and “Shadow Warrior” are great tracks as well and while “When The War Comes” doesn’t leave much of an imprint, “Madness To The Method” closes the album in fine style with driving guitars, understated piano and tuneful vocals working on clever and witty lyrics – all trademark Blue Oyster Cult. The returning Sandy Pearlman’s production (Bruce Fairbairn had handled the previous Revolution By Night album) and whilst there is an occasional over-reliance on 80’s-sounding keyboards, it never detracts from the overall sound, which still holds up well today.
Much of the initial criticism of Club Ninja seemed to come from fans upset by the fracturing of the original line-up: prior to Revolution By Night, drummer Albert Bouchard had been sacked (or “left” depending on whose account you listen to) and before recording began on Club Ninja, Allan Lanier had also departed, reportedly upset by the band’s increased use of outside writers. Twenty-three years later and we can discount this observation: Club Ninja deserves another listen based on its own merits (which are many) and, whilst it is certainly not faultless, it is a more-than-worthwhile part of a great back catalogue., with at least three or four superb tracks. There is one disappointment however: for once, the inventiveness and surreal approach often evident in the artwork on the album sleeves (Fire Of Unknown Origin, Spectres, Cultosaurus Erectus) is sadly missing – Club Ninja has the worst-sleeve of any Cult album. It’s appalling…..but don’t let that distract from the music within.
Highlight: Perfect Water
Score: 3.5/5
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NJ
November 19, 2009 at 11:33 am
I really like this album, when it first came out I didn’t like the new sound immediately… but Club Ninja and Revolution by Night grew on me over time. I find these albums awesome to listen to today and they somehow still feel fresh to me.
November 20, 2009 at 9:49 am
It is an album of two halves for me…’Perfect Water’ and ‘Dancin’ In The Ruins’ are amongst the best songs BOC have produced but ‘Rock Not War’ is a duffer, even Manowar could have done better lyric wise :) Great review and nicely puts the case for a wrongly reviled album.
November 23, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Hmmmm, this passed me by completely at the time.Have to admit I’ve not been entirely convinced by their recent approach to album writing (as I say that I realise I mean the last 30 years!), which seems to consist of a load of solo written songs grafted together in the name of an album, with no particular thread to them. The ‘classic’ albums were classics in my eyes because they did what few bands are able to do, allow an album’s mood to rise and fall as required, to build a unity out of a collection of songs that are harder to listen to in isolation then as part of a whole. If ever a band was Album Oriented Rock in its less derogatory meaning, it’s BOC with Tyranny and Mutation and Secret Treaties.
Now, to me, they’re just a good rock band who can still come up with a good track now and again, but not a killer album.
November 26, 2009 at 10:18 pm
You can count me very much in the category of those that love this album – and “Revolution”, for that matter. For me, they underlined the musical completeness and complexity of BOC – and they still do; I’ve always admired the refusal of the band to be constrained by musical labels, just producing some of the best rock music ever made. Yes, the Halligan tracks are terrible, but “White Flags”, “Danciin’ in the Ruins” and “Perfect Water” are among my favourite BOC tracks.