[back cover artwork for the B.O.C. album, "Secret Treaties." Note the PL-01 on the side of the plane]
Before moving on to B.O.C.'s 4th album, in part one I said we'd revisit the "PL-01" [shown on the plane in the image above] if I found out what it stood for. Turns out, it's no big secret. It was Czechoslovakia's first version of Germany's ME-262, known as the Avia S-92 series. It would seem to stand for "PLANE #1". Here is an alleged photo of it:
This augments a potential layer of meaning within the art, which is that the band members as portrayed are "play acting" the appropriation of a Nazi plane - similar to how Czechoslovakia historically appropriated that same plane, in actual fact. Pretty clever, and plays well into my observations detailed in part 1.
One alternative theory out there says that the PL stands for PearLman, as-in Sandy Pearlman. Definately a stretch, I'm gonna go with the former explanation.
ON YOUR FEET OR ON YOUR KNEES
Upon completion of their "Black and White Trilogy," Blue Oyster Cult was yet to have achieved a big hit song, though they seemed to be touring extensively. Early 1976 saw the release of their first live album, "On Your Feet Or On Your Knees."
As I dig deeper into BOC's history, I am continually surprised at how influential they seemed to have beeen upon the original branding of the heavy metal genre, which was only in it's infacy at the time. As I stated in part one, I never really considered BOC to be a heavy metal band, but I guess it really depends upon one's definition of the phrase and what era we are talking about. I suppose in 1975, that's how BOC was marketing themselves and that's therefore what heavy metal was AT THAT TIME, as far as the public was concerned.
Blatant blasphemy was apparently the first mandatory "heavy metal stereotype" the boys needed to establish with regard to the artwork. As we'll see, they drive the point home in multiple ways, ensuring the public knows where they stand on the controversial topic of religion ;)
Gracing the cover is a big black intimidating 1973 Cadillac Fleetwood Seventyfive Limousine, which sits parked in front of a Church pictured through a distorted lense. The BOC logo sits conspicuosly up on the front end of the car, about where a processional flag would be if this was a funerary or government automobile. Black, being the color of lead, the heaviest of metals, seems precisely appropriate. The color's association with Saturn is another point we covered in part 1. I wonder what day this was? [since Saturday is the day allocated to Saturn]
The decidedly metallic-rendered logo was the work of Gerard Huerta, who also designed AC/DC's "lighting Bolt" logo apparently. It seems this style in particular is regarded as the proto heavy metal logo, which makes sense when you compare it to later ones by Judas Priest, Motorhead [who also had an umlaut in theirs], Metallica, Megadeth, and of course AC/DC.
The title "On Your Feet or On Your Knees", when taken in context with the cover art, is obviously a reference to the way people worship - and makes a comparison between going to church and going to a rock concert. This would make the concert a metaphorical "religious experience" and the musicians, or the music itself, divine or godly. Oh, the blasphemy!
The inner Gatefold LP contains a live concert scene where BOC is depicted "rocking out" [without drums] against the turbulent sky/heavens, inside what appears to be an old church. This creates a dramatic "sistine chapel" sort of effect, as if the band is "the artwork" depicting a divine scene ala Michelangelo. That might be laying it on a bit thick, but I think this is where their heads were at.
And just for good measure, the back album image features what appears to be a holy bible, held in hands with black leather gloves [what sort of pastor is this? We'll find out in a moment!] The text has been replaced with song titles and credits. I wonder what on earth the band was trying to say here??? Kidding aside, the Doors famously compared their concerts to a "ceremony" or a "religious experience," so The Cult [a nickname fans gave to BOC] wasn't the first Rock band to use this clever association as a gimmic - but they seem to be one of the first to really cram it down your throat in that ever so gentle way that BOC is known for delivering their brand of darkness. [bonus points if you are asking yourself why the band The Cult and their album "Ceremony" is suddenly floating around in your brain]
The Live Gospel...unleashed in the temples of rock and roll...It's live. It's scripture. It's Blue Oyster Cult. - promotional ad
While we're mocking Christianity [or whatever religion they might be VAGUELY referring to], let's go ahead and throw some S&M bondage themes into the mix! Let our "pastor" don a leather gimp mask, whip in hand, preaching from the podium - which has the BOC logo etched into the front of it!
As far as "occult symbolism and themes" within the artwork, this is not one of BOC's more cryptic examples. Their marketing strategy was essentially the same as Black Sabbath's at the time: blasphemy and sensationalism, delivered with enough humor for plausible deniability, but enough mystery/ambiguity to make some fans wonder if they really mean it or not.
Don't forget, this was 1976. Judas Priest and Kiss were just starting out and Iron Maiden wouldn't release their first LP for another 4 years. The standard was being set here mostly by Sandy Pearlman and the think tank behind bands like BOC, Black Sabbath, and a few others. The 'Cult didn't have any hits yet, and clearly weren't primed to be the next "big thing," but that didn't stop Pearlman and his associates off in the shadows from whipping the public into submission in order to accept this new rock and roll gospel of heavy metal!
AGENTS OF FORTUNE
BOC's 4th studio album is known as the one containing their first, and probably biggest hit, "Don't Fear the Reaper." Without delving too deeply into that song's lyrics, the title seems to say it all. Come on baby, don't fear death! Something about Buck Dharma's soft vocal delivery provides a decidedly ghostly atmosphere to the whole thing, as opposed to the stereotypically "brutal" heavy metal approach established by songs like Sabbath's "Iron Man" or even Judas Priests' "The Ripper." No, this is something more subtly sinister and eccentric, more reminiscent of darker prog rock from the early 1970s...
The Grim Reaper is traditionally depicted carrying the scythe, a tool which is allocated to the Roman god Saturn, god of harvest, time, life, and death. I don't think it's a coincidence that the BOC logo is also presumed to be a version of the astrological symbol for Saturn, but I'm just shooting in the dark here...
A.O.F. more or less INSTRUCTS you to try and decode the deeper occult meanings contained within the art work. The individual on the front becons you, holding Tarot cards in one hand, pointing to the cryptic BOC logo with his other, tempting you to find the connection I suppose. For many years I had no idea who this individual was supposed to be specifically. He appears to be some sort of croupier [card dealer], but what card game are we playing here? I don't think you'll find any Tarot decks at the dealer's table in Las vegas!
Turns out the individual depicted on the cover is Belgian magician Servais Le Roy (4 May 1865 – 2 June 1953) He is known as the inventor of the classic levitation illusion Asrah the Floating Princess. At one point, his troupe was billed as The Comedians de Mephisto Co.
Although anyone who calls him/herself a "magician" will always be presumed to flirt with dark occult forces, Servais would seem to be of the Houdini/Copperfield carnival variety, as opposed to the sort of "Magick" Aleister Crowley practiced, which was rooted more in the solitary ritualistic, spirit conjuring, alchemical tradition. And yet, the image depicts Servais holding Crowley's Thoth tarot cards, portraying him as he probably was not. Sure, he may have had a Rider-Waite deck laying around somewhere, but the Thoth tarot wasn't published until 1969, well after Servais died.
So what exactly is an "Agent of Fortune?" Despite how well it rolls off of the tongue, it doesn't seem to be a common phrase. However, the phrase "Soldier of Fortune" is.
A soldier of fortune is a mercenary who fights for money, profit, or personal adventure rather than for loyalty to a specific country or political cause - Google A.I.
I assume A.O.F. is a play on the above phrase. And so based upon that assumption, we now need to swap the word "soldier" for the word "agent."
An agent is a person, entity, or substance authorized or having the power to act on behalf of another, produce a specific effect, or execute tasks
So is Servais trying to tell us that he is some sort of representative for the opportunistic endeavors of BOC? At this point, it's probably useful to take a brief look at the lyrics to E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), since it contains the title of the album in it:
Dead leaves always give up motion
Well, I no longer feel emotion
When prophecy fails the falling notion
Yes, don't report this
Agents of fortune
In Sandy Pearlman's Imaginos lore, the "Blue Öyster Cult" is a secret society of human servants or a group of aliens who have been covertly guiding and altering human history for centuries. The "Agents of Fortune" mentioned in the song are the enforcers of this conspiracy. They act on behalf of "Les Invisibles" (alien, Lovecraftian sky-gods) to manipulate global events, politics, and wars.
Although Pearlman's Imaginos writings seem to have influenced much of BOC's first 3 albums, "Agents of Fortune" is where the band seems to pair it down to just the one song: "ETI", despite essentially referencing the mythos directly in the album title. The band's apparent choice to shift in and out of using Pearlman's mythos throughout the years clearly provides a great deal of the "mystique" we get from BOC, as they themselves probably couldn't tell you exactly where it all begins and ends at any given point in time!
Continuing along with this theme of a croupier and gambling, the inner vinyl LP sleeve reveals BOC all dressed up and playing Roullette...on the moon! Now I must digress for a moment because there is something surprisingly random about this image, beyond what is plainly obvious already...
You see how the roullette table is sitting directly upon the moon's surface? That's a pretty creative [or odd] depiction when you think about it! For starters, where are their feet? Are they just floating solidly upon the blackness of space or perhaps a lower lunar level we can't see beyong the outer visible summit? And yet somehow it all looks strangely plausible! I believe we are looking at an attempt to mimick [or mock] the Front Projection Effect, a technique allegedly used in images and film associated with the Apollo 11 moon landing.
[this late 1960s image is one of many you can find that are all purported to be genuine pictures taken from the moon]
Maybe the artist who put this all together on AOF was just having fun with it? Or maybe different layers of potential conspiracy are just being piled on gratuitously to constantly "up the ante". I mean, if you're gonna try and top something like "Tyranny and Mutation" or "Secret Treaties," you gotta get creative!
A closer look reveals that the croupier here is actually a woman, holding the "chip rake" or cropier stick. At the very least, we are talking about gambling which, as the saying goes, is "the devil's road to poverty." And of course "Russian Roullette" is a game where 2 people put a single bullet randomly into their respective 6 chamber gun and take turns pulling the trigger while holding it to their own head. So there's some death on the table here I'd wager [pun intended]. I suppose on one level, this could be depicting the band's own deal[s] with the devil.
There is also another possible level here, relating to the Imaginos mythos - which basically frames the members of the band as the "agents of fortune" working on behalf of the E.T.I., which is probably code for an actual 3 letter agency [such as the C.I.A. or the F.B.I.]. Is BOC subtly telling you who they really work for and what's really at stake here in the larger scheme of things? Are "the Extraterrestrials" and this "conspiracy to covertly guide mankind" really just paper thin metaphors telling you exactly who THEY really are and what their literal purpose is? That's enough to put a big shit eating grin on your face isn't it?
The back cover depicts a pyramid with Saturn floating on top, a new [or waning] moon in the sky. The pyramid/Saturn juxtaposition slightly echos the "Tyranny and Mutation" cover which features a sort of pyramid motif and the BOC logo [Saturn] floating above the top point.
I assume the artist, Lynn Curlee [who also painted the album cover for Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell"], was likely instructed on what to paint to a degree [although in an interview found at black-sabbath.com, he claims he chose to paint the magician holding the cards]. The signifficance of Saturn, or the BOC logo above the pyramid points towards, I believe in some way, the occult forces behind the band. This is related to the Columbia Records "all seeing eye" iconography and/or the "illuminati" if you prefer. The ones BOC would have presumably gambled away their souls to.
SPECTRES
BOC's 5th studio album features another one of their biggest hits, "Godzilla." I just spoke with someone the other day who said they didn't know any Blue Oyster Cult songs. Then I sang a couple lines from "Godzilla," and they went "oh yeah, I know that song!" The band was big-time at this point, and so was their mission to freak their fans out!
The group is gathered in an old-school study, dressed as if they are gangsters plotting their next move during the prohibition era. The clock reads 12 [midnight, I presume] and a scary looking cat statue is placed conspicuously on top of the bookshelf. Laser lights jump around the room and a disembodied hand seems to be reaching in from a sort of mirror or gateway into another world. There is also a crystal ball on the lower left, which is hard to make out, but has the BOC logo imprinted upon it.
A spectre (spelled specter in American English) is a ghost, phantom, or a frightening future threat that causes worry. - Google A.I.
First off, why is BOC spelling SPECTRE in the British way, rather than the American? BOC is an American band, after all. I found an interesting explanation for this within Ian Flemming's fictional James Bond world, where the global criminal syndicate led by Ernst Stavro Blofeld is an acronym for SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion or S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Flemming was known to be a former British Intelligence agent, and the James Bond stories are presumed to contain at least some truth derived from his own experiences. And so again we have this recurring theme of shadowy intelligence figures from 3 letter agencies, such as MI5, operating within the BOC narrative.
The crystal ball and mirror symbols recall Sandy Pearlman's Imaginos mythos, by way of John Dee and his tools used to communicate with otherworldly entities. This all gets a bit confusing if you haven't read part 1, but it's worth noting here that John Dee used to sign some of his letters with a "tubal cane" or 007. That is also what James Bond's code name was in Flemming's series - so the connection doesn't seem random here. Did you think I was exagerrating when I mentioned earlier that the band was on a mission to freak their fans out?
The lasers played a prominent role in BOC's concerts during the "AOF" tour and on through the "Spectres" era. Apparently, BOC was somewhat of a pioneer in this area, and laser lights at concerts became popular around this time, as well as at other places such as Studio 54 in New York. But then OSHA took notice of the potential risk of concert goers being blinded by the powerful lasers, should they get one directly in the eye. And so the impressive display provided by David Infante's Laser Physics Inc was somewhat short lived. I don't know that the potential to get fatally "zapped" by Eric Bloom's reflective wrist band at a BOC show was some sort of psy-op, but it certainly created a palpable moment of controversy for the band, which is well documented if you wanna look into it.
The back cover of the album hones in on this laser concept and seems to integrate it into the otherworldy gateway concept which we noted on the front cover. Apparently the band had a few somewhat choreographed sections of their show where members reflected lasers off of their wrist bans and guitars and then onto the crowd, in some kind of suggestive display.
For some reason I'm reminded of Judas Priests' album "Stained Class," released within months of "Spectres" and also on CBS records. The cover art for that album seems to integrate a similar sensibility with lasers, as well as a similar color scheme. The metallic head plays along with the theme of reflection and refraction, while seeming to absorb the stylised "laser beam." [bonus points if you go out and listen to the intro to the song "Invader" and tell me it doesn't sound like the sonic version of a laser slowly pearcing you through the brain!]
This album was the subject of a controversal 1985 incident where 2 American teens decided to enter into a suicide pact, inspired by what they believed to be messages delivered to them by Judas Priest. The song "Better By You, Better than Me" from Stained Class in particular was singled out in the court proceedings. I did an entire blog about this, which I will link below.
I grabbed the above image online somewhere showing how the lasers are potentially tracing out the band's ubiquitous symbol. Somebody clearly thought these newly utilized laser effects were the next level in heavy metal entertainment, culminating ultimately into the aforementioned "laser light controversy", which feels more and more like some sort of psyop the more I think about it. But I'll have to come back to that if/when some sort of revalation presents itself to me.
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