Flat Out is Blue Oyster Cult guitarist Donald Roeser’s one and only solo album which was issued all the way back in 1982 under his stage name of Buck Dharma.
The legendary origins of that being each member of BOC being given a stage name by manager Sandy Pearlman with only Buck being impressed enough to use his.
Well – if you were to be saddled with Jesse Python as one member was given you’d be less than impressed I’m sure.
Brief history lesson aside, I was watching again the impressive DVD of the Cult’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the first night of which they played their classic debut album (review here) and despite being not too far from his 80th birthday Buck remains one of the finest guitarists to grace a stage.
He hasn’t lost a step or any dexterity retaining that distinctive, familiar and effortlessly fluid style and is still at the top of the tree. And watching the DVD again took me to dig out his solo album for a listen and put up a review.
On Flat Out Buck seems to be enjoying himself with a varied mix of songs which have the hooks and catchy melodies akin to some of the BOC classics which Buck has written over the years – and indeed some here would sit well on any BOC album.
Born to Rock a nice spiky opener which does not take itself too seriously with humorous, tongue in cheek lyrics, chunky riff and a blazing solo. The video for it is rather cheesy too – though this was the early 1980s of course and allowances must be made accordingly. Have a look at it:
That Summer Night is a nice melodic rocker along the lines of say Burnin’ For You from Fire of Unknown Origin. Check out the solo. Buck at his best.
Cold Wind tones it down a little to a sort of semi-atmospheric ballad.
Then we have Your Loving Heart. Starts with a sad, gentle passage giving the impression of it being a soppy ballad before the dramatic, heavyish and slightly weird mid-section before the emotional lead out. All works very well and makes sense with the unfortunate story told by the lyrics.
Five Thirty-Five upbeat and catchy. Wind, Weather and Storm short and almost a capella, All Tied Up full of hooks and melody. Anwar’s Theme a kind of proggy instrumental with Buck letting loose before a cover of Come Softly to Me closes out the album.
Flat Out has much more to it than being a one-off curiosity by one of the guitar greats. It’s over forty years old now yet sounds fresh with plenty to enjoy and of interest to more than old Blue Oyster Cult fans.
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