Voir aussi
Chansons de Imaginos
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What is the story behind the recording of the album, *Imaginos*?
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The Imaginos story actually pre-dates BOC, and started within the
mind of Sandy Pearlman, who, back in about 1967, wrote a collection of
poems called "The Soft Doctrines of Imaginos". It was Pearlman's desire
that BOC be the embodiment of the Imaginos concept. Around that time,
two songs were written around this concept -- "Gil Blanco County" (which
would appear on the Stalk-Forrest Group demo for Elektra), and a Buck
Dharma tune called "Port Jefferson". While the band decided against
doing the concept, Albert Bouchard began working on music for it. By
1974, the songs "Imaginos", "Astronomy" (which appeared on *Secret
Treaties*), and "The Subhuman" (which also appeared on *Secret
Treaties*, and would later be changed to "Blue Oyster Cult" on the
*Imaginos* album) were written. At the *Spectres* sessions, Joe
Bouchard demoed "In The Presence Of Another World", while Albert
Bouchard demoed "Del Rio's Song", "I Am The One You Warned Me Of", "The
Siege And Investiture Of Baron Von Frankenstein's Castle At Weisseria",
and a song entitled, "The Girl That Love Made Blind" -- however, the
band was still not interested in doing the whole project. Albert
continued to write and demo songs for the project, and by *Cultosaurus
Erectus*, really wanted to see the band do the concept. After Albert
left BOC in 1981, he began working with Sandy Pearlman on the project,
recording all the basic tracks in 1982. By 1984, the Imaginos work was
essentially completed.
Sandy Pearlman first approached CBS about putting the album
together around 1981, and CBS was initially interested in the project.
According to Eric Bloom, CBS was not happy with the final result (in
which Albert sang much of the lead vocals), and was not interested in
releasing the album unless it was released as a "BOC" album with Eric
Bloom and Buck Dharma singing lead vocals. After BOC had broken up in
1986, the idea of the band getting together to release *Imaginos* was
discussed. Albert, hoping to get the original line-up back together for
the recording (and a subsequent tour), spent time getting in contact
with all the original members of the band. Apparently Albert had a
difficult time convincing Joe Bouchard, who was the last of the original
5 members to quit the band, to do the project. However, the rest of the
band (Eric Bloom, Buck Dharma, Allen Lanier, Jon Rogers, joined by Ron
Riddle on drums) had reformed as Blue Oyster Cult by the time Joe
Bouchard had agreed to do the project. In addition, the financial
obligations had to be worked out as Albert wanted to be co-producer of
the album, having played such a large role in the project. With the
band re-forming in mid-1987 without Albert and Joe Bouchard, Albert
abandoned the project. However, Sandy Pearlman and the band did go
forward with the project, re-doing some of the tracks by early 1988, and
releasing *Imaginos* as a BOC album later that year. The original 5
members of the band are credited as performing on the album, along with
several other musicians (see album credits in Discography section).
However, it is not clear how much of a "BOC" album this is, beyond
Eric/Buck's lead vocals, and their hand in the writing of some of the
songs. According to Albert Bouchard, the bulk of the instrumentation
credits should go to Tommy Morrongiello (guitars), Jack Rigg (guitars),
and Tommy Mandel (keyboards - uncredited on the album). In addition,
Albert says the following were not credited on the album: Jon Rogers
(additional lead vocal on "I Am The One You Warned Me Of"), Phil Grandee
(guitar). Between the *Imaginos* credits, the reworking of the songs,
and the fact that the band apparently did not want Albert back as their
drummer after the release of *Imaginos*, there are considerable hard
feelings between Albert and BOC/Sandy Pearlman.
The original *Imaginos* project contained over 90 minutes of music,
and budgets wouldn't allow for the complete package. The "complete"
Imaginos story spans 200 years from the beginning of the 19 Century to
the end of the 20th. At the time the album was recorded, two other
parts were anticipated, entitled (according to Sandy Pearlman) "Germany
Minus Zero And Counting" and "The Mutant Reformation". Albert Bouchard
has indicated that possible titles for "Germany Minus Zero And Counting"
were "Half-Life Time", and "Bombs Over Germany". According to Albert
Bouchard, the following songs were left off of *Imaginos*: "Gil Blanco
County", "The Girl That Love Made Blind", "Blue Oyster Cult Reprise",
"Imaginos Overture", and an acapella reprise of the first verse of
"Magna Of Illusion". Also, the song "Shadow Of California" (from the
album, *The Revolution By Night*) was partially re-worked from an Albert
Bouchard song, "Half-Life Time", which was to appear on the second
"Imaginos" album. With the past problems and current tensions between
the various parties associated the recording of *Imaginos*, it is
probably unlikely that the full Imaginos saga will ever be completed.
Sandy Pearlman is apparently working on an Imaginos comic book and
multi-media (video game) project, but this project is also likely to
remain unfinished.
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