How Blue Öyster Cult reworked 40 years of recordings to make their new album, 'Ghost Stories'

The reaper is clearly not afraid, as veteran rockers Blue Öyster Cult make what's old new on the group's latest album, Ghost stories.

The set, released April 12 on Frontiers Music srl, includes a dozen songs originally recorded between 1978-1983 (with one from 2016), mostly with the original composition. Originally co-produced by Golden Age BOC engineer George Geranios, the album versions were developed and in some cases added to by band member Richie Castellano and BOC manager Steve Schenck, with remaining co-founders Eric Bloom and Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser which also features brothers Albert and Joe Bouchard returning for some overdubs.

“It sounds to my ears like a long-lost BOC record,” says singer and guitarist Roeser. Advertising sign. The impetus for the project, he says, came from Italy's Frontiers, which launched The symbol remains, BOC's first new album in 19 years, 2020 and it was pushing for a sequel.

“We were casting about what we wanted to do,” says Roeser, “and we had all these archival recordings from back in the day with the original members. Instead of just putting it out as a rarities disc, we went back to those tapes. There were some multi-track tapes and some stereo tapes, and we used modern tools to deconstruct the elements and then process them as if they were modern recordings. So the sounds of the LP are quite modern. Of course I remember the songs of the day, but they sound like new songs to me. It's almost eerie for me to hear the Bouchard brothers back in the band and Allen Lanier still alive.”

The task of modernizing the cartridges fell mainly to Castellano who has been with BOC since 2004. No one had to twist his hand. “Hearing them play songs recorded 20-plus years before I joined the band was like jumping into a time machine. It was as close as I could get to being a fly on the wall for those original sessions,” says the multi-instrumentalist, who is also a member of Band Geek, who play and record with former Yes frontman Jon Anderson.

Digging through the recordings—which Castellano says were well preserved by Geranios—he discovered that “each song had its own unique challenges and required something different. As the tapes were so old, we encountered frequent dropouts. Having parts of hearing decay during a song isn't ideal, so we decided to use some new elements to support what was on the tapes.” This included boosting parts through AI, sampling the original game to create consistent performances across all songs. “With the goal of presenting these songs as complete ideas, we used all the tools at our disposal to fill in any missing pieces,” he explains.

“There were places where the original show was too damaged to save or where we felt it was a space that needed a place. In those cases, the best course of action was to pick up an instrument and just play the part.” He also calls out Joe Bouchard as “incredibly helpful in growing these songs. He had a bunch of great ideas for textures and layers that made it into the final product. For example, on 'So Supernatural,' there's a subtle Vocoder part he added that totally lifts the chorus for me.”

Roeser sings the songs Ghost stories “They were all contenders” for BOC albums during that period — among other things Mirrors, Cultösaurus Erectus, Fire of unknown origin and The Revolution By Night — but that “for one reason or another they didn't make the cut. There's probably a different reason for each one, you know?' The guitarist claims no input on the original songs, but Castellano lists some “Holy Grail” finds — including Bloom's vocal on “Don't Come Running to Me,” the late Lanier's piano that kicks off “Shot in the Dark' and Roeser's solo on a cover of the MC5's 'Kick Out the Jams'.

The latter, in fact, is one of ghost stories' cup for BOC fans in general. The band included a cover of the song on their 1978 live album Some enchanted night, but this is the only time the band put it down with studio tapes running. For Roeser, it's also elementary that it comes just two and a half months after the death of MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, whom BOC had known over the years.

“I was struck by the timing,” says Roeser. “They were signed to Elektra when (BOC predecessor) Soft White Underbelly signed to Elektra and we went to a few of their shows. We didn't know them personally that much, but when we decided to cover ('Kick Out the Jams') Eric talked to Rob (Tyner) about some lyrics he couldn't understand.

“The MC5 didn't get the recognition it should have. They were very important to the time period, the evolution of American rock. I think our version is proud of the MC5.” Another cover is one of Ghost storiesOther lost gems, a cover of The Beatles' “If I Fell” from 2016 when Kasim Sulton was a member of the band. “We did it in the dressing room to warm up,” Roeser recalled. “That was recorded when we were shooting the 40th anniversary video in Los Angeles, and it was very close, so we decided to include it on the record.”

Blue Öyster Cult — which also includes bassist Danny Miranda and drummer Jules Radino — continues to perform sporadically and has several shows planned for the summer, including a June 7 appearance at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in Stony Brook, New York. Roeser, meanwhile, is working on a new solo track called “The End of Every Song” that he plans to release this year, but is cautious about the possibility of fresh music from BOC.

“I have the thought, to be honest,” he says. “At this point in our careers I don't think we have anything to do. We have nothing to prove. So there's no reason to put stuff in just for the sake of it. But if we have something that's important and if it's good, it can come out. But it has to live up to what we've already done…and that's a pretty high bar.”