Imaginos

The tangled history of Imaginos, Blue Oyster Cult’s last (1988) album for Columbia, has passed into legend for BOC fans. The name and concept comes from late-’60s sci-fi/fantasy writings by band manager/producer Sandy Pearlman that inspired the original band name; they then became the basis for a planned trilogy of solo albums by BOC drummer/songwriter Albert Bouchard, who had been working on the material since the early ’70s with Pearlman. After Bouchard was fired from the band in 1981, he recorded a 90-minute album with such sidemen as Aldo Nova and the Doors’ Robbie Krieger, but this version of the album was rejected by Columbia execs in 1984. After the release and commercial disappointment of BOC’s Club Ninja, Pearlman then resurrected the idea and began production in 1986, adding vocals by BOC’s Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom and guitar parts by Joe Satriani among many others. The result was no surprise BOC’s most controversial album (and ironically, the first in years to feature the original line-up), probably their heaviest and most proggy outing, and an appropriately complex swan song for a complex band. Our Real Gone reissue features a new 2012 remaster and new notes by BOC expert Scott Schinder, along with the original album and inner sleeve art.

• Shrink-wrapped