Biography
The Stalk-Forrest Group issued just a single 45 in a run of a couple hundred copies, yet the band’s tangled background has long fascinated collectors. Most of that interest arises because the musicians soon transformed into Blue Öyster Cult after Elektra released that lone single. Before the name change, the group completed a full album for the label in 1970, one markedly lighter and more psychedelic than the sound Blue Öyster Cult later adopted.
In the late 1960s the core of the Long Island ensemble that became Blue Öyster Cult performed as Soft White Underbelly. With Les Braunstein handling lead vocals, Elektra signed the band; Buck Dharma later noted that executive Jac Holzman may have been seeking an East Coast counterpart to the Doors. An early 1969 attempt to record an album was abandoned, after which Braunstein was succeeded by the group’s equipment manager and soundman, Eric Bloom. Because Elektra had signed Soft White Underbelly largely on the strength of Braunstein’s presence, the musicians spent considerable time persuading the label that the higher-voiced Bloom could serve as frontman.
By early 1970, now operating as the Stalk-Forrest Group, the band tracked an album in Los Angeles under co-producers Sandy Pearlman and Jay Lee. The musicians expected the finished work to appear, yet it remained unreleased. Tracks from those sessions circulated among collectors for years and revealed a markedly different outfit from the eventual Blue Öyster Cult. The material was psychedelic and tuneful, reminiscent of fellow Elektra artists Love and the Doors yet noticeably poppier. Arrangements featured prominent high harmonies and fluid psychedelic guitar lines, while the lyrics favored whimsical, oblique imagery, as heard in song titles such as “Ragamuffin’s Dumplin,” “Bonomo’s Turkish Tuffy,” “Arthur Comics,” and “A Fact About Sneakers.” Though perhaps requiring further polishing, the recordings were clearly of releasable quality.
Elektra attempted to bring in Don Gallucci of Don & the Goodtimes as producer, but after an initial meeting he departed for California without notifying the band. Around the same period, Joe Bouchard replaced Andy Winters on bass and Elektra dropped the group, though the label did press roughly two hundred copies of a single drawn from the album sessions, coupling “What Is Quicksand?” with “Arthur Comics.” After trying several additional names, the musicians launched their recording career as Blue Öyster Cult in the early 1970s, adopting a harder-rock approach than they had used as the Stalk-Forrest Group. A highly limited German LP containing ten tracks from the unreleased 1970 sessions appeared in 1998.
In the late 1960s the core of the Long Island ensemble that became Blue Öyster Cult performed as Soft White Underbelly. With Les Braunstein handling lead vocals, Elektra signed the band; Buck Dharma later noted that executive Jac Holzman may have been seeking an East Coast counterpart to the Doors. An early 1969 attempt to record an album was abandoned, after which Braunstein was succeeded by the group’s equipment manager and soundman, Eric Bloom. Because Elektra had signed Soft White Underbelly largely on the strength of Braunstein’s presence, the musicians spent considerable time persuading the label that the higher-voiced Bloom could serve as frontman.
By early 1970, now operating as the Stalk-Forrest Group, the band tracked an album in Los Angeles under co-producers Sandy Pearlman and Jay Lee. The musicians expected the finished work to appear, yet it remained unreleased. Tracks from those sessions circulated among collectors for years and revealed a markedly different outfit from the eventual Blue Öyster Cult. The material was psychedelic and tuneful, reminiscent of fellow Elektra artists Love and the Doors yet noticeably poppier. Arrangements featured prominent high harmonies and fluid psychedelic guitar lines, while the lyrics favored whimsical, oblique imagery, as heard in song titles such as “Ragamuffin’s Dumplin,” “Bonomo’s Turkish Tuffy,” “Arthur Comics,” and “A Fact About Sneakers.” Though perhaps requiring further polishing, the recordings were clearly of releasable quality.
Elektra attempted to bring in Don Gallucci of Don & the Goodtimes as producer, but after an initial meeting he departed for California without notifying the band. Around the same period, Joe Bouchard replaced Andy Winters on bass and Elektra dropped the group, though the label did press roughly two hundred copies of a single drawn from the album sessions, coupling “What Is Quicksand?” with “Arthur Comics.” After trying several additional names, the musicians launched their recording career as Blue Öyster Cult in the early 1970s, adopting a harder-rock approach than they had used as the Stalk-Forrest Group. A highly limited German LP containing ten tracks from the unreleased 1970 sessions appeared in 1998.
Albums