Club Ninja

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Club Ninja
Studio album by
Blue Öyster Cult
ReleasedDecember 10, 1985 (1985-12-10)
StudioBearsville Studios, Bearsville, New York
Boogie Hotel Studios, Port Jefferson, New York
Tallysin Studios, Syosset, New York
Warehouse Studios, New York City
Genre
Length44:26
LabelColumbia
ProducerSandy Pearlman
Blue Öyster Cult chronology
The Revölution by Night
(1983) 		Club Ninja
(1985) 		Imaginos
(1988)
Singles from Club Ninja
  1. "White Flags"
    Released: December 1985 (UK)[1]
  2. "Dancin' in the Ruins"
    Released: March 1986 (US)[2]
  3. "Perfect Water"
    Released: July 1986[3]

Club Ninja is the tenth studio album by American rock band Blue Öyster Cult, released on December 10, 1985, in the United Kingdom and on February 11, 1986, in the United States. The album was intended as a comeback for the band, whose previous album The Revölution by Night failed to attain Gold status following the success of 1981's Fire of Unknown Origin and 1982's Extraterrestrial Live. Club Ninja sold more than 175,000 copies, falling well short of gold status again, and because of its high cost, Columbia Records executives deemed it a commercial failure.[4] The album was re-issued on compact disc on March 10, 2009, by Sony-owned reissue label American Beat Records, which had also reissued the band's 1988 album, Imaginos.

Club Ninja's first single, "Dancin' in the Ruins," was a minor radio and

Joe Bouchard
.

Club Ninja was the only BÖC studio album not to feature keyboardist

Public Image Ltd. and had already contributed to the initial recordings of Blue Öyster Cult's 1988 concept album Imaginos
. The album also features drummer Jimmy Wilcox, formerly of Rick Derringer and Scandal, who replaced Rick Downey. Wilcox remained with the band until 1987.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal7/10[6]
Sounds[7]

Edwin Pouncey, reviewing the album for Sounds, gave it a five-star rating, describing it as "a seemingly leaden slab of AOR which suddenly turns into gold in your hands", praising Sandy Pearlman's production.[7] Modern reviews are quite negative, with AllMusic calling Club Ninja a testimony of "Blue Öyster Cult's gradual disintegration" and "decline into musical anonymity".[5] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff judged the album the "least attached to the BÖC body of work, painfully constructed and baffling in its bad taste", showing a band struggling to update their sound to more "commercial avenues" without achieving the expected radio-friendly results.[6]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."White Flags"Hugh Leggatt, Gordon Leggatt
Bob Halligan, Jr.
Bloom3:58
4."Perfect Water"Roeser, Jim CarrollRoeser5:31
5."Spy in the House of the Night"Roeser, Richard MeltzerRoeser4:23
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
6."Beat 'Em Up"Halligan, Jr.Bloom3:24
7."When the War Comes"
Joe Bouchard, Sandy Pearlman
Bouchard, Roeser6:02
8."Shadow Warrior"Eric Bloom, Roeser, Eric Van LustbaderBloom5:42
9."Madness to the Method"Roeser, Dick TrismenRoeser7:25

Personnel

Band members
  • Eric Bloom – lead vocals, stun guitar
  • Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser – vocals, lead guitar, keyboards
  • Joe Bouchard
    – bass, guitar, vocals
  • Tommy Zvoncheck – keyboards, background vocals
  • Jimmy Wilcox – percussion, background vocals
Additional musicians
Production
  • Sandy Pearlman – producer, management
  • Paul Mandl – engineer, overdubs editor, programming
  • John Devlin, Toby Scott – engineers
  • David Lucas – additional production
  • Brian McGee – mixing

Charts

Chart (1985) Peak
position
Finnish Albums (
The Official Finnish Charts)[8]
 21
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[9] 41
US Billboard 200[10] 63

References

  1. ^ "Blue Oyster Cult singles".
  2. ^ "Blue Oyster Cult singles".
  3. ^ "Blue Oyster Cult singles".
  4. ISBN 978-0-9752807-0-6
    .
  5. ^
    Rovi Corporation
    . Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1894959315
    .
  7. ^
    Pouncey, Edwin (December 14, 1985). "Blue Oyster Cult: Club Ninja". Sounds
    . p. 28. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  8. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5
    .
  9. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Blue Öyster Cult – Club Ninja". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  10. ^ "Blue Oyster Cult Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
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