Blue Öyster Cult "Club Ninja (EU, Columbia, 47210 2)"

Club Ninja is the tenth studio album by the American hard rock group Blue Öyster Cult, released in December 10, 1985. 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. The album was re-issued on compact disc on March 10, 2009, by the Sony-owned reissue label American Beat Records, who had also reissued the band's subsequent 1988 album, Imaginos.

Club Ninja's first single, "Dancin' in the Ruins," was a minor radio and MTV hit. "When the War Comes" features a brief spoken-word introduction by radio personality Howard Stern, whose cousin was married to guitarist and vocalist Eric Bloom. The lyrics to "Spy in the House of the Night" were written by Richard Meltzer, originally based on his poem "Out of Smokes," which was published in his 1999 book "Holes." The album was the band's last studio album with bassist Joe Bouchard.

Club Ninja is the only Blue Öyster Cult studio album not to feature keyboardist Allen Lanier. He was replaced temporarily by Tommy Zvoncheck, who'd previously been keyboardist for Aldo Nova's live band, for a Japanese tour by Public Image Ltd. and had already contributed to the initial recordings of Blue Öyster Cult's 1988 concept album Imaginos. The album also features new drummer Jimmy Wilcox, formerly of Rick Derringer and Scandal, who replaced Rick Downey. Wilcox remained with the band until 1987.

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. Modern reviews are quite negative, with AllMusic calling Club Ninja a testimony of "Blue Öyster Cult's gradual disintegration" and "decline into musical anonymity". 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.

Track listing

1. "White Flag" Hugh Leggatt, Gordon Leggatt Vo.: Eric Bloom 4:41
2. "Dancin' in the Ruins" Larry Gottlieb, Justin Scanlon Vo.: Donald Roeser 4:00
3. "Make Rock, Not War" Bob Halligan, Jr. Vo.: Bloom 3:58
4. "Perfect Water" Roeser, Jim Carroll Vo.: Roeser 5:31
5. "Spy in the House of the Night" Roeser, Richard Meltzer Vo.: Roeser 4:23
6. "Beat 'Em Up" Halligan, Jr. Vo.: Bloom 3:24
7. "When the War Comes" Joe Bouchard, Sandy Pearlman Vo.: Bouchard, Roeser 6:02
8. "Shadow Warrior" Eric Bloom, Roeser, Eric Van Lustbader Vo.: Bloom, Roeser 5:42
9. "Madness to the Method" Roeser, Dick Trismen Vo.: Roeser 7:25

Recording information:

Sandy Pearlman – producer, management

Paul Mandl – engineer, overdubs editor, programming

John Devlin, Toby Scott – engineers

David Lucas – additional production

Brian McGee – mixing