Music / Mirrors (Album)

A negative space with a frame, and a place for your face

Mirrors is the sixth studio album by American rock band, the Blue Öyster Cult, released in June, 1979. It was the first BÖC album not produced by long-time producer and manager Sandy Pearlman, instead, at record company insistence, being produced by Tom Werman.

The album was preceded by the studio album Spectres in 1977 and the live album Some Enchanted Evening (1978), then followed by Cultösaurus Erectus in 1980.

Side One:

1. . "Dr Music" (4:48)
2. . "The Great Sun Jester" (3:48)
3. . "In Thee" (3:48)
4. . "Mirrors" (3:44)
5. . "Moon Crazy" (4:06)

Side Two:

1. . "The Vigil" (6:25)
2. . "I Am The Storm" (3:42)
3. . "You're Not The One I Was Looking For" (3:14)
4. . "Lonely Teardrops" (3:37)

Band Members

• Eric Bloom – rhythm guitar, vocals
• Buck Dharma, aka Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser – lead guitar, vocals
• Allen Lanier – keyboards, guitar
• Joe Bouchard – bass, vocals
• Albert Bouchard – drums, vocals

Additional musicians and associates

• Michael Moorcock: songwriting credit for "The Great Sun Jester"
• Mickey Raphael – harmonica on "Dr. Music"
• Jai Winding – strings on "In Thee"
• Genya Ravan and Ellen Foley – background vocals on "Dr. Music" and "Mirrors"
• Wendy Webb – background vocals on "Lonely Teardrops"

Production

• Tom Werman – producer

There aren't the tropes you were looking for, but... they're the ones by me

• Call-Back: Mirrors are important as a component of the Four Winds Bar in the much earlier Epic Rocking piece "Astronomy". Here the title track is all about them.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: "The Great Sun Jester" sets a Michael Moorcock scifi novel to music. The Fireclown is about a cosmic Messiah who comes to Earth on a mission of love, peace and redemption, preaching, in the words of Douglas Adams, that people should be nicer to each other for a change. Sure enough, the Fireclown ends up being crucified.
• Lunacy: * "Moon Crazy".
  Moon crazy, summer madness! Let the light shine on (and on, and on) - till the fever is gone!
• Magic Mirror: definitely alluded to in the title track in which the symbolism of mirrors is discussed in verse.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: The title track opens with:
  A mirror is a negative space, with a frame
  And a place for your face;
  It reveals what the rest of us see,
  It conceals what you'd like it to be
• Music Genre Dissonance: "Dr Music" is about a sexual sadist. The tune is peppy, upbeat and you could dance to it.
• Stalker with a Crush: The narrator of "I Am The Storm". Although his love appears to have corroded into a desire for vengeance, making him a Stalker without a Crush?
• Title Drop: The title track "Mirrors".
• Torture Technician: The upbeat, poppy and-with-just-a-suspicion-of-disco "Dr Music" is about one of these, apparently.
  Girls, don't stop your screaming; you're sounding so sincere;
  So much music in the tracks of your tears!
  But if you want to face the music, just open up your ears!
  to my friend, Calamity Jane - hear the rhythm in the sounds of her pain!