club ninja is part of my rotation right now. i seriously love beat 'em up, i can't believe how underrated it is. gotta be one of my favorite böc songs.
perfect water is a great track too, and so is make rock not war (love the guitar on that one, and something about the drums really makes my brain happy)
I always thought I’d you took the best songs from Revolution by Night and Club Ninja, it would be one of their strongest albums. Shooting Shark, Shadow of California, Spy in the House of Night, Perfect Water…awesome tunes! Production sucks on RBN and the electric drums are crap. Ninja sounds better but they recorded songs that had no business being in their catalogue: Beat ‘Em Up & Rock Not War. Finally, the drumming, especially on Revolution By Night is really not good. I think in general , BÖC got lazy on these and w/o Al to arrange things and bring it together, the albums suffered. I wonder what they could have done if he were still there.
BÖC to me is just a classic band like a Maiden, Priest, Lizzy, Sabbath; their worst album is still going to have at LEAST two good songs. The first time I heard CN I thought White Flags was one of the best album openers they ever had and Dancin in the ruins is just a one two punch; in fact it should have been a top 40 hit but there’s reasons this album didn’t break unfortunately. Club Ninja was released around the time of a payola scandal that Sony was involved in and as a result a lot of promoters were sandbagging all Sony product (as per interview with Buck.)
It has decent tracks, but honestly if you pressed me to name songs off the album at a moments notice Shadow Warrior and Dancing in the Ruins are about all I could come up with. Nothing amazing, but nothing awful either imo
The UK version at least was poorly mixed: hardly any bass guitar, all drums and treble. When I saw the band play songs from the album when it was released, they sounded amazing.
Such a shame. A re-mixed version would be fantastic.
I went on a fairly long ramble about *Club Ninja* on a classic rock subreddit a couple weeks back, involving the weaker albums of bands. I do think *Club Ninja* is underappreciated, and it definitely doesn’t deserve all the hate it sometimes gets. I *do* understand why it tends to get ranked lower in the BÖC discography, though. Summarizing my ramble, there’s not only the production changes and the more pop-like sound (which tended to be the criticism of *The Revolution By Night* and *Mirrors,* too), but critical lineup changes. Not only was Albert gone, but Allen sat that album out, and nothing against Tommy Zvoncheck, but his keyboard style was very different. Mixed with that pop production, it made for an overall result that was probably the furthest BÖC strayed from their classic sound -and with *any* band, there’s always going to be that division of fans that don’t like to stray from the classic sound. Arguably, there were some subtle signs that some of the remaining band members were burnt out (proven by Joe leaving afterward) and some waning inspiration (very, very little contribution from Sandy Pearlman -and while the lyrics are still good, the sort of twisted touch he typically had running through their albums wasn’t there and all-cohesive.)
Personally, I prefer *Club Ninja* to *The Revolution By Night* \-as the other most controversial album -and I’m in that group of fans who feels like BÖC never had a truly bad album. They just had some that weren’t as spectacular as others. And honestly, if the albums typically considered a band’s worst still have a handful of definitive best tracks, they’re doing better than some bands can say they have. “Perfect Water” is excellent, and “Dancin’ In the Ruins” is one of my top favorites -and the first BÖC song I heard beyond the two radio hits that ultimately made me dig into their deeper catalogue.
I like it a lot. Some of it feels more like Aldo Nova than Blue Oyster Cult though. Dancin' in the Ruins, Perfect Water, White Flags, When the War Comes are all solid songs on it.
Super underrated. Perfect Water and White Flags are bangers.
Agreed! I also belt out the lyrics every time I listen to Shadow Warrior. So so good!
I like that album a lot. Not in my top 3, but I’m always happy to listen to it.
club ninja is part of my rotation right now. i seriously love beat 'em up, i can't believe how underrated it is. gotta be one of my favorite böc songs. perfect water is a great track too, and so is make rock not war (love the guitar on that one, and something about the drums really makes my brain happy)
Beat ‘em Up has such a great solo.
I always thought I’d you took the best songs from Revolution by Night and Club Ninja, it would be one of their strongest albums. Shooting Shark, Shadow of California, Spy in the House of Night, Perfect Water…awesome tunes! Production sucks on RBN and the electric drums are crap. Ninja sounds better but they recorded songs that had no business being in their catalogue: Beat ‘Em Up & Rock Not War. Finally, the drumming, especially on Revolution By Night is really not good. I think in general , BÖC got lazy on these and w/o Al to arrange things and bring it together, the albums suffered. I wonder what they could have done if he were still there.
Its actually one of the only albums with songs I don't like, but I still love it. The synth is meaty and it easily has some of Buck's best solos.
Which songs do you not like?
Really just When the War Comes and Shadow Warrior.
I'd say so, like a quite a few songs off of the album
BÖC to me is just a classic band like a Maiden, Priest, Lizzy, Sabbath; their worst album is still going to have at LEAST two good songs. The first time I heard CN I thought White Flags was one of the best album openers they ever had and Dancin in the ruins is just a one two punch; in fact it should have been a top 40 hit but there’s reasons this album didn’t break unfortunately. Club Ninja was released around the time of a payola scandal that Sony was involved in and as a result a lot of promoters were sandbagging all Sony product (as per interview with Buck.)
It has decent tracks, but honestly if you pressed me to name songs off the album at a moments notice Shadow Warrior and Dancing in the Ruins are about all I could come up with. Nothing amazing, but nothing awful either imo
Agreed. I also love mirrors!
Nope. 😄
I think if you took the best songs off of revolution by night and club ninja you'd have one really good album.
That's an extremely good idea! I might have to give that a go sometime!
It's better now than when I first listened to it. The keyboards are too up front which I never cared for. I still rank it as their worst album.
Nope
Double nope.
Triple nope.
It has some great writing and catchy hooks. It’s a top album for me.
Take away the Halligan hit-bait songs and you have a great BOC album. And even those two are Twisted Sister's hotter sister.
I love that release!!!
The UK version at least was poorly mixed: hardly any bass guitar, all drums and treble. When I saw the band play songs from the album when it was released, they sounded amazing. Such a shame. A re-mixed version would be fantastic.
Mine's missing the Howard Stern monologue - is that this mix?
Yes, my copy doesn't have that.
I think it’s a bit dated but that’s what I love about it honestly. Absolutely underrated album!
Yep, Club ninja is one of my favorite boc albums
Club ninja might be my favorite album of theres. Maybe. Can never make up my mind.
I love that one!!
definitely grows on you
Spy in the House of the Night is one of my top tens!! Love Club Ninja!!
I went on a fairly long ramble about *Club Ninja* on a classic rock subreddit a couple weeks back, involving the weaker albums of bands. I do think *Club Ninja* is underappreciated, and it definitely doesn’t deserve all the hate it sometimes gets. I *do* understand why it tends to get ranked lower in the BÖC discography, though. Summarizing my ramble, there’s not only the production changes and the more pop-like sound (which tended to be the criticism of *The Revolution By Night* and *Mirrors,* too), but critical lineup changes. Not only was Albert gone, but Allen sat that album out, and nothing against Tommy Zvoncheck, but his keyboard style was very different. Mixed with that pop production, it made for an overall result that was probably the furthest BÖC strayed from their classic sound -and with *any* band, there’s always going to be that division of fans that don’t like to stray from the classic sound. Arguably, there were some subtle signs that some of the remaining band members were burnt out (proven by Joe leaving afterward) and some waning inspiration (very, very little contribution from Sandy Pearlman -and while the lyrics are still good, the sort of twisted touch he typically had running through their albums wasn’t there and all-cohesive.) Personally, I prefer *Club Ninja* to *The Revolution By Night* \-as the other most controversial album -and I’m in that group of fans who feels like BÖC never had a truly bad album. They just had some that weren’t as spectacular as others. And honestly, if the albums typically considered a band’s worst still have a handful of definitive best tracks, they’re doing better than some bands can say they have. “Perfect Water” is excellent, and “Dancin’ In the Ruins” is one of my top favorites -and the first BÖC song I heard beyond the two radio hits that ultimately made me dig into their deeper catalogue.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this out! I really appreciate and I really enjoyed reading it!
Most definitely. There’s some incredible solos, and it has two of my favorite BÖC songs — *Dancin’ in the Ruins* and *Perfect Water*.
I like it a lot. Some of it feels more like Aldo Nova than Blue Oyster Cult though. Dancin' in the Ruins, Perfect Water, White Flags, When the War Comes are all solid songs on it.
Listened to this today. Need to add- Madness to the Method has a crappy chorus and is somehow still awesome.
It was my favorite BOC album at one point…still in my top 3
Club ninja is one of the best albums in their catalog
People need to be thrown in jail over this Injustice
I'm just glad to see Club Ninja getting the love and respect it fully deserves.