1982 Buck Dharma – Flat Out

Flat Out is a solo album by Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, lead guitarist and vocalist for hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult, released in 1982. Although Roeser penned and sang BÖC’s biggest hits (“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”, “Godzilla”, “Burnin’ for You”), the band operated as a democracy, and some of the songs he brought to the band were deemed too poppy by the others, so he released many of them on this solo record. “Born to Rock” was the first single (and was played live by Blue Oyster Cult in 1983, 1984 and 2004), and “Your Loving Heart” was also released as a single, but neither charted well.

The track “Come Softly to Me” begins with a 35-second backwards recording. When played in reverse, it is a conversation that mentions a bongo record that sounds like Channel 11 music used to be. The conversation, which takes place during a game of ping-pong, ends with, “I could kick your ass but I know this is just for a sound check.” The BÖC Fan Club lyric book titles this track “Gnop Gnip” (ping pong spelled backwards), after the album credit thanking “Chris Cassone for Gnop Gnip”