Let's get things in perspective before we go any further. The Blue Öyster Cult's performance at Hammersmith Odeon wasn't the aesthetic nightmare portrayed by some reviews, but on the other hand it wasn't the mind-wrenching experiences that reliable witnesses in the States had promised us.

Part of the fault lay with the Cult - the pacing of the showwith the aural and visual climax coming after only four numbers in "Harvester of Eyes" and "Flaming Telepaths" left something to be desired, and the persistent dissipation of energy in twiddling guitar solos(and I mean solos) gave the performance a constant feeling of coitus interruptus - but part of it, I felt lay with the theatre itself.

Rock'n'roll isn't meant to be taken sitting down anyway, and when you're perched in your comfy armchair halfway up in the circle, it's difficult to get truly involved with what's happening far below you onstage.

You tend automatically to lapse into an objective, critical frame of mind instead of letting yourself roll with the flow. From the point of view of the band - especially a physical band like the Cult - it's not easy to bridge the gap when faced with an enforcedly static audience.

Consequently, although the sound was OK and the musicianship solid, after the rather ropey first two numbers, and although the lighting and staging were effective, at times stunning, there was an automatic slickness to the whole show where I'd anticipated a somewhat higher speedo spontanaiety quotient.

Still, I got the impression that given an environment more conducive to honest-to-God rock'n'roll insanity - a nice, impersonal hockey arena, let's say, or good ol' Friars Club, Aylesbury, somewhere to really bring out the animal in an audience - then the Cult could be the definitive sonic assassins of which we'd been forewarned.