UFO is back. The band released their first album in 1970 and achieved commercial success after recruiting
Michael Schenker from Scorpions. In the 70's
UFO wrote some classic albums like
"Lights Out" and the live album
"Strangers in the Night". The members strong personalities caused a lot of problems and the successful line-up disbanded only to be reunited on the comeback album
"Walk on Water" from 1997. This re-union was not unproblematic, but despite all the internal problems original members Phil Mogg and Pete Way got together with the virtuoso
Michael Schenker to create another
UFO album. Like the last album
"Covenant" Aynsley Dunbar (ex. David Bowie,
Whitesnake among others) is playing drums.
Somehow there is a special atmosphere, when Mogg, Way and Schenker enter the studio as
UFO They even managed to write a new classic
UFO song called
"Serenity". That song has all the classic
UFO elements including the fantastic melodic guitar playing by Schenker.
"Outlaw Man" opens the album with a cool slide riff and the swinging Rocker is among the best tracks on the album. Other highlights include the groovy Boogie track
"Someone's Gotta have to Pay", which shows no signs of retirement after playing Rock ´n´ Roll in more that 30 years.
"Sea of Faith" has a funky clean guitar doubled by an electric riff from Schenker. A favorite of mine. Most songs have a great groove like
"Fighting Man", which is a guitar driven rocker. The album is varied and ends with some more song-oriented songs
"Perfect View" and
"Crossing Over", which are also brilliant songs.
If you are not familiar with U.F.O (shame on you) then it takes a little while to get used to Phil Mogg's voice. However along with Schenker's guitar playing Phil Mogg voice is the unmistakable characteristics of
UFO Pete Way and Aynsley Dunbar provides a tight Rhythm section that is better playing in sleep than most of the NU-metal bands today.
Overall the album does not give the fans a new
"Doctor Doctor" but this is a solid collection of songs that U.F.O can be proud of and
"Sharks" proves
UFO's justification in their forth decade as band. First-class.
Lookout for a Phil Mogg interview next week.
Written by
Michael Wednesday, August 21, 2002
Show all reviews by MichaelRatingsMichael: 7.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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