List your favorite UFO song, talk about it.

I love Phenomenon, Force It and No Heavy Petting, and a favourite song, that probably no one else will mention, is "On With The Action", it's something about the heavy minor riffs and the sludgy chords combined with the bleakness of the realistic (or even naturalistic) street life lyrics that just create such a dark and omnious mood which hits a note with me and just does the trick. (I'm afraid I never warmed to Lights Out and Obsession, a bit too "Americanized" I think.)

 

I'm a Loser- perfect song imo

 

I like Lights out a lot better than Obsession. To me Nevison managed to get Andy's drums sounding like cardboard boxes on Obsession, along with too much polish. Lyons work is deserving of criticism, but every production from him beats Obsession IMO. Still like Obsession but the drum sound pisses me off.

 

I love On with the Action. Great solo on that one, as well.

 

Yes, but then again all Michael Schenker solos are great!

 

Gettin' Ready




I love it because it highlights what a great and expressive singer Phil Mogg is.

And also because UFO are so much more than just a typical hard rock band and this is a great example of that.

 

UFO are one of the really great rock bands. All of the Michael Schenker albums are superb. The sound is perfect it only sounds thin if you were brought up on the horrible 80's & everything louder than everything else 90's.

Too many great songs to pick a single best.

 

Yep. A radio friendly, melodic song that doesn't sacrifice an atom of virtuosity or heaviness in the process.

 

Awfully tough choice, but I have to concur with dkmonroe and go with "Only You Can Rock Me." Not only is it power and glory and majesty, but they manage to wring the p, g, and m out of a song idea that in any other band's hands would have, even back then, been an eye-rolling cliché.

The really sublime breathtaking goosebump bit is the E-A-Fsharp-B "We can't wait from day to day" second half of the chorus -- which sounds like it may have originated only as a one-off bridge or middle-eight foundation for the solo (?) until somebody realized it was so freaking fantastic they needed to play it 5 or 6 times. I mean, who the hell sticks that sort of gorgeous, lyrical, Springsteenishly aspirational interlude onto the end of a stompin' rawk chorus? Brilliant!

(There's also something vaguely Who-like about the keyboard passages that I enjoy a lot.)

 

Was released through Majestic in the UK originally as were a lot of semi-official live stuff from UFO (apparently various members sold off tapes to make a buck!) however it finally ended up as an official Chrysalis release as part of the "Official Bootleg Box"

I am unaware of any NY Record Plant recordings.

 

Yeah that part is really great. In Pete Way's book he says Michael Schenker wrote that.

"I'd got the basic idea for it, a driving rocker, and being the genius that he is, Michael came up with the section halfway through – that sort of dreamy-sounding bridge and his soaring solo - which switched it up from being a classic rock thing into a completely different gear."

 

This does not surprise me at all, and thanks for filling in the backstory!

 

The Electric Ballroom 1974 performance is my go-to for UFO, especially their version of Cold Turkey. That descending chord sequence and greasy guitar solo/fills by MS is pure gold. Give Her The Gun is muscular on that show as well.
Phenomenon is my favorite album from them.

 

The Record Plant Sausalito (Ca.) show was from a KSAN broadcast, and is available on Wolfgang's Vault (.com)

 

My fav song with a riff - Rock Bottom. That's a head bobbing rocker.

For a MS solo - Dance Your Life Away.

That one always leave me wanting a cigarette like I just had great sex, and I don't smoke!

 

Along with Thin Lizzy, another underrated band if there ever was one/two, they're kinda responsible for whatever followed in the '80's. But not in a bad way. Both of these bands had charisma, excellent musicians, great songs and lyrics that should be what every hard rock band that followed after 'em should use every aspect of as a road map.

It is almost impossible to pick just one. I love every single album they did with Schenker and also later grew to hold the first four with Chapman almost as highly in regard. The rest usually also have at least one really great song ("Another Saturday Night" off of Ain't Misbehavin' being just one example). Mogg is such a great singer, maybe not because his voice is that good but because of the way he was able to express his emotions in a very non-clichéd way for the genre.

One of the few songs from the peak period that I am not really that fond of, quite ironically contains what IMO is the greatest solo MS ever commited to tape. That one is just fierce...

 

I love "Shoot Shoot" from Force It. A good hard aggressive rocker that I never get sick of cranking up.

 

Motorway to roswell . pixies

Only one
I can think of!

 

I am a crappy guitar player, so.. My favourite is "Mother Mary", (from "Strangers In The Night") because is the one I am able to play on rhythm guitar!

 

Rock Bottom- the Strangers in the Night version ! Probably my favourite guitar solo by anyone!

 

Good timing! I just got the Chrysalis Years (vol 1) set for £7 and that's my in car listening sorted for this week! I've already got the Schenker albums in the Japanese Burrn series, but I couldn't say no at this price.

Favourite songs? Probably Only You Can Rock Me, Doctor Doctor, Love To Love, Let It Roll, Shoot Shoot.

Favourite solos (1) The classy but technical solo at the end of I'm A Loser (Strangers version preferred as it doesn't have the backing vocals over the solo), and (2) The freaky-deaky just insane second solo on Too Hot To Handle (Strangers version).

I grew up with UFO. First song I heard (age 13) was Only You Can Rock Me, which I bought as the red vinyl EP with Cherry and Rock Bottom.

Then I bought Obsession, but didn't (and still don't) like it. Fortunately, Strangers... followed soon after!

Favourite studio albums - Force It or Lights Out.

If I could only pick one song - Shoot Shoot from Strangers... Great intro, great riff, great singing, great solo, dammit I even love that twiddly-diddly bit Schenker does right at the end. Wa-wa-wa-wa-waaaaaaa-boom-boom!

Sorry, got a bit carried away there.

 

Love to Love-Live. Strangers in the Night LP. That Schenker solo at the end. Chills...every time.

 

Obsession- Pack It Up And Go('78)
For me? Hands down this song!!! The groove(basic Hard Rock but a great groove) when I figured out the rhythm as a teenager ,I used to play to this over and over (along with the record)! Killer guitar acents/fills through out this a guitarist dream! Then the solo and to top it off the outro solo !!!! Micheal on fire on this song and album!



EDIT; this was a in-love at first listen song for me in '78 and 40 wild and crazy years later?........I'm still in love with it!

 

Strangers In The Night-Rock Bottom

As others upthread have noted,like @Rufus rag listed I agree this is a killer live ( A Micheal showcase) track! It's not listed upthread I believe?
I love the intro part that has MS kick it off with that open E string and octave E (7th fret A string) strumming that groove! That tone ! Man, then right into the main riff!You know you're in for a ride from that point onward!! Favorite Live

 

Wow. I love UFO, as explained above, but I don't like either of those last 2 recommendations.

I've never liked the sound of Obsession, apart from Only You Can Rock Me and Cherry. As someone described earlier, the drum sound is horrible, and the songs don't match the quality on the previous Schenker albums. IMHO.

And - heresy alert - I find Schenker's solo in the live version of Rock Bottom (and Chapman's and Moore's, when I also saw them do it) to be meandering and boring. I stick to the studio version, which is ace.