UFO

Eons ago, in a galaxy far, far away: College Park, Maryland, probably around 1988-90, at a place called Kemp Mill Records, an older, more arrogant student asked me if I knew of the band UFO.  “Nope.”  “Oh, you’re just a babe in arms.  UFO are awesome!  Michael Schenker, man!”  Something to that effect.  If he’d just left “babe in arms” out of his spiel, he would have sold me immediately.  As it was, I decided to pass on the band for the immediate future.

MUCH later, I purchased Strangers in the Night, their definitive live album, and Real to Reel, Tesla’s double CD of covers, which included “Rock Bottom”.  The solo went on so long I forgot I was listening to Tesla and not UFO.   Although “Doctor Doctor” is UFO’s signature song, “Rock Bottom” is much better.

Much more recently, I saw the band at the local club Empire, formerly known as Jaxx.   Schenker’s place as guitarist was taken by Vinnie Moore, but vocalist Phil Mogg and drummer Andy Parker were still alive and well – as was rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Paul Raymond.   The bassist was Rob De Luca, who I don’t recognize from anywhere; Pete Way is still alive, but from what I hear his years of hard drinking and partying have permanently retired him from touring and essentially left him a recluse.  Most bands’ 70s’ tour war stories, to the extent they mention UFO, invariably blame Pete Way for the same excesses which are attributed to Keith Moon or John Bonham.   Singer Mogg likes to talk a lot between songs, clearly impressed with his own wit.  He looks a bit like Vladimir Putin these days, but keeps his shirt on and doesn’t wrestle wild animals or write for the New York Times – at least not on stage.    Moore did a great job of mimicking Michael Schenker’s guitar solos, but the band has new material he wrote himself; of such material they only played a few songs off the new album, Seven Deadly.   Listening to that and Strangers in the Night pretty much covered the bases in terms of “studying” for the show.

Beginnings.  Before Schenker, the band had a guitarist Mick Bolton, and did three albums:  UFO 1, UFO 2: Flying, and UFO Live in Japan.   All three have been conveniently combined onto a two CD set called Beginnings.  This material is more spacey and bluesy than the mainstream, Schenker-era (i.e. classic) UFO, in much the same way as the Scorpions’ first albums were different than the later Matthias Jabs era (Lovedrive and subsequent material).  The first album has two covers, Eddie Cochran’s “C’mon Everybody”, sounding like “Summertime Blues” for obvious reasons, and “Who Do You Love”, probably best covered by George Thorogood.  The second album and the live album go off into jam band psychedelic smoke.   Not necessarily better or worse than Strangers in the Night, but definitely different.

Phenomenon.  This is the first album with Michael Schenker, and features both top tracks “Doctor Doctor” and “Rock Bottom”.  The rest of the tunes are far from filler, even if they can’t quite match the hits.   Whether as an auspicious beginning to starting a UFO collection, or an excellent album in its own right, I can heartily recommend this one for any fan of 70s hard rock.

The Schenker era is more mainstream mid to late 70s hard rock; not particularly unique or special, but certainly fun to listen to and competitive with their peers.  I actually hear some Scorpions (Schenker? I can’t imagine why) and Thin Lizzy in the mix as well.  Strangers in the Night has as much place in your collection as All The World’s A Stage, If You Want Blood You Got It, Frampton Comes Alive, Kiss Alive, etc.  Live, this band gets it done even now, playing to a crowd of 100 people in a club that can fill 300.  Including one jerk who screamed for “Rock Bottom” throughout the entire set – until the end of it, when they finally played the song.