ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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UFO THE VISITOR SPV / STEAMHAMMER 2.6.09 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk
All I really know about UFO’s music is that I loved and wore out my cassette of their first live album, Strangers In The Night. Released in 1979, the collection of hard rock and ballads had an anthemic quality and is often named as one of the best live albums, alongside Thin Lizzy’s Live And Dangerous and The Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72. I recently reacquainted myself with a CD of it and it’s great, particularly with the guitar work of Michael Schenker. A lot happened in the last thirty years and UFO today are scarcely the same band and that’s not a bad thing. Rehashing the same style for three decades would kill the spirit. There’ve been the usual rock and roll casualties – Michael Schenker left the band long ago and is legendary now mostly for his unreliability, Pete Way, on bass, is being treated for liver disease. So far, so rock and roll….. We still have the original triumvirate of Phil Mogg on vocals, Paul Raymond on guitar and keys, Andy Parker on drums. They’ve drafted in a new guitarist, Vinnie Moore. The first couple of tracks show a much more blues- orientated band, with Phil’s vocals sounding properly gritty and the band hints at where rock came from – the Delta Blues but electrified and rocked up. When they reach Helldriver, they unleash something more like the old sound – Phil switches to rock balladeer mode and the band belts out what used to be called “a driving song”. Driving to this might get you a speeding ticket though…… Stop Breaking Down is a slightly sad-tinged rock ballad and Rock Ready is another blues stomper, with atmospheric steel guitar. “If the girls and drugs don’t get you, liquor will”, they advise us. Top advice lads. The trademark of the band is a yearning sense of loss and wonder at the power of nostalgia (the same themes as thirty years ago). It’s a powerful formula and, however cool you are, you might find yourself striking a rock pose as lyrical but pained guitar solos rip out. There is a drive that is unusual in a band this long in the tooth, a band that bridged the span between British hard rock and the new wave of British heavy metal that was to come. If you aren’t put off by the genre and you can look past the cliché (and, hell, every genre has clichés), you’ll find some solid songs here that embellish the category we slot it in. www.ufo-music.info |
