CHRYSALIS RECORDS 3rd April 2026
UFO’s ‘Strangers In The Night’ is still in my top ten live albums and a good part of that is thanks to Michael Schenker’s guitar playing, crunching, rocking, yet lyrical. And the handful of Scorpions albums I have any time for feature Schenker too, particularly the none-more-Seventies ‘Love Drive’. So it’s great to hear Schenker directing his own group over four loud and live gigs between 1980 and 1984. This was the era of Whitesnake, Rainbow, Deep Purple, dominating the serious album charts despite the punk and new wave upstarts.
Thrust into the spotlight via his brother’s band, Scorpions, at age 11 and playing lead guitar on their album at just 16, before joining UFO and hopping between the two bands. An early start didn’t do him any favours as a person and there are many stories of erratic behaviour, sackings and alcohol abuse. Reflecting on the period, he comments that he was so busy playing he forgot to be a human and grow his social skills. Focusing on the music, here he is in his natural element, upfronting and showboating as well as providing an aggressive rhythm sound. As an established figure his shifting band line-ups are a Who’s Who of hard rock.
The first gig of the set, Manchester in Autumn 1980 is old-school rock with lots of manly bantz for the lads from Gary Barden on vocals. “Is it loud enough?” “No”. Paul Raymond (UFO) adds second guitar and keys, while the massive powerhouse on drums is Cozy Powell. Meaty, driving, full-on, his drumming almost overshadows Schenker for individuality (bear in mind this is a drummer who had a number 3 hit single in the UK). But that guitar is terrific – crunching, spinning, melodic, howling, rocking. The result is furious pumping rock. There’s a tranche of UFO melodic hard rock – Natural Thing, Rock Bottom, Shoot Shoot, Doctor Doctor and Lights Out; often played faster and harder. It’s previously unreleased.
CDs 2 and 3 were released as ‘One Night At Budokan’ but are remastered for this box. Autumn 1981 sees the same line up but with a few more original songs in the repertoire and only one UFO song. Guitar solos are blistering and indulgently florid with the axeman taking the centre stage of attention. Cozy Powell is not far behind and is allowed an 11 minute drum solo, playing to the Star Wars theme, 1812 overture, etc in his characteristic busy and rhythmically full style. Barden teases Schenker in the band intros: “Over here, on my left, drinking a glass of mineral water, Mr Schenker”
CD 4 sees the third gig, released as ‘Rock Will Never Die’ (hard rock never had a sense of irony….). October 1983 sees Paul Raymond replaced on guitar by Derek St Holmes (The Ted Nugent Band) and Cozy Powell swapped for Ted McKenna (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band). Drumming remains propulsive, without the round and massive sound of Powell. You will hear some lighter touches, like the surprisingly poppy ‘Rock My Night Away’. Contrast this with the laddish lyrics elsewhere and it’s an odd combo; “making love, making war, you know what I’m thinking of” crosses into Spinal Tap territory. Throughout the passage of these years I hear Schenker developing and experimenting. Sometimes this makes for an unusual sound and varies in success, as we hear in the last disc where he shreds while using a wah-wah pedal.
Autumn 1984 is the focus of CD 5, and we hear that shredding and a different guitar sound; shrill but intensely energetic. Drumming is powerful from McKenna and we have had another line-up switch, with only Michael remaining from the band of 79/80. Vocals come from Ray Kennedy, better known for co-writing the Beach Boy’s ‘Sail On Sailor’ and emphatically less laddish while powerfully melodic, Barden having been sacked for drink issues. This is a confident band and big stately tuneful solos come over particularly well – sample ‘Lipstick Traces’ for the Schenker distinctive guitar voice. The ‘Courvoisier Concerto’ exemplifies the wah-wah shredding style he was trying. It’s a flawed recording with back-stage chats and a cappella bits added for no obvious reason, spoiling the mood. There is a DVD of two of the gigs but I’d rather have a mental picture, conjured by the music. There’s an in-depth booklet, tracking the comings and goings of the band and digging into Michael’s changes too.
This is a huge, indulgent rock-out in the blustering classic style, lifted to art by the guitar playing of Michael Schenker. If you like any of the big hard rock bands before the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, this is a ne plus ultra slab of the pure thing – big, loud, tuneful, rocking and punched by magnificent guitar playing from someone never happy to stick with what merely works, exploring to find what exceeds.
Ross McGibbon