The UFO Thread-Pete Way RIP

[TAC]

Maybe we should start a UFO thread so as not to hijack too much of M's topic. 

DONE!

I'm biased against No Heavy Petting because I was collecting UFO albums as they were released (see the Post your picture thread  ). My pals and I were hooked with the spaciness Phenomenon and the heaviness of Force It (it was really heavy at the time). Other than a few spots we thought NHP was pretty light weight (I'm looking at you Highway Lady). Lights Out and Obsession (my personal favorite) is where they really brought it home for us...of course, there's no greater live album, ever, than Strangers In The Night. 

If you were listening in real time, I can totally understand your POV. They add the loopy keyboards of Danny Peyronel, and take the raw edge of Force It off.

[TAC]

I just put on "Mechanix", and while I know it's not Michael (it's Paul Chapman) WOW what a great record.  "The Writer".  "Doing It All For You".  And the best song on the album (which wasn't even on the original album but was a bonus track in Japan) "Heel Of A Stranger".   LOVE that song. 

I feel a UFO kick coming on.  Look out!

It's ON, Brother!

Just rolled the windows down on this 70+degree day and gave NHP a run through.

Mechanix is awesome, even though its commercial feel caused Pete Way to leave the band. And yes, Heel Of A Stranger is awesome!
Doing It All For You is great, but my favorite track on Mechanix is Dreaming. It's a TAC Top 10 UFO Track across all eras.

[jjrock88]

Nobody can deny the excellence of Strangers of the Night. Just an outstanding live album and deserves the recognition it gets!

[TAC]

Even though it has two songs recorded in the studio to fill a double album, the live stuff is amazing.

[Imaginos]

I love No Heavy Petting. While it may not be as heavy overall as some of their other albums, it's still got Can You Roll Her and Reasons Love, both of which are two of my favorites among their heavier songs. Plus I think it has two of their best ballads ever. I love Belladonna for Michael's incredible solo, and I love Martian Landscape for those fantastic lyrics. I love Paul Raymond, but I really like Danny Peyronel's contribution to the album and wonder what it would have been like had he stayed.

Also, the SITN version of Love to Love is probably one of my favorite live performances ever. Just perfect in every way.

[TAC]

I love No Heavy Petting. While it may not be as heavy overall as some of their other albums, it's still got Can You Roll Her and Reasons Love, both of which are two of my favorites among their heavier songs. Plus I think it has two of their best ballads ever. I love Belladonna for Michael's incredible solo, and I love Martian Landscape for those fantastic lyrics. I love Paul Raymond, but I really like Danny Peyronel's contribution to the album and wonder what it would have been like had he stayed.

Thank you. It's an amazing, though understated, album.

Also, the SITN version of Love to Love is probably one of my favorite live performances ever. Just perfect in every way.

Yes, amazing! And Paul Raymond is great on it.

[PowerSlave]

I always thought that the live "sound board" cuts on the end of Covenant were pretty good considering they weren't touched up, and are somewhat poorly EQ'd. There's mistakes here and there, but they have a lot of energy.

[bl5150]

We already have Kev's UFO thread - merge 

[TAC]

We already have Kev's UFO thread - merge 

 

I always thought that the live "sound board" cuts on the end of Covenant were pretty good considering they weren't touched up, and are somewhat poorly EQ'd. There's mistakes here and there, but they have a lot of energy.

Cool stuff. Much better than Werewolves Of London where they basically turn Paul Raymond's guitar down to nothing.

BTW, Covenant is an awesome album. I remember not even knowing they were doing a follow up to Walk On Water and all of a sudden here is Covenant. I love that album.

[PowerSlave]

We already have Kev's UFO thread - merge 

 

I always thought that the live "sound board" cuts on the end of Covenant were pretty good considering they weren't touched up, and are somewhat poorly EQ'd. There's mistakes here and there, but they have a lot of energy.

Cool stuff. Much better than Werewolves Of London where they basically turn Paul Raymond's guitar down to nothing.

BTW, Covenant is an awesome album. I remember not even knowing they were doing a follow up to Walk On Water and all of a sudden here is Covenant. I love that album.

Yes, some of my favorite UFO songs are on that album. The World and his Dog is spectacular. In fact, I'm mostly a greatest hits fan of their classic era because I grew up more on Michael's 80's output, so WOW and Covenant are my favorite albums. Sharks on the other hand...

[TAC]

I hear ya on Sharks. Pretty bad.

[Zoom E]

No Heavy Petting was the first UFO album I bought and remains one of my favourites. You can't go wrong with any of the Schenker-era albums. Sheer brilliance.

I haven't checked out the last album A Conspiracy of Stars yet, though I hear it's their best album in a while.

[Lowdz]

As a huge UFO fan, I love the Schenker era, obviously. The Raymond era was fantastic too. I have a soft spot for Misdemeanour.

I didn't follow the albums after this, though I have heard them at some point.

As a huge Vinnie Moore fan (he's my favourite guitarist), I was excited when he joined UFO but I haven't really enjoyed any of the recent albums.

SITN is legendary. They are the definitive versions of all those songs. I can't listen to the original version of Let It Roll cos the vocals sound awful in comparison to the live version.

[TAC]

I haven't checked out the last album A Conspiracy of Stars yet, though I hear it's their best album in a while.

It's OK. It's better than the previous one, Seven Deadly, but not great by any stretch.

If I'm ranking the Moore era albums, I go:

The Visitor
The Monkey Puzzle
You Are Here
A Conspiracy Of Stars
Seven Deadly

Best track of the Moore era is The Wild One off of You Are Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0tkJ5ux5WY

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Tick saw these guys live when he was a kid, but nobody believes him.

[bl5150]

 

[Stadler]

Okay, UFO fans.  Help a brother out:

- Where have I heard the verse of "Reasons to Love" before?  It reminds me of something and I can't place it.  It's also the riff under the solo.   Did Eric Avery steal that for a Jane's Addition bass line?  (This is from the other thread)

- What am I missing with SITN?   I get the idea of a "definitive live album" - I love Alive!, Live After Death, and Made In Japan - but for whatever reason, I love the studio versions better.  I'll give it another listen, but I'm missing something.

- Anyone hear the first two or three albums, before Michael Schenker joined?  Are they any good?   

[TAC]

The two pre Schenker albums, plus a live album, are total noise. For completest only. The very first one I liked, but Flying is very spaced out. It's Mogg/Way/Parker with Mick Bolton on guitar.


As far as Strangers.. those live versions of Rock Bottom, Love To Love, I'm A Loser, and so on are amazing. Perhaps you like the raw production of the early albums, and there's something to be said for their charm, but Strangers really breathes new life into the tracks.

I cannot place the Reasons Love verse anywhere else, and I am not familiar with Jane's Addiction in any way. That said, Reasons Love 

[TAC]

Tick saw these guys live when he was a kid, but nobody believes him.

I don't get it.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=32403

[TAC]

Gotcha!

[Podaar]

Ok, Tim, educate me on why the solo on Reasons Love is so great. To my ears it sounds phoned in. I've always thought that's what ruined what was potentially a top song for UFO. The main riff is so quintessentially UFO.

First of all, what I loved about Michael's lead playing (at the time) was that he had a knack for finding a melody. His ability to compliment/augment the underlying music was mesmerizing. In essence you could sing his solos, which was amazing when you consider that he didn't really compose them. He had a structure in mind and then would just wing it. When he chose to play a bunch of fast notes, it was generally appropriate to the moment.

For me, Reasons Love starts out that way and then just goes to, "fuck it, I'll just play a shit ton of fast notes." And not very precisely either. He kinda stumbles over them and calls it 'good enough'.  That's probably not completely fair for me to say, but compared to what came before this album and definitely what came after (see also Lights Out), that's the way it's always felt for me.

Now, I don't mean to rag on NHP too much. It has it's moments. I enjoy Natural Thing, Reasons Love (in spite of what's written above) Belladonna, and strangely On With The Action (that my buddies absolutely hated).

[Samsara]

This thread should be renamed: "TAC's UFO Thread." 

[TAC]

This thread should be renamed: "TAC's UFO Thread." 

 

I LOVE UFO!!






@ Gregg regarding Schenker and the Reasons Love solo...
Your description of what makes a Michael Schenker solo great is dead on. You totally get it. 
And I totally understand what you say specifically about the Reasons Love solo. I don't disagree that there's a certain sloppiness to it, but he rescues it magnificently and ends it with an breathtaking flourish.

There's something about NHP that speaks to me. But it's splitting hairs, really. All 5 of those albums are ingrained on my soul and I'd go to the mat for every one of them.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I listened to the solo in question and it's good and fast and like, stuff I wouldn't want to try to replicate, but I'll have forgotten it in 5 minutes.  I don't know why, there's just something about UFO that I cannot get into, no matter how hard I try.  And you want sloppy?  Listen to Page's solo on Heartbreaker.  THAT'S a sloppy guitar solo.

[TAC]

That's fair enough Coz. It's s fairly short and eclectic solo with not much melody to it.

[PowerSlave]

I don't know why, there's just something about UFO that I cannot get into, no matter how hard I try.

Give those later albums a try. Walk on Water to begin with, and then Covenant. It's still UFO, but it has a bit of a more modern feel, and it might be more listenable for modern audiences.

[TAC]

Both are Schenker albums too.

Walk On Water is essential.
Dreaming Of Summer 

[PowerSlave]

Both are Schenker albums too.

Walk On Water is essential.
Dreaming Of Summer 

Yes, that song is classic UFO no matter which era. Speaking of WoW, I seen them on the reunion tour and they were selling that album at the t-shirt counter. The lineup of the songs was slightly different. Stopped by a Bullet was right before Dreaming of Summer, and the '95 version of Lights Out was absent. Unfortunately, I lost the disc in an apartment fire a few years later. I don't think that the album had been released officially in the US at the time.

[TAC]

I bought the Japanese import as soon as it came out. I don't think it was released in America for a number of months later. Maybe a year later.

[jjrock88]

Tim if you ever get a chance can you do your complete UFO album rankings favorite to least

[TAC]

Tim if you ever get a chance can you do your complete UFO album rankings favorite to least

I will!

My Top 3 though are:

No Heavy Petting
The Wild The Willing And The Innocent
Walk On Water

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I don't know why, there's just something about UFO that I cannot get into, no matter how hard I try.

Give those later albums a try. Walk on Water to begin with, and then Covenant. It's still UFO, but it has a bit of a more modern feel, and it might be more listenable for modern audiences.

A buddy of mine told me Obsession was the album I needed to listen to.  He was wrong.  But I'll try to give these a listen.  Thanks.

[Podaar]

I predict that those albums won't do it for Coz either. If Force it, Lights Out and Obsession don't work for him then the middle-aged rock of Walk On Water and Covenant aren't likely to knock him over, regardless of the better sound.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

There's something about it that I am incapable of putting my finger on.  I can hear it.  But I can't exactly tell you what it is.