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UFO27 Who's Fooling Who (The Monkey Puzzle)The Vinnie Era has a lot of great tunes, and they are not heavy rockers either. Who's Fooling Who is one of them.
The acoustic intro, paired with Paul Raymond's keyboards set the stage for a real tasty track. The first verse and chorus are sung without the rhythm section. A nice touch. And right before the first chorus starts Paul hits a note right at :46 that is perfectly timed. And that chorus is exquisite.
As the band joins in, Vinnie goes electric, but Paul, still dances around with the perfect keyboard line.
I mentioned in the Stranger In Town writeup, but there's something about Andy's ride cymbal that blends perfectly with Paul's keys and Vinnie's guiter. The second chorus bears that out.
Vinnie's solo is incredible, and Vinnie wonderfully closes out the song after the final chorus.
This is a song with great mood and feeling. A real gem.
26 Fool's Gold (Covenant)I loved Covenant right away, as I mentioned when we did the album ITT. But it was Fool's Gold that jumped off the CD for me. This song is loaded with great moments.
It's hard to believe this song is only 5:36 long.
Starts out with a really tasteful intro from Schenker. During the vocal intro what really stands out are Pete Way's bass note bends, the first at :29.
Phil's lyrics are filled with great imagery in this opening part. "The ghosts of the disappeared". Nice!
The song then goes full on band. Aynsley Dunbar's drumming stands out as always, but it's Kevin Carlson's keyboard part that stands out.
Michael's solo runs just over a minute, but he uses so many different lines in it, but it all blends together perfectly. Michael closes out the track with another ridiculous flurry.
30 History Of Flames
29 Stranger In Town
28 Call My Name/All Over You
27 Who's Fooling Who
26 Fool's Gold
Michael Schenker28 The Dogs Of War (Built To Destroy)Built To Destroy is an interesting album. At first, it was great to have Gary Barden back, but the production on the original was so bad, it was tough to really appreciate the songs. The remasters are better, but this album still could use some help.
One track I always like was The Dogs Of War. Though it starts out pretty straightforward, there's some nice treatments from Michael in the beginning. I like Barden on this song..on this album actually.
The chorus is strong and memorable. The first solo starts at 2:04 and it is amazing. Unfortunately the album's sound sucks ass, but this solo somehow still shines as the beast that it is. At 2:44, after the ripping solo, he strikes this amazing tone as the song cycles back to the verse.
I'm Kadestamping the US Remaster. The solo is longer, though the sound is worse.
27 Good Times (Spirit On A Mission)The first of a number of Doogie tracks is Good Times.
Listening to the track, there's not much to point out at various spots. It's a relatively poppy track, with great lyrics and a fantastic vocal.
The imagery in the lyric is something everyone growing up can relate to. And there's a warmth in Doogie's vocal that really conveys the emotion of looking back.
Even with an unspectacular solo, this is a simple and brilliantly written song.
26 Land Of Thunder (Bridge The Gap)This song comes out of the gate with a driving rhythm from Michael. Doogie joins with a great vocal with some effective phrasing. After a very brief prechorus, the song flexes its muscle with a fantastic chorus featuring Doogie's strong vocal lines supported by Michael underneath.
Michael takes it for a nice 40 second solo before returning to that addicting chorus.
Doogie really shows his strength in this track.
30 Bittersweet
29 Cry For The Nations
28 The Dogs Of War
27 Good Times
26 Land Of Thunder