Lights Out Album Review

5/5 stars

"Misty green and blue, oh to love to love you."

     

      Lights Out was the first studio album that I had purchased by UFO, and it blew my mind.  Top to bottom, the album boasts great songs; including my favorite song of all time, "Love To Love."  The album was the first by UFO to use strings on songs, and it brings a really emotional feel to the heartfelt ballads.  The opening song is the fan favorite "Too Hot To Handle."  I love this song because the riff is very fun to play on guitar, and it has a very catchy chorus.  The next song "Just Another Suicide" is cool because it has great keyboard playing by Paul Raymond, and an awesome build up in the vocals to the point where it becomes extremely powerful.  The next song "Try Me" is one of my favorite songs on the album because it is a heartfelt ballad with emotional lyrics, and a mind blowing guitar solo from Michael Schenker that gives me the chills every time I hear it.  The next song "Lights Out" is one of UFO's most aggressive songs they ever wrote.  With a heavy riff from Michael Schenker, and Pete Way backed up the riff with his hard bass playing.  The lyrics are very heavy, and they bring a whole bunch of power to the song.  Michael Schenker's two guitar solos are mind blowing on this song, and while fast, they also carry so much emotion at the same time.  The next song "Gettin' Ready" is a less memorable song, but it still has a very cool riff.  The next song is the cover of "Alone Again Or" by Love.  This cover is very good because it is note for note perfect, and it definitely captures the same emotion of the original.  The next song "Electric Phase" is one of my favorites on the album because of the extremely heavy guitar riff, great vocals, and Michael Schenker's creative experimentation with the slide guitar.  I like the in your face aggressiveness of the song, and how it captures a bunch of musical emotion.  The last song on the album is "Love To Love."  This song is one of the most complex songs of all time, and it is so magical to me.  It brings back memories of when I first got in to UFO.  I was sitting in my room listening to a greatest hits album by the band when this song came on.  I was amazed by the flawless intro.  An intro that inspired the theme song to the famed movie "Halloween."  Then I heard Phil Mogg's vocals, and I was amazed at how greatly he could control his tone.  Then the end of the song came, and my mind was completely blown when I heard the ending guitar solo.  It has so much emotion to it, and you could tell that Michael was using every last skill he had just for that solo.  I love to play this song on the guitar, and it will always be very special to me.

    Lights Out is a landmark in hard rock music.  It brought so much raw emotion to the music business, and it was UFO's album that first gave them a name in the business.  While it doesn't rise to the levels that Obsession and Strangers in The Night, it is still one of my favorite albums, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes music.