Underrated Gem #14: One More For The Rodeo

"One More For The Rodeo" was released on the album Obesession, and it is one of the band's coolest songs.  It just has the most swag feeling in world, and it is so undeniably neat.  The riff is amazing, and so are the vocals.  The drums are also so brilliant, because it makes the vibe of the song amazing.  I love the chorus so much, because the vocals are flawless.  I highly recommend this song because you will feel so taken by the rhythm, and it will become a favorite of yours.

Results On The Poll For The Best UFO Song Of All Time

As you all know, I had a poll for the best UFO song.  The choices were "Love To Love," Lookin' Out For No. 1," "Rock Bottom," and "Doctor Doctor."  First place was "Love To Love."  Second was "Doctor Doctor."  Third place went to "Lookin' Out For No. 1," and fourth place went to "Rock Bottom."  Be sure to vote for your favorite post Schenker album, because the poll only lasts for nine more days.  Thanks for being an awesome audience,

Ryan.

Michael Schenker's Work With The Slide In UFO

Michael Schenker has forever been acclaimed for his fiery soloing and riffs, but I feel that his playing on the slide is heavily overlooked.  I think he is extremely precise in this technique, and that he was up there with the best.

 The first time he used the slide in UFO was on "Too Young To Know" on the album Phenomenon.  The slide fits so well in this song, because it already has a very southern sound to it, and this just added to it.  He plays very similar to Gary Rossington or Duane Allman in this song.  The next time where I have noticed the slide was on "I'm A Loser" from No Heavy Petting.  This song uses the slide in the intro when the riff has played a few times.  One of the later uses of the slide with Michael was "Electric Phase" from the album Light's Out.  I think his solos on the slide are extremely great in this song, and they are very precise.  The other song that has slide on Light's Out is my favorite "Love To Love."  This song has the long slide intro, and it is so creative.  I love how emotional Michael's playing is in this intro, because you can feel his passion.

Those are the times that I noticed Michael's slide playing best.  If there are any that I missed, then feel free to tell me them in the comment box.

The Wild The Willing And The Innocent Album Review

4.5/5

The Wild, The Willing, And The Innocent was released in 1981, and it was the second album to feature phenomenal guitarist Paul Chapman.  This album has so many classic songs like "Lonely Heart," "Chains, Chains," "Profession Of Violence," and the title track.  It is a very rocking album, and I like it a lot.  While it isn't as good as Mechanix; I feel that it is one of the better Paul Chapman albums.  This album was also the first album to feature the brilliant Neil Carter.

The album starts with "Chains, Chains."  This is one of the band's heaviest songs, and it has an amazing chorus.  I really don't know why this song wasn't huge, because it is a perfect hard rock radio hit.  The riff is great, vocals are great, and the song overall is flawless.  The next four songs "Long Gone," "The Wild, The Willing, And The Innocent," "It's Killing Me," and "Makin' Moves" are all great songs, but the next song that really stands out to me is the classic "Lonely Heart."  This song is so amazing.  It has so much energy, and I totally dig the sax solo.  The next song is "Couldn't Get It Right" is another great rocking song.  The last song "Profession For Violence" is a great softer song, and it features some amazing acoustic. 

This album is great, and even though its not my favorite; it will not disappoint you.  I mean everyone has an opinion, but I totally love all of these albums, and most of the others from the 80's. So definitely check this album and the rest of the Paul Chapman catalog out.

The Many Famous Guest Performers Of UFO

Throughout UFO's long career, many celebrities have come and go from the band.  Here is a list of some of the most recognizable.

Simon Wright(ACDC and Dio).

Billy Sheehan(Mr. Big, Winery Dogs).

Jason Bonham(more bands then any possible person would want to write).

Neil Carter(Gary Moore).

Bernie Marsden(Whitesnake).

Paul Gray(famed session artist).

Underrated Gem #13: Night Run

"Night Run" is another of my favorites from an era of UFO that was almost controversial.  I love this era, because the 1986 album Misdemeanor is great.  This song is one of the best songs from the album, and I really like it.  It is very keyboard heavy, but that was mainly because of the fact that its an 80's album.  I do happen to like the keyboards though when they were used appropriately.  I also like the opening riff on the guitar, because it makes the song very militant in a sense.  I also feel that a very important piece to this song, because they really blend to the song, and it makes it very uplifting.  I also love Tommy's solo, because while its flashy it fits so well to the song, and it really shows his great talent.  Even though this song will not be on list of top UFO songs, it is still great music.  It came from a different time, and a different point of UFO's creative vision.  It is a very good 80's song, and it is awesome.  So I recommend it to fans of UFO, and also to fans of music from the 80's.

Underrated gem #12: Lonely Heart

"Lonely Heart" is one if those songs that you end up liking so much more after you watch UFO play it.  The moment I knew this was a great song was when I saw Neil Carter play the sax solo in the middle of the song.  I loved watching the video for this song on YouTube, because it brought so much more energy to the song.  I already loved the song so much to begin with, but now it is one of my favorites.  It is such a light song, but it also has great energy.  The piano riff is so awesome(also from the brilliant Neil Carter), and the powerful guitar riff is so awesome.  It makes me feel like I'm running at a great speed.  Phil's vocals are amazing, he puts so much energy into his performance, and I love how the prechorus puts chills on you.  The chorus is amazing because the band's backup vocals fits so well to Phil's voice.  The guitar solo is amazing, because it is pretty simple, but it has so much emotion.  Neil's sax is amazing, because it fills the song's atmosphere to a completely different level.  It reminds me a little of the bagpipes on "It's A Long Way To The Top" by ACDC.  I definitely recommend this song to all UFO fans, because it is truly amazing.

Mechanix Album Review

5/5

The thing that I love about UFO is that they go out of their way to make the greatest possible albums they can make.  They don't just settle with making a mediocre crap rock album.  This is one of the albums that really show their dedication.  Released in February of 1982, and produced by Gary Lyons, UFO made one of their best albums ever.  It is such a diverse album, because some of the songs are brutal rockers like "The Writer", and some are heartfelt ballads like "Terri."  I love this album, because it shows the band's peak in the studio.  It is my new favorite studio album by the band, and that's quite a compliment because I've listened to 15 of the band's albums, and I love them all.  The credit for its greatness an be given to Phil's amazing vocals, Paul's amazing guitar, and Neil Carter's brilliance in everything music( especially his saxophone playing).  When you talk about a gem in music, this an ideal example.  

The album opens up with a very awesome rocker called "The Writer."  This song has a killer riff, and extremely aggressive vocals.  I also love Neil's keyboard and saxophone playing.  It was such an evolution for the band's music, and I really wish Neil would've stayed in the band a little longer( not to knock on the great Paul Raymond, because I love him being in the band too).  The next song is a cover of Eddie Cochran called "Something Else."  This song opens up with a great drum intro, and then it kicks into an extremely catchy song.  The next song "Back Into My Life" is a softer song, and it is so amazing.  It is the kind of song that immediately hooks you in.  Phil's vocals are so good, and the mellow riff from Paul Chapman is also really nice.  The next song "You'll Get Love" starts off with one of the coolest riffs of all time.  It is kind of a mix of a bop and Guns N' Roses( even though Guns N' Roses hadn't been heard of from the world until four years later).  It also has such great lyrics.  The next song "Doing It All For You" is great just like the rest of the album.  The next song on the album is my favorite, and it is called "We Belong To The Night."  I love the chugging riff to this song so much, because it gives off such a humongous amount of energy.  The lyrics/ vocals are so emotional, and they show a lot of passion.  Everything about this song is amazing, and I love to play it on guitar so much.  It is the definition of hard rock.  If you are going to check out one song on this album, then definitely listen to this.  The next song "Let It Rain" is the perfect follow up to the last song.  It is so uplifting, and it is amazing.  I love the effect of the opening riff, because it transitions so well from "We Belong To The Night."  Even though it is light, it also has so much backbone behind it, and it still makes me bang my head.  The chorus is also so amazing, because it has so much energy.  The next song is "Terri," and is one of my favorite ballads of all time.  I won't describe it too much since I did write a whole article on it.  The next song "Feel It" is such a catchy song, I really love the chorus a lot, and the riff is very cool.  The last song on the album "Dreaming" is so intense.  I love the lyrics to the chorus, because they fit so well to Phil's voice.  The whole vibe of the song is perfect, and it is a great album closer. 

I know that the classic era of UFO featured Michael Schenker, but the Paul Chapman albums( especially this one) are just as great.  I love this album so much, and it is really one of the best albums I have ever heard.  Definitely listen to this album, because it will give you a whole new appreciation of the greatest band ever; UFO.

Underrated Gem 11: Terri

When I first heard "Terri" on the album Mechanix, I thought to myself that it was one of the most beautiful vocal performances of all time.  Phil's voice in the chorus is so perfect.  It is like one of those things that you hear in your head, and then you actually see that it was a song and you're amazed.  I love how his voice fits so well with the chill worthy strings.  When the song's guitar riff kicks in, it gets so emotional, and his voice sounds even better.  Meanwhile, Paul Chapman puts some very tasteful licks in the verse, and then his guitar solo kicks butt.  It has such a controlled feeling, but he can still be a little crazy in a few moments.  This song is so much more than the normal ballad, because it breaks out of the normal formula that was famous in the 80's.  It captures so much raw beauty, and was written so well.  It is also extremely catchy, especially the chorus.  This song is one of my favorites of the album, and that's saying something because it is from one of my favorite rock albums ever.  I highly recommend it because it will leave you feeling so emotional.

No Place To Run Album Review

4.5/5

The year was 1980, and Michael Schenker had left his gig in UFO.  The guitarist that was destined to replace him was a veteran to the band named Paul Chapman.  With the help of Beatles producer George Martin; the band was able to make the classic album No Place To Run.  This album was a great start with the new lineup, and while it isn't perfect, it is still a great album that features some of my all time favorite UFO songs.  

The album begins with the synthesizer filled instrumental "Alpha Centauri."  This is probably the weakest track of the album, but it does make a cool intro just like the title track of Van Halen's album 1984.  It also transitions well into the next song "Lettin' Go."  One of my favorite songs on the album is the band's cover of "Mystery Train."   This song had been recorded by its original artist Junior Parker, and then it was famously covered by Elvis Presley.  The UFO version is my favorite though, because they really made the song their own.  It features fiery blues licks from Paul Chapman, and one of the best interpretations of the simple riff.  The acoustic intro is also amazing, and I have a feeling that it made many guitarists of the time extremely intimidated.  This has to be my favorite cover song of all time.  The next song "This Fire Burns Tonight" is a much more upbeat song, and it features a very cool riff.  "Gone In The Night" is a very neat song, but it isn't one of the more memorable songs of the album.  The next song "Young Blood" is another one of my favorites.  This song is so simple, because it is a three chord so with a very slow tempo, but it is so catchy at the same time.  It really has a Buddy Holly sound in my opinion, because it is a little rockabilly in a sense( mainly because of Phil's vocals).  The next song is the title track, and I love this song.  It is so dark, and the line "jungle land" has forever stuck in my head.  This song has a little bit of a Foreigner sound to it, and I think that UFO can really pull that sound off.  The next song on the album is a much softer song called "Take It Or Leave It."  I like this song because it gives a lighter twist to the album.   The song after this is called "Money Money."  This song is kind of like a story, because the line " Money, look what you've done to me" is telling what has happened to people that go downhill in show business.  I love the riff to this song because it is so mischievous but uplifting.  The last song on this great album is called "Anyday."  This song may be my favorite Paul Chapman era song, and it is definitely in my top 10 UFO songs.  My love for it is really because of Phil's dark vocal performance.  You can really hear that he is giving everything he has for this one song, because he has so much pain and emotion to each note.  Another part of this song that stands out is Paul Chapman's lead work.  It is some of the best solos I've ever heard, because the notes are so perfectly hit, and his tone is so flawless.  Pete Way's bass riff is also very important, because it is the majority of the song.  

As you can see, this album is pretty much great top to bottom.  It is just as good as most of the Schenker albums, and I really love it.  I think that every fan of classic rock should listen to this album, because it is more than a UFO album, it is a landmark in music.

Underrated Gem #10: Martian Landscape

"Martian Landscape" is definitely one of the most underrated UFO songs. It is so cool, because of its quirkiness, and it's awesome vocals from Phil Mogg.  It was released on the 1976 album No Heavy Petting.  It starts out with spacey keyboards from Danny Peyronel, and then it transitions into the mellow verse.  My favorite part of the song is the prechorus.  The reason why is that Phil's vocals are so amazing.  His tone is so flawless, and it is so catchy.  This part is also great because of Pete Way's bass playing.  It is so aggressive, and it makes you bang your head to the beat. The chorus is also great, because the chord changes on the guitar are perfect, and the atmosphere is so raw.  The whole thing is so out there(pun intended).  This makes it awesome because it shows that the band wasn't afraid to express themselves creatively.  Michael Schenker's guitar tone is so amazing, because it sounds like he is playing live in a huge arena.  It is so powerful, and the amount of reverb he picked is perfect on every level.  Andy Parker does a great job of keeping a catchy beat, and it is part of why there is such a great atmosphere.  I think that the keyboards by Danny Peyronel are great, because they bring a little bit of an Elton John feel when the song jumps into the prechorus.  This song is definitely something that any fan should be open to.  It is so cool, and it is definitely one of the band's most creative songs.  I hope you all check it out, because you'll be in for a treat.