Thrifty Tunes: 08.01.09: UFO - Mechanix
Posted by Paul Hollingsworth on 08.01.2009
Kirk Hammett, Steve Harris & Mike McCready all claim UFO as a strong musical influence. Exactly how do you get from "Let It Rain" to "Jeremy" or even to "Master of Puppets" or "Powerslave"? UFO's tenth studio album gets a fresh spin in this week's Thrifty Tunes.
If there's one genre of music I know better than most it's the hair/pop metal of the 1980's. From the so-called second British Invasion of bands like Def Leppard , Iron Maiden and Judas Priest to the Sunset Strip bands like Motley Crue and Ratt , there's not much about the genre or the scene that I thought I was unfamiliar with. On occasion, however, I come across a band of the era I've never heard, or at least don't remember, which happened very recently with the band UFO . The only time I can recall even hearing about the band was a brief mention radio and television metal evangelist Eddie Trunk made about the band on some show or the other. (Speaking of Mr. Trunk, one of my dream jobs is basically his job. Call me, Eddie, I work cheap.) During a recent trip to the world-famous Jacksonville Flea Market, centrally located in the middle of nowhere, I came across a handful of UFO records. Eddie claimed, from what I could remember, that the band had some of the best songs ever written in the history of rock and roll. I'm always open to new (to me) music, so I picked up a handful of the albums and brought them home. This first one I played was Mechanix , just because the cover was very un-metal like, and had a sort of 60-ish Soviet flair.
Apparently, the UFO Eddie was talking about wasn't this version of the band. (Or at least, I hope not.) The album opens with "The Writer,' which opens with an interesting enough riff, but the lyrics, sung very Sammy Haggar -like hardly reach 'greatest of all time' status. The chorus is 'I am a writer and I am the news/If you cross me you know you're gonna lose' Really? I'm afraid that's nowhere near Lennon-McCartney . (And by Lennon-McCartney, I mean Sean Lennon and Linda McCartney.) The annoying keyboard and synthesizer in the background don't help matters either. "Something Else", which follows, is just as underwhelming. When you've heard something good about a band, sometimes you build them up so much in your head that there's no way they can be as good as they are in your head. Sometimes, though, what you've heard is just plain wrong.
"Back Into My Life," which was a minor hit for the band back in 1982, fares a bit better. It sounds like a cross between a Bruce Springsteen Nebraska-era ballad and a Journeytune. It's not as terrible as what has come before, but it's certainly not a timeless classic. "You'll Get Love" has one of the better riffs of the album and lead singer Phil Mogg sounds more like David Coverdale than Sammy Haggar , which depending on your point of view, may be considered an improvement. "Doing It All For You," which closes the first side of the album, opens with another nice riff, but much too quickly descends into mind-numbing mediocrity. Even given the fact that the album was released in 1982, the song sounds incredibly dated, not so much tied to its era as hamstrung by it There is a rather nice and lengthy guitar solo over the last minute or so, and I can almost see why the band has it's famous fans. (More on that later.)
Side two opens with "We Belong To The Night", which sounds a bit like early Crue or Hanoi Rocks . It's very aggressive, almost punk-like in its simplicity, but with some nice harmonies and a hooky, sing-along chorus. Even with the unnecessary addition of a whining synthesizer toward the end, it's by far the strongest song on the album yet. "Let It Rain", the inevitable second-side ballad, again borrows a bit from Journey but with a much harder edge. (Except for the chorus, which is painfully bad and repeated way too many times until a 'thank you gods' fadeout.) "Terri" is another ballad, but in a much more accessible style. This is the blueprint for all the 'power' and 'monster' ballads which would dominate the later part of the decade. (Even more so than "Home Sweet Home", which often gets that credit, or blame, depending on your point of view.) The final two songs, "Feel It" and "Dreaming" sound more like the first side of the album, and never do anything interesting or unexpected.
Michael Schenker , one of the founding members of The Scorpions , was the lead guitarist on the band's early albums, and it is those albums (Phenomenon and Force It , in particular) which are considered the band's most influential. I've not run across those yet, but I have been looking, because underneath the dated production and (mostly) uninteresting lyrics, there is something to this band, something which I don't think this record captures at all. Schenker, by the way, is one of the more interesting figures in rock. He formed The Scorpions with his older brother Rudolf , joined UFO under interesting circumstances, and after leaving UFO, had his own band, MSG, which released two of the better albums in the genre. (1987's Perfect Timing and 1989's Save Yourself .)
Complete Track Listing: (1982 on Chrysalis Records)
Side One:
1. The Writer
2. Something Else
3. Back Into My Life
4. You'll Get Love
5. Doing It All For You
Side Two:
1. We Belong To The Night
2. Let It Rain
3. Terri
4. Feel It
5. Dreaming
UFO still tour and release new material (The Visitor came out this past June.) Schenker is sometimes involved and sometimes not, although Mogg, along with bassist Pete Way and drummer Andy Parker have remained with the band throughout it's entire run. I don't think this album shows the band at its best, and the production leaves alot to be desired. Is there a better representation of their work? Is it, as is often the case, the first two or three records that gave the band it's reputation? Let me know in the comments, because, as I said, I feel like there is something to this band, even if this record isn't it at all.
By the time you listened to UFO their very best was gone. But in many countries they had been huge particularly Japan and Europe.
Their album Strangers in the Night taped live in Chicago is regarded by many as one of the best live albums of all time. It is an essential part of my record collection. The tracks featured on there come from Phenomenon, Lights Out, Force it and Obsession. These are all great albums, hard to have a favourite as they demonstrate a maturing in their musica style.
Schenker quite simply an awesome guitarist and to this day brilliant. (or awful if hes drinking!!)
They sold big numbers of records in USA, you must have been in a drug induced coma to have missed them.
Posted By: Duncan Spokes (Guest) on August 01, 2009 at 02:19 PM
They sold big numbers of records in USA, you must have been in a drug induced coma to have missed them.
Posted By: Duncan Spokes (Guest) on August 01, 2009 at 02:19 PM
No. They had their time in the late 70s, and were one of a seemingly endless stream of great bands that were quickly forgotten. They came before the prominence of hard rock and laid the foundation, but never really made it to the mainstream. Most people don't remember the band.
Posted By: Sly Reference (Guest) on August 02, 2009 at 08:58 AM
Paul, for a UFO primer, check out the following:
Live album - Strangers In The Night (considered to be one of THE classic live albums from the 70s)
Studio albums - Phenomenon, Lights Out and any of the other material from the mid 70s.
Oddly enough, UFO started out BEFORE those as a space rock outfit before adding Schenker and segueing to the material they became best known for.
By going to Mechanix, you've bypassed any and all classic material and picked up on their downside.
UFO is up there with Thin Lizzy as one of the most underrated rock bands of all time and there is a reason Kirk, Harris, etc. were so high on them
Posted By: Lights Out (Guest) on August 03, 2009 at 03:08 PM
