Essentially UFO - UFO The Band

One of the first, and greatest, in my opinion, purveyors of the genre I refer to as Eurometal was the seminal band UFO. This group burst upon the scene in the early seventies after the British invasion played out and listeners were looking for groups who would expand upon the possibilities and ideas set up by bands like Led Zeppelin, who had, in retrospect, really "opened the door" leading from the '60's to the 70's.

Enter UFO, with their teenage whiz kid guitarist Michael Schenker--with his unique chops and the power vocals of frontman Phil Mogg, UFO quickly became one of the leading metal bands of the decade. Schenker left the band on a couple of occasions to play with his brother Rudolph in Scorpions, and he formed his own group, predictably called The Michael Schenker Group. In between departures, he returned to the UFO fold from time to time, until the band eventually broke up in the late '80's. Happily, the group reformed for a couple of albums in the '90's, and who knows, they may be sitting on a new release right now--I can only hope.

Essential UFO is a marvelous collection of tracks taken from their '70's albums--during this period UFO was really pumping out some fine music, and they achieved quite a following all across the world. Their brand of Eurometal was marked by pretty slick production work, but not at the expense of the raw, straight ahead sound that Schenker inspired with his guitar wizardry. I guess I'll go out on a limb and say this--arguably, Michael Schenker is one of the greatest guitar players in the world. His talents as a teenager were astounding, and if you've ever listened to any of his later work, you know that he's just gotten better with age.

Highlights Of The Collection

Doctor Doctor and Lights Out were UFO signature songs--I know because I saw them in concert in 1973 or so and these tunes were clearly crowd favorites. Shoot Shoot and Too Hot To Handle are typical driving, straight ahead UFO tunes which feature the ferocious guitar work of Michael Schenker. If you really want a good example of his work, check out Rock Bottom with its' relentless guitar riff and the sharp, edgy guitar solo.

UFO also excelled at the power ballad--Love To Love and Cherry are love songs with claws and teeth, a trademark of the Eurometal genre. UFO was a little cerebral too--Natural Thing is an adept social commentary on venereal disease, using power chords and a driving beat to emphasize the message. Let It Roll is an exceptional live track which captures a little of what this band was like in a live performance.

Only You Can Rock Me, Born To Lose, and This Kids are worthwhile listens just to get the feel of the style of music that UFO played--you can clearly see where later bands went with the musical style created by UFO.

This album contains sixteen solid tracks, and they don't sound dated, at least to me. I listen to the album often, simply because it's hard rock music done extremely well by a band that featured a guitar prodigy.

Isn't that reason enough for anyone to listen?