REVIEWS

Again this is an interactive page and I would like you to e-mail your reviews, doesn't matter what it is as long as it is UFO related. This could be old albums, shows you have attended or even your criticisms of any reviews I post on this page.

Ghost
 .....ARTIST - Paul Chapman's Ghost..........................
... .Cat No. ZCRCD70

.....MY RATING **** ...............

 ...Paul Chapman - Guitar
...Dale Russel - Drums
...Tony Harrison - Keyboards & Vocals
...Ned Meloni - Bass
...Carl Sentence - Vocals

 

If your into Waysted, Tyketto or melodic rock in general, then your going to love this CD. well no surprise there then. I guess IM preaching to the converted anyway. What I do love about this is the total difference to the demo's which have been doing the trading circuit for some time , This has a polished production with layered interchanging harmony's, this is highlighted on the track Yes man.  The power ballad follow your heart reminds me of Black n Blue from save your prayers, and mystery reminds me of Styx in their pomp. If you haven't got this already go and buy it now! its well worth it.

Regenerator live 1982
 .....ARTIST - UFO
... .Cat No. - ZCRCD75

.....MY RATING **** ...............
...Phil Mogg - Vocals
...Pete Way - Bass
...Andy Parker - Drums
...Paul Chapman - Guitar
...Neil Carter - Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals

 

This was the first Ufo bootleg I ever got and is very close to my heart because of that. If you go down to Cambden Market this is the only Ufo boot that they will stock such is the availability and enthusiasm for this recording. That said I would Buy an Official release of any of the concerts ufo performed and recorded, officially or not. The Bonus track is the carrot here, Lights out, but from where? My hope is that this could be a trend rather like the Deep Purple releases of full Soundboard concerts. There is enough out there, and can I suggest both the Record Plant recordings and the soundboard recording from Palo Alto in 1998 for starters.

Only Ufo Can Rock Me
 .....ARTIST - Various............................
... .Cat No. ?

.....MY RATING ***..............
Artists:
Lea Hart. Nicky Moore, Bernie Shaw, Paul Di'Anno, Steve Overland, Steve Grimmett, Doogie White, Mick White, with musical backing from Pete Jupp, Bob Skeat, Phil Campbell, Cliff Evans, Ray Callcut, Ian Nash & Bernie Torme.

 

Track Listing:
1. Long Gone 2. We Belong To The Night 3. Only You Can Rock Me 4. Too Hot To Handle 5. Love To Love 6. Shoot Shoot 7. Doctor Doctor 8. Natural Thing 9. Let It Roll 10. Lights Out 11. Let It Rain 12. Rock Bottom

Review from melodicrock.com
This UFO tribute is thanks to one of the other gang doing a few tributes - the ones headed by ex-Fastway vocalist Lea Hart. Their previous efforts include tributes to Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy. Good ones too. Featured on those tributes and here again is Nicky Moore, Bernie Shaw, Lea Hart, Paul Di'Anno, Steve Overland, Steve Grimmett, Doogie White, Mick White, with musical backing from Pete Jupp, Bob Skeat, Phil Campbell, Cliff Evans, Ray Callcut, Ian Nash & Buernie Torme. So what have they done with UFO? Rocked it up big time of course! This is more for die-hard followers of a band than even most tributes out there. As with the last 2 tribute albums the guys did, this is very well produced and has a big hard rocking sound. This tribute is cool enough and will no doubt be picked up by fans of the band and some fans of the singers involved and has most of the energy it should. A couple of tracks don't do it for me, and a couple of vocal performances, like Light Out for example, left me cold. Maybe that's because I am not a long time fan of the band, more a recent convert. BOTTOM LINE: Another fan only affair. But a well producer and hard rocking one. UFO are a more European cult act, rather than Poison and Bon Jovi tribute for a US audience. So I suggest it might suit the European audiences better, plus those die hard UFO fans and collectors.
PRODUCTION: 90% SONGS: 80% VIBE: 75% ATTITUDE: 85% ESSENTIAL FOR: Die hard UFO fans and collectors.

 

YOUR PRAYERS ARE SAVED
 .....ARTIST - WAYSTED............................
... .Cat No. N/A

.....MY RATING ***** ...............

....Danny Vaughn - vocals
....Paul Chapman - guitar
....Pete Way - bass
....John Dee - drums

.....Release Date: JAN 2001

 


No surprise I gave this five stars, Save Your Prayers is brilliant in what ever form it takes and with this you have the added bonus of three extra tracks. Tracks 1 to10 are the Save your prayers album and I've already reviewed this earlier but just to highlight 3 glorious tracks Walls Fall down, Black & Blue and How the west was won. They just rock and to me have never dated, I still regularly play these tracks even today. Tracks12 & 13 come from recordings of the UK Birmingham 1983 gig but most avid fans will have this already on a bootleg of some description. No the real added gem is the last track Bells of Berlin part II, if anybody doubts tonka credentials as a true guitar hero have a listen to this! those of you who like a little progressive rock in the vain of Dream Theater will be very pleased.


AMPHETAMINE
 .....ARTIST - Pete Way.............................
... .Cat No. ZCRCD38

.....MY RATING ***** ...............

....Pete Way - vocals - bass
....Walt James - guitar
....Scott Phillips - drums

.....Release Date: 7/7/2000

 

What the... hell is this!!! what a complete surprise and im still not a hundred percent sure what to make of it. Actually the Classic rock magazines review was almost on the mark. They must have listened to it. This is hard, fast and from the same mold as motorhead, the metal Cockney Rejects and I think a little Johnny Thunders sleaze as well. The only disagreement I would have with their assessment is about the production. It isn't that bad, have a listen to motorhead (the LP) Machine Gun Etiquette (The Damned) both classics with a limited production budget, enough said.
As you know Pete adds the vocals on this and first impression is "couldn't they have found Fin a bit sooner" but play it, live with it for some time and they grow. The lyrics, well im not sure if they are a glorification a warning or just tongue in cheek, who really cares, hay this is rock n roll and Pete has always been my favorite Ufo'er.

 

COVENANT
 .....ARTIST - Ufo.............................
.....Cat No. SH1142 2

.....MY RATING ***** .

....Phil mogg - vocals
....Michael Schenker - guitar
....Pete Way - bass
....Aynsley Dunbar - drums

.....Release Date: 25/7/2000

 

I was waiting by the door for the postman to deliver this and I was apprehensive whilst I put it into my cd player. "Please don't let this be like chocolate box I thought to myself, well five minutes later and into the second track I knew that it wasn't. And now after several plays I can confirm Ufo have made another really good album. Its not Lights Out, Obsession or Force it, but in a world of diminishing returns this is as good as we are going to get.
Chocolate Box for me was very one paced, whilst Covenant has light and shade with some real crafted songs, songs that are immediate and will only need a couple of listens to be comfortable with.
I read a review in a mail order catalogue which said that Michael carried this album, I couldn't go that far but he has certainly regained some brownie points in my eyes. Schenker is one of those few guitarist's that when you hear them you know who it is, and this is some of his best work since the Walk on water album, carefully layered melodies and then a blistering solo attack by our mad axeman, Great!!!
Three stand out songs for me are "love is forever" - "Miss the lights" and " serenade" but please don't think this is a three song album with fillers because its far from that.
What now, Ufo have come up with the album, the tour dates are immanent, will he or wont he?

PS Martin Barre may want a writing credit for "Unravelled"

 

You wont get out alive
 .....ARTIST - Waysted.......................
.... Cat No. ZCRCD24

.....MY RATING ***** ...............

....Fin More- vocals
....Paul Chapman - guitar
....Pete Way - bass
....Andy Parker - drums

Life seems to bring lots of disappointments, and the demise of Waysted before their sell by date ran out is one of them. Waysted must be one of the most underrated bands ever to be involved in the hard rock scene, who ever the line up included. I'm not sure if this was ever intended for release, but I am very glad it was. Recorded at St Davids Hall, Cardiff on the 7/10/84 as support to Iron Maiden it is an admirable performance of hard rock played as God (Pete Way) intended. You wont get out alive hits you straight in the face as the opener and you know fall well your going to be entertained to the very end.

 

Riding High
 .....ARTIST - Lone Star.......................
.... Cat No. ZCRCD25

.....MY RATING ***** ...............

....John Sloman - vocals
....Paul Chapman - guitar
....Pete Hurley - bass
....Dixe Lee - drums
....Rick Worsnop - Bass

.....Release Date: 2000

I had known about the existence of this for about a year when a mutual friend of Paul Chapmans told me he had a copy, however I couldn't get him to trade and have had to wait until now to hear it. The main interest in this album for a UFO fan is the parts of this session which made it onto "No Place To Run" and "The Wild The Willing and the Innocent" albums. I am not going to spoil it for you and tell you where they are, you will have to buy a copy and find out for yourself. Some parts stand out a mile and others you will have to work for, but for me that was the fun, your very own pop quiz.

Right now to the album, this would have been the third album release probably in 1978 and is no great change from the first two. To me there is a funny mix of styles from Uriah Heep type boogie "One for the money" to a more progressive feel. "Can I live the night" would fit very nicely on a Stranglers album, with that thumping base line and Greenway esc keyboards. "Painted face" is my favorite track and reminds me of the start, lines and noses gave to knocking on heavens door at the Freddey Mercury concert.

 

Wilderness of mirrors
 .....ARTIST - Waysted.......................
.... Cat No. ZCRCD28

.....MY RATING ***** ...............

....Danny Vaughn - vocals
....Paul Chapman - guitar
....Pete Way - bass
....John Dee - drums

.....Release Date: 2000

OK yes I am very biased "Save Your Prayer's" for me was the best of the Waysted albums with the other three not that far behind. It had the great songwriting adding melody to the hardness of the previous albums.i am sure this is a direction Pete would have liked UFO to have gone in .
As you probably know WOM are the original demos(1985) of SYP'S with new guitar parts added by Paul Chapman in September 1999. There is also an extra track in "Fortunate Son" which fits very nicely thank you into the set. Also included is one of waysteds heaviest tracks "Fire under the wheels" which was first released on the B side of the "Heaven Tonight" single.
WOM being a demo lacks the polish of SYP'S but dont let this distract you, with songs this good they shine whatever state they are in, it still remains a mystery to me why SYP'S never shot Waysted into the big league. Pauls playing is superb, and he hasn't over done the widley widley, just enough in just the right places. If you dont own a copy of either of these two albums rectify the situation soon.

 

Chocolate Box
 .....ARTIST - Mogg/Way..............................
.... Cat No. SH11 272

.....MY RATING ***** ..

....Phil mogg - vocals
....Jeff Kollman- guitar
....Pete Way - bass
....Simon Wright - drums
....Paul Raymond - Keyboards

....Released 1999

My first impression of this CD was very disappointing and to be honest it hasn't got much better over the months since its release. Stand out tracks for me are the first track "Muddy's Gold" and the last track "Sparkling Wine" here at least is something you can get your tonsils around and have that catchy hook that is allied of great UFO songs of old. I'm not going to dwell to long on this, we have all had bad days at the office.

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