Published on Apr 28, 1998
Maybe the old saying is true: Love’s more comfortable the second
time around.
Back in the mid ’70s, UFO was one of the premier hard rock bands
to come storming out of England. The classic lineup of lead singer
Phil Mogg, lead guitarist Michael Schenker, bassist Pete Way,
drummer Andy Parker and keyboardist Paul Raymond achieved
immortality with their album
Lights Out, and released what some consider the ultimate
live album,
Strangers In The Night. But the band splintered apart after
Schenker departed for a solo career, and while UFO pressed on for
some time, the magic was gone.
Now, the “classic” lineup has reunited on their latest release
Walk On Water – and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say
that UFO never sounded better.
The leadoff single “Venus” is proof that these guys still have
the creative fire that powered songs like “Too Hot To Handle” and
“Love To Love” back in the ’70s. Schenker’s guitar playing always
has amazed me, and he possibly is at the top of his game on this
song. Mogg’s vocals haven’t lost any of their edge, while Way and
Parker’s sound is incredibly crisp (thanks, in part, to the
production hand of Ron Nevison). Raymond’s keyboards and rhythm
guitar are the final ingredient that make this mix work as well as
it does.
Cuts like “A Self Made Man,” “Pushed To The Limit” and “Knock,
Knock” might throw longtime UFO fans for a surprising loop – with
the exception that the production quality of these songs is far
superior, they might think that these are just leftovers from
albums like
Force It or
Lights Out. No, no – these are freshly recorded, and are
amazingly powerful. This is good for a band that, in 1977, didn’t
know which category they’d fit in – are they metal, hard rock or
AOR? Nowadays, any of the cuts on
Walk On Water would nicely fit onto the rock radio
format.
The only drawback to this album is it’s occasionally easy to get
lost in the album – tracks like “Darker Days” and “Running On
Empty,” while good, tend to blend together, and it’s hard to keep
the tracks separate in one’s mind. And while I can appreciate the
fact that the band wants to tie the present to the past by
re-recording their hits “Doctor, Doctor” and “Lights Out,” I wonder
why they’d want to tamper with a good thing.
And, of course, the ultimate question is whether UFO will be
able to keep the internal squabbles down and maintain their classic
lineup for many albums to come. Time will only provide this answer,
but if future releases are anything like
Walk On Water, I hope they have negotiated a long truce. (I
also hope they continue to use Nevison as a producer; he’s the
perfect selection for this band.)
Walk On Water has material that will please both the
long-time and
nouveau UFO fan, and is definitely my pick (so far) for
“Comeback Of The Year”.