Ufo

The Best of UFO is a 16-track compilation covering most of the band's biggest hits and most enduring tunes, duplicating some (but not all) of 1992's Essential UFO. While it's debatable whether a new best-of was needed, since Essential did its job pretty well, there's no denying that this is a very good collection in its own right, and a perfect starting point.

Unfortunately, this concert album is often overlooked when discussions of the great live rock albums of the '70s arise. UFO's Strangers in the Night deserves to be right up there with Kiss' Alive! and Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous, based on the excitement the group and its audience generate and due to the quality of the hard rock compositions. This is a band at its peak, with its prime lineup (led by German guitar-monger Michael Schenker) and all of its best songs.

Without question, this is a classic by one of the most exciting new authors in the UFO field today. After reading it, your view of reality will never be the same. The owl has held a place of reverence and mystique throughout history. And as strange as this might seem, owls are also showing up in conjunction with the UFO experience.

Most of the reviews for this record tend to point out the supposed mediocrity of the post- Michael Schenker years for UFO. I feel this is both inaccurate and irresponsible. Schenker is a legend no doubt, but he was one fifth (or fourth, before 1976)of the band when he left after 1978. The most important part of the band, the Mogg/Way song writing partnership, was still intact. Paul Chapman proved to be more than capable of continuing the honored UFO traditon of potent lead guitar.

With the defection of guitarist Paul Chapman, drummer Andy Parker and keyboardist Neil Carter, Phil Mogg kept UFO flying during the mid-'80s with the release of Misdemeanor. The veteran front man held down the vocals as the revamped UFO line-up included six string shredder "Atomic" Tommy McClendon, plus bassist Paul Gray, drummer Jim Simpson, and long time mate Paul Raymond back on keyboards. Phil Mogg's ability to pen gripping lyrics is on display once again as the collection of ten cuts are worthy of the UFO name, yet fail to match the intesity of previous UFO recordings when Pete Way and Michael Schenker teamed with Mogg in the high flyer ranks.