UFO Best of a Decade

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by Joe Mis
Staff Writer

The legendary UFO has landed again. Picking and choosing their best tracks – both studio and live – from the last few years of their existence, UFO remains a force to be reckoned with…

With roots dating back to the London club scene in the late 1960s, UFO has remained a consistently solid band despite numerous shakeups and personnel changes. Today’s new UFO music is just as powerful as their decades-old music – somehow the band has managed to evolve their sound without losing their unique style. 2010’s UFO tracks are just as “UFO” as 1973’s. Even though the peak of their popularity was during the Michael Schenker years of the mid to late 1970s, founding member and vocalist Phil Mogg has consistently pushed UFO along. Now well-known American guitarist Vinnie Moore slings the ax for UFO, along with long time member Paul Raymond and original drummer Andy Parker, giving UFO one of their strongest lineups ever.

Phil Mogg hasn’t lost a step – his voice is just as solid now as it was way back when, and his songwriting skills are just a good. Focusing his lyrics through the old school rock lens, he still somehow manages to make the tired old trio of sex-drugs-rock’n’roll seem fresh and relevant. Guitar master and primary music writer Vinnie Moore proves he is still one of the best in the business, laying down the traditional heavy UFO groves and overlaying them with his trademark classically tinged solos. Andy Parker continues to impress as the backbone of the rhythm section, working well with the uncredited bass player (presumably veteran UFO’er and Waysted’s Pete Way). Paul Raymond does his usual fine job with the keyboards and guitars. As always, UFO’s musicianship is top notch.

The Best Of A Decade is a 16-track release of 10 studio songs and 6 live “classics”. However, the album title is deceptive as the songs chosen are all from the Vinnie Moore era dating from 2004 to the present, and ignores the other albums released in the early 2000s. All the in-studio tracks are from the following releases: You Are Here (2004), The Monkey Puzzle (2006) and The Visitor (2009), so perhaps “Best Of A Half Decade”, or maybe “Best Of The Last 3 CDs” would be better titles.

The mix of songs chosen is definitely a good one, illustrating the breadth of styles UFO puts out, from the bluesy, kicky “Hard Being Me” to the lower key blues track “Saving Me” to the soft acoustic guitar driven “Baby Blue” and brutally pounding “Heavenly Body.” Engineering and production values are very good and the band brings a good deal of warmth and spirit to the studio tracks. However, for some inexplicable reason they have chosen to mix the live tracks in with the studio ones, making for some jarring transitions and real disconnects from track to track.

The live tracks are all rightly considered classics, but don’t seem to be the band’s best performances, with a sluggish and muddy sounding “Lights Out” and a dragging “Let It Roll” sounding downright unenthusiastic – maybe it is just the lack of Michael Schenker’s guitar. The other live tracks are all quite good, with especially rousing versions of “Too Hot To Handle” and “This Kids” leading the way. So you have 10 new tracks and 6 old live recordings – any listener would wonder if there is a reason that there were no live versions of any newer songs.

Best of A Decade drops on Sept. 28 in North America. If you’re a fan of UFO, don’t miss it, but then again if you ARE a fan of UFO you probably already have the three albums covered. Makes the whole thing pointless unless you really really REALLY want those six live tracks. If you’ve missed the last few albums, by all means pick it up for a look at the Vinnie Moore era, but there is no other compelling reason to buy this one. Wait for their next studio disc or full live release.

Genre: Hard Rock

Band:
Phil Mogg (vocals)
Paul Raymond (guitar, keyboards)
Andy Parker (drums)
Vinnie Moore (guitars)
Uncredited, but most bass by Pete Way

Track Listing:
1. The Wild One
2. Hard Being Me
3. Lights Out (live)
4. Saving Me
5. Daylight Goes To Town
6. Let It Roll (live)
7. This Kids (live)
8. Heavenly Body
9. Hell Driver
10. Too Hot To Handle (live)
11. Mr. Freeze
12. Shoot Shoot (live)
13. Black And Blue
14. Can’t Buy A Thrill
15. Baby Blue
16. Doctor Doctor (live)

Label: SPV/Steamhammer

Website: http://www.ufo-music.info/band.htm

Hardrock Haven rating: 6/10