Showtime is really more for hard-core fans than casual ones. Phil Mogg's vocals were all right but not spectacular. He has a soulful, distinctive sound...and he makes a mistake. During "Lights Out", he accidentally inserts an extra chorus before the first official one! Clearly, UFO are a band whose best days are behind them and yet, they are still refreshing to listen to, compared to many of the more "hair" metal bands out there who still trying to hold to past glories built too much on fashion. There are no tracks from the '80s Paul Chapman era, which is too bad. Some of the standout tracks for me include "Love To Love" (as lovely a rock ballad as you'll ever hear), "Too Hot Too Handle," "Doctor Doctor" and "Rock Bottom"...classic hard rock, if there ever was such a thing.
If you want to know what UK hard rock was like after Led Zeppelin dominated the world, but before hair metal, etc., you owe to yourself to check out some of the seminal UFO albums. And if you have the bucks, get one of their concert DVDs. This DVD may not win you over if you're not familiar with their albums.
Rated 3/5
Article comments
1 - Tim Hall
Pity they've ignored the Paul Chapman years, that was an underrated era of UFO's history. Took Paul Chapman a while to emerge from Schenker's shadow, but some of those albums had some great songs.
2 - Bennett
Sorry, but for me UFO will always be Schenker and his Gibson Flying V, with the sound quality of Rock Bottom on the UFO live album "Strangers In The Night".
Those were great days indeed.
Excellent review!
3 - Guppusmaximus
I have always wanted to give them a try...
I know in Iron Maiden's Biography,"Run to the Hills" that UFO was mentioned as NWOBHM but Whitesnake is no where to be found. Not even at:
http://www.nwobhm.com/
Oh well, I think I will try some UFO cds first before I spend that much cake on a DVD...I just hope they don't sound like Whitesnake because they sucked major ass!!
4 - Tim Hall
The only times I got to see UFO live were when Chapman was in the band, at the 1980 Reading Festival, and two years later at the Hammersmith Odeon (a gig recorded for radio broadcast, and now available on CD). So the post-Schenker UFO is the one I remember :)
5 - Tim Hall
Reviewed here
6 - Triniman
I think Guppusmaximus comment is a fair one about Whitensnake...when I think of major NWOBHM bands, I tend to think about Maiden, Saxon, etc.
7 - Guppusmaximus
Definately, Man. But, Not to knock your article because I think Maiden mentions UFO as one of their influences and I appreciate you shining a light on some good stuff... Hell,I'm just a youngen and I remember liking some of MSG's hits, so, UFO has got to be better than that...Right??
8 - Triniman
MSG have some good material that I would classify as very commercial-sounding, particularly the albums with Robin McAuley on vocals...then again, some of their material is less commercial sounding and more muscular, straight-ahead.
Whether you end up prefering UFO to MSG or vice versa is matter of your own taste. I like both bands.
9 - Rob
I loved these guys in high school and 25 years later, I still enjoy the music. They really were a great hard-rocking band. Songs like "Rock Bottom", "Mother Mary", "Lights Out" and "Love to Love", especially the live versions on "Strangers in the Night", still stand the test of time. I was lucky enough to receive a DVD of a concert UFO performed in the later 70s somewhere in Germany. The sound and video quality's not the best, but it's great to see the band performing the classics back then.
10 - Billy Bob
I like UFO real well. Neil Young does a great job on lead guitar,and Dr Dre is a standout on vocals. Highly recommend!
11 - -E
My only real disappointment with this DVD is Pete Way... was he FUBAR or what?