Micheal Schenker is synonymous with ‘guitar hero.’ Schenker began his career alongside his brother Rudolph Schenker in Scorpions. He later departed to join U.K. rockers UFO, where Schenker gained notoriety. The relationship with frontman Phil Mogg was volatile, but it worked for a string of albums before Schenker exited the band. Schenker made a cameo on another Scorpions album, ‘Lovedrive’ before venturing out on his own with the Michael Schenker Group.
On his latest album ‘My Years In UFO’ Schenker is revisiting the classic years from his tenure with UFO. You can easily say that the music for his tenure is the band’s ‘glory years.’ That era produced UFO and then MSG set staples like; “Doctor Doctor,” “Rock Bottom,” “Only You Can Rock Me,” “Natural Thing,” “Love To Love,” “Lights Out,” “Too Hot To Handle,” and “Shoot Shoot.”
For ‘My Years In UFO’ Schenker is joined by a cast of characters, with the core band that includes keyboardist Derek Sherinian, drummer Brian Tichy, and bassist Barry Sparks. There’s an impressive lineup of guest star vocalists and fellow six stringers including; Axl Rose, Kai Hansen, Roger Glover, SLASH, John Norum, Joey Tempest, Biff Byford, Joe Lynn Turner, Jeff Scott Soto, Dee Snider, Stephen Pearcy and more. My Years With UFO is a tricky move from Schenker as he’s coming off a string of fine studio efforts, a recording like this is a momentum buster. Schenker has also been a part of a ‘Heavy Hitters’ album series by Cleopatra Records. These ‘covers compilations’ are a mixed bag, mostly uninspired and bland. Schenker covered some UFO for the bonus tracks on ‘Heavy Hitters’ and again on ‘another’ Cleopatra Records album titled ‘An Ultimate Tribute To UFO.’ It’s a hard task to improve on a classic, ‘My Years With UFO’ is no different. I’m sure the star power featured within will draw some interest, to help sell or stream the back catalog.
My Years In UFO has a handful of good moments. Joe Lynn Turner shines on “Doctor, Doctor” and “Too Hot To Handle” brings his distinct signature vocal to the classics. Jeff Scott Soto brings the fire power on “Lights Out” and Europe’s Joey Tempest does his best to channel an impersonation of the great Phil Mogg on “Only You Can Rock Me.’ As I listened to these recordings, one thing is for certain Phil Mogg was an adequate singer, nothing outstanding in the vocal department; however, the delivery and attitude of the performance, along with his lyrical genius, more than made up for what he lacked in vocal ability. ‘My Years In UFO’ is worth listening to at least once if not twice for the curious, and of course the completists will buy it. The album will then get tucked away in the Schenker or UFO collection and stay there, collecting dust and falling into obscurity.
This album goes to 7/11
Tracklisting
01. Natural Thing (feat. Dee Snider and Joel Hoekstra) 02. Only You Can Rock Me (feat. Joey Tempest and Roger Glover) 03. Doctor, Doctor (feat. Joe Lynn Turner and Carmine Appice) 04. Mother Mary (feat. Slash and Erik Grönwall) 05. This Kids (feat. Biff Byford) 06. Love To Love (feat. Axl Rose) 07. Lights Out (feat. Jeff Scott Soto and John Norum) 08. Rock Bottom (feat. Kai Hansen) 09. Too Hot To Handle (feat. Joe Lynn Turner, Adrian Vandenberg and Carmine Appice) 10. Let It Roll (feat. Michael Voss) 11. Shoot, Shoot (feat. Stephen Pearcy)
