England’s U.F.O by 1983 was in shambles! Years of hard touring caught up with these guys and the wheels came off the UFO Tour Bus! Pete Way(Bassist) had split and was replaced by Paul Gray. Whereas Phil Mogg(vocals) Paul Chapman(guitar) Neil Carter(Keyboards and Guitar) Andy Parker(drums) sauntered on and were still doing decent business in the U.K and Europe but had fizzled out in North America as UFO was on its last legs!
Making Contact was the final album for a while (like others UFO did reform/disband/reform) but here is UFO in shining glory and I will tell you all now that they are on Fucking Fire here!
One listen to this album and if you think there splitting up would be happening shortly after this guess again this ain’t Slop Rock it’s indeed Classic Rock!
1 We Belong To The Night 4:19
2 Let It Rain 3:06
3 Couldn’t Get It Right 4:41
4 Electric Phase 2:59
5 Doing It All For You 5:50
6 Long Gone 4:55
7 Chains Chains 2:51
8 Lonely Heart 5:06
9 Blinded By A Lie 4:07
10 No Place To Run 5:50
11 Mystery Train
Recorded on 15th April 1983 at Hammersmith Odeon, London
The video that I posted is the song Blinded By A Lie a track from the Making Contact album but here this Bad Boy Smokes Big Time. This tune has all the ingredients of Classic UFO…(watch the video closely as you can see one pic that has Billy Sheehan on Bass as he was hired for the Farewell Tour later in 1983)
Let’s Diagnose this track shall we??!
Chapman powers up some decent rock guitar whereas Mogg always tell the tale of lost love usually with a smack to the forehead! “Blinded” especially during the pre chorus builds and you see how Neil Carter deployed the use of Keyboards properly as they are added in the background as a texture not shoved down your ear lobes like Jon Cain does in Journey. UFO does it with class with an added rock tequila shot and a boot in the ass!
As for a bonus. 3 songs are featured from the often misunderstood but classic (to me) Mechanix album(We Belong To The Night/Let it Rain and Doing It All For You) which is more value added to your well spent buck!
Tons of live UFO albums out their but this one has a killer classic bunch of tunes I mean there are 100s of UFO live albums that have Doctor Doctor on them so it being left off of here is no biggie…
Seek this one out…..
deKe's Vinyl Reviews & More... 
Good to see a bit of a different setlist too, rather than all the big old classics again.
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Agreed! Thats whats cool about this set list. Whoever put it together must have known Doctor Doctor was on the other 25 live UFO albums…
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Had this sitting in my Amazon wishlist for ages! Could never quite bring myself to buy it… I’m going to have to now!
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Get it! HAHAHA…..love those Chapman records maybe even a smidge more than the Schenker era and thats just cause i had discovered UFO after he was gone…
Still though love the the first 3 MSG albums and Budokan…man I gotta review Budokan….So good!
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I was always more of a Schenker guy but I’ve been catching up with the Chapman stuff and I like it more than ever. I’ve only got stuff up to Mechanix and then a big gap until Walk on Water so I’ve got a few studio albums to catch up with too. Making Contact and stuff like that.
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Basically I got into UFO after Schenker was gone and Chapman was in. For me though I thought Mechanix and Making Contact were pretty solid records especially Mechanix. Can’t believe that record didn’t take off in North America….but man I dig that one!
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A good era of the band for me – in spite of the apparent chaos!
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True! Sometimes Chaos can add to some decent albums as well. Surprised they could even function! hahaha….
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They did a Radio 1 in concert around that period I recall which I taped off the radio at the time and played loads
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UFO especially here in Canada records were always available in our city but reading about them in North American press was very little..
Had to hunt around for Kerrang back than to read the scoop!
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Deke, Next time someone asks me, how can you make keyboards sound good in Rock? I shall reply, do it “with class with an added rock tequila shot and a boot in the ass!”
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I read this at work Geoff and howled! Man thanks for noticing that…..Hahahaha
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It was such a perfect description Deke – making keyboards ‘rock’ is a tricky balance, I thought your formula was the ideal solution!
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Thanks…I know Rush had a few albums in the 80s where the keys triumphed over guitars like Hold Your Fire even Power Windows but on PW they would save face when come Lifesons solo time they would scale back and go into a simple guitar/bass/ drum to keep Young Deke’s amused! Big Money is the perfect example!
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A band I really need to pay more attention to! In fact, I actually have three albums here (Force It, Lights Out, and Phenomenon) that I don’t even think I’ve listened to!
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J spin them and review them! Great album covers as well these guys had!
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… certainly some striking album covers!!
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I WANT TO BELIEVE.
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Anothe rband on my list of “Bands Others Talk About That I Need To Get To To See What The Fuss Is About (BOTATINTGTTSWTFIS). That acronym just hurts, doesn’t it.
Still, this one sounds like a corker. And no Doctor Doctor means I wouldn’t be waiting for Iron Maiden…
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Sorry, correction: BOTATINTGTTSWTFIA.
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