UFO (band)

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UFO
UFO at the Hamburg Harley Days 2015
UFO at the Hamburg Harley Days 2015
General information
Genre (s) Hard rock
founding 1969, 1984, 1992
resolution 1983, 1989
Website ufo-music.info
Current occupation
Phil Mogg
Vinnie Moore (since 2004)
Andy Parker (1969–1983, 1988–1989, 1993–1995, since 2005)
Neil Carter (1980–1983, since 2019)
bass
 Rob De Luca (2009 tour, since 2012)
former members
guitar
 Mick Bolton (1969–1972)
guitar
 Larry Wallis (1972)
guitar
 Bernie Marsden (1973)
guitar
 Michael Schenker (1973–1978, 1993–2002)
guitar
 Paul Chapman † (1974–1975, 1977, 1978–1983)
guitar
 Atomik Tommy M (1984-1986)
guitar
 Mike Gray (1987)
guitar
 Rik Sandford (1988)
guitar
 Tony Glidewell (1988)
guitar
 Eric Gammans (1988-1989)
guitar
 Laurence Archer (1992-1995)
guitar
 Leon Lawson (1995-1996)
guitar
 John Norum (1996)
guitar
 George Bellas (1996)
guitar
 Matt Guillory (1997)
guitar
 Jeff Kolmann (1998-1999)
Pete Way † (1969-1982, 1988-2004, 2005-2008)
bass
 Billy Sheehan (1982-1982)
bass
 Paul Gray (1983-1987)
bass
 Barry Sparks (2004, 2011 only tour)
Drums
 Robbie France † (1984–1985)
Drums
 Jim Simpson (1985-1987)
Drums
 Fabio Del Rio (1988)
Drums
 Clive Edwards (1992-1993)
Drums
 Simon Wright (1995-1996, 1997-1999)
Drums
 Aynsley Dunbar (1997, 2000, 2001-2004)
Drums
 Jeff Martin (2000)
Drums
 Jason Bonham (2004-2005)
Keyboards
 Danny Peyronel (1975-1976)
Keyboards
 John Sloman (1980)
Keyboards, rhythm guitar
 Paul Raymond (1976–1980, 1984–1986, 1993–1999, from 2003 to † 2019)
Keyboards
 David Jacobson (1986)
Keyboards
 Jem Davis (1992-1993)
Keyboards
 Louis Maldonado (2000)

UFO is a British hard rock band that was formed in London in 1969 . Her greatest successes and best-known songs such as Doctor Doctor , Rock Bottom or Love to Love date from the mid-1970s, when former Scorpions member Michael Schenker played the lead guitar in the band and contributed most of the compositions. The British owe their worldwide commercial breakthrough to him.

Band history

The beginnings

UFO was founded in London in 1969 under the initial name 'Hocus Pocus'. Founding members were singer Phil Mogg, guitarist Mick Bolton, bassist Pete Way and drummer Andy Parker . Shortly after the formation, the band name was changed to "UFO" after a London club.

In 1970 the debut album titled after the band name was released on Decca Records . The style of this first album was - similar to the early Deep Purple - more of the hard boogie . In addition, there were borrowings from psychedelic and space rock . Nevertheless, the album's greatest success was the Eddie Cochran cover C'mon Everybody , which was released as a single and which is still sometimes played as an encore at the band's concerts. The second album Flying, on the other hand, had the programmatic subtitle One Hour Space Rock in some versions and presented the band from its psychedelic side. The long playing time of almost an hour as well as the very long, sometimes psychedelic and improvised sounding songs like Star Storm or the title track were outstanding .

The first two UFO albums had the greatest success in Japan , so that the band toured there in 1971. The result of this trip was the live album UFO Lands In Tokyo , which was released outside of Japan under the simple title UFO Live .

The Schenker era

Nevertheless, the band's style seemed too limited, which is why Mick Bolton left the band in 1972 and the band had to look for a new guitarist. First, a replacement for Bolton was found in Larry Wallis . Then came Bernie Marsden , who was refused entry due to a forgotten passport before a concert tour through the Federal Republic of Germany . The Hannoversche Scorpions were the opening act for UFO at these concerts . During this tour, the band became aware of the only 17 year old Michael Schenker , who subsequently appeared as a guitarist for UFO. Then he was brought into the band as a new member instead of Marsden at the end of 1973 because of his playful skills. Immediately after joining the band, Schenker traveled to England to work on the new album Phenomenon . This album was released in 1974 by Chrysalis Records and offered a style much more similar to hard rock at the time , which benefited from the competent solo guitarist and composer Schenker. The classics on this album are "Doctor Doctor" and "Rock Bottom".

With the entry of Michael Schenker, the band was able to consolidate their style in the following years and also become commercially successful. In 1975 and 1976 the albums Force It and No Heavy Petting appeared , which made UFO so popular. The final breakthrough came with the 1977 album Lights Out , produced by Ron Nevison , which reached number 23 in the US Billboard charts . In addition, Paul Raymond joined the band as the second guitarist for this album , who also acted as keyboard player and thus expanded the sound spectrum of UFO. However, the first personal tensions between Phil Mogg and Michael Schenker arose at this time. In 1978 the album Obsession was released , which could not repeat the success of its predecessor in the USA, but reached number 26 in the charts in Great Britain and contained another classic with the single Only You Can Rock Me . The 1979 live album Strangers in the Night , on the other hand, became UFO's greatest success and reached number 8 in the British album charts, a top 10 position. Soon after this album, drug problem-plagued Michael Schenker split up with UFO because of differences with singer Phil Mogg. After a brief return to the Scorpions, Schenker founded his own band, The Michael Schenker Group / MSG .

UFO in the early 1980s

In Paul Chapman , who was a brief member of the band in 1974, UFO quickly found a successor for Michael Schenker. The first album of this phase, No Place to Run from 1980, which Beatles producer George Martin was at the controls, reached number 51 on the Billboard charts and number 10 in the UK charts. During this time, UFO gained cult status among the supporters of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal , especially in their home country . They also enthusiastically recorded the 1981 album The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent . While record sales declined in the US , they picked up in the band's home country.

The 1982 album Mechanix also flopped in the US, while it became another hit in the UK . Bassist Pete Way quit the same year, briefly joined Ozzy Osbourne and a few months later founded Fastway and then Waysted . He was succeeded by the future bassist of David Lee Roth and Mr. Big , Billy Sheehan . Paul Gray from the punk band The Damned replaced Billy Sheehan on the 1983 farewell tour. In the same year the album Making Contact was released . The album became a relative flop in the UK, missing the top 20 for the first time in the Paul Chapman era. The Welshman and Neil Carter shared the bass parts on this album, which was too focused on American AOR rock .

The attempt by the singer Phil Mogg to put together a new band under the name UFO lasted two years from 1984. The album Misdemeanor fell through with the old fans of the band as well as with the rest of the audience.

The restless reunions and the time after

Paul Raymond on guitar

It wasn't until 1992 that Pete Way and Phil Mogg found each other again and decided to let UFO reappear. With Laurence Archer on guitar and Clive Edwards on drums, the comeback album High Stakes & Dangerous Men was created, and in the same year the live recording Lights Out in Tokyo . The new material was a throwback to the 1970s, which revived public interest in the band. 1993 it finally came to a reunion of the successful Schenker / Mogg / Way / Raymond / Parker-occupation of the 1970s. After the album Walk on Water was released in 1995 with this line-up , the old tensions between Schenker and Mogg reappeared. During the world tour, Schenker left the band, so that UFO were faced with another end.

Phil Mogg and Pete Way worked on two more albums under the name "Mogg / Way" by the end of the decade, before Schenker rejoined the band in 2000. That year the album Covenant was recorded and released. In 2002 the album Sharks was released. Both albums were able to inspire the critics for the Schenker line-up again, but Schenker was again unwilling to continue to cooperate with the band. At this time, the Paul Chapman era also experienced a belated appreciation when the album The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent was ranked 127th in the list of "Top 300 - The best records of all time" by Rock Hard magazine .

Schenker left the band again in 2003, and Vinnie Moore took over his guitar role . In addition, Jason Bonham was added to the band as drummer in the same year . In 2004 the traditionally oriented album You Are Here was created with this line-up . On the tour for this album, the band recorded their performance in Wilhelmshaven on May 13, 2005 , which was released on CD and DVD in early 2006 under the title Showtime . In the meantime Bonham left the band and was replaced by original drummer Andy Parker. The band is still active and touring regularly. They also performed at the 20th Wacken Open Air anniversary in 2009.

In November 2013 it was announced that Pete Way, who had not participated in band activities since 2008 due to liver problems from alcohol consumption, had prostate cancer. However, he has since recovered from this disease. Rob De Luca ( Spread Eagle , Sebastian Bach ), who first represented Pete Way on tour in 2008, has been a member of the band since 2012.

In 2014 the band began working on their album A Conspiracy of Stars in England . For the first time, she worked with producer Chris Tsangarides , who has worked with Judas Priest and Black Sabbath , among others . He was already involved in the recordings for Phenomenon in 1974 . Both sides were mediated by Quireboy's singer Spike , who used to play in this band with Phil Mogg's nephew Nigel Mogg. A Conspiracy of Stars was released in Germany on February 20, 2015. It is the first album with the new bassist Rob De Luca, who contributed some compositions.

The new album The Salentino Cuts contains cover versions of various songs selected by the band members. It will be released on September 29, 2017.

In May 2018, singer Mogg announced his departure from the band for 2019 on the band's homepage.

After guitarist and keyboardist Paul Raymond died unexpectedly of a heart attack in April 2019, UFO announced that Neil Carter, who had played with UFO from 1981 to 1983, will be represented for the rest of the Last Orders Tour. Former guitarist Paul Chapman died on June 9, 2020 on his 66th birthday. Founding member and longtime bassist Pete Way passed away on August 14, 2020 at the age of 69, two months after an accident in which he was seriously injured and from which he no longer recovered.

style

UFO's music is shaped by Michael Schenker's electric guitar. He usually plays power chords to accompany singing, and his solos are characterized by great precision at high tempo. Paul Raymond plays the rhythm guitar and keyboard, although the latter, with the exception of the ballads, is in the background musically. Bassist Pete Way accompanies with rather simple bass playing. Drummer Andy Parker also uses the double bass, unlike other early hard rock bands . The band members use Engl brand amplifiers and the drums are from Premier Percussion .

Portraits of the band members

  • Phil Mogg

  • Pete Way / Died August 14, 2020

  • Vinnie Moore

  • Paul Raymond / Died April 13, 2019

  • Andy Parker

  • Rob De Luca

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE CH CH UK UK US US
1975 Force It DE35 (12 weeks)
DE 		- - US71 (13 weeks)
US
1976 No heavy petting - - - US169 (4 weeks)
US
1977 Lights out - - UK54 (2 weeks)
UK 		US23 (24 weeks)
US
1978 obsession - - UK26 (7 weeks)
UK 		US41 (18 weeks)
US
1980 No place to run - - UK11
silver
silver

(7 weeks)UK 		US51 (13 weeks)
US
1981 The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent - - UK19 (5 weeks)
UK 		US77 (11 weeks)
US
1982 Mechanix - - UK8 (6 weeks)
UK 		US82 (14 weeks)
US
1983 Making Contact - - UK32 (4 weeks)
UK 		US153 (5 weeks)
US
1985 Misdemeanor - - UK74 (2 weeks)
UK 		US106 (19 weeks)
US
2000 Covenant DE53 (1 week)
DE 		- - -
2002 Sharks DE75 (1 week)
DE 		- - -
2009 The Visitor DE86 (1 week)
DE 		- UK99 (1 week)
UK 		-
2012 Seven Deadly DE55 (1 week)
DE 		- UK63 (1 week)
UK 		-
2015 A Conspiracy of Stars DE28 (1 week)
DE 		CH72 (1 week)
CH 		UK50 (1 week)
UK 		-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More studio albums

  • 1970: UFO 1
  • 1971: UFO 2: Flying
  • 1974: Phenomenon
  • 1988: Ain't Misbehavin '
  • 1992: High Stakes & Dangerous Men
  • 1995: Walk on Water
  • 2004: You Are Here
  • 2006: The Monkey Puzzle
  • 2017: The Salentino Cuts

Live albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE CH CH UK UK US US
1971 live DE23 (16 weeks)
DE 		- - -
1979 Strangers in the Night - - UK7th
silver
silver

(11 weeks)UK 		US42 (15 weeks)
US

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More live albums

  • 1976: On With the Action
  • 1979: Live in Texas
  • 1982: Regenerator - Live 1982
  • 1986: Misdemeanor Tour
  • 1986: Heaven's Gate
  • 1992: Lights Out in Tokyo
  • 1994: TNT
  • 1998: Werewolves of London
  • 1998: Live on Earth
  • 1999: In Session and Live in Concert (BBC Music - The Archive Series)
  • 2000: Live in Texas
  • 2005: Showtime
  • 2016: Live Sightings

Compilations

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE CH CH UK UK US US
1983 Headstone - The Best of UFO - - UK39 (4 weeks)
UK 		-

More compilations

  • 1976: Space Metal
  • 1981: C'Mon Everybody
  • 1985: The Collection
  • 1986: Anthology
  • 1988: The Best of the Rest
  • 1992: The Essential UFO
  • 1993: The Decca Years
  • 1996: The Best of UFO: Gold Collection
  • 1997: X-Factor: Out There & Back
  • 2002: The Best of UFO: Ten Best Series
  • 2004: Flying: The Early Years 1970-1973
  • 2006: An Introduction to UFO
  • 2007: Live Throughout the Years
  • 2008: The Best of UFO (1974-1983)
  • 2011: All the Hits & More - The Early Days
  • 2011: The Chrysalis Years: 1973-1979
  • 2012: Too Hot to Handle: The Very Best of UFO
  • 2019: Phenomenon (3 CD Deluxe Edition, release 10/2019, CD 3 contains live recordings from November 5, 1974 - concert in Atlanta / USA)

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE UK UK
1970 Boogie For George
UFO 1 		DE30 (2 weeks)
DE 		-
1971 Prince Kajuku
UFO 2: Flying 		DE26 (10 weeks)
DE 		-
1978 Only You Can Rock Me
Obsession 		- UK50 (4 weeks)
UK
1979 Doctor Doctor (Live)
Strangers In The Night 		- UK35 (6 weeks)
UK
Shoot Shoot (Live)
Strangers In The Night 		- UK48 (5 weeks)
UK
1980 Young Blood
No Place To Run 		- UK36 (5 weeks)
UK
1981 Lonely Heart
The Wild, The Willing And The Innocent 		- UK41 (5 weeks)
UK
1982 Let It Rain
Mechanix 		- UK62 (3 weeks)
UK
1983 When It's Time to Rock
Making Contact 		- UK70 (6 weeks)
UK
1986 Night run
 - UK94 (2 weeks)
UK

More singles

  • 1970: Shake It About
  • 1970: Come Away Melinda
  • 1971: C'mon Everybody (only in Europe)
  • 1972: Galactic Love (only in Europe)
  • 1973: Give Her the Gun
  • 1974: Doctor Doctor
  • 1975: Shoot, Shoot
  • 1977: Alone Again Or
  • 1977: Too Hot to Handle (only in USA)
  • 1978: Cherry (only in USA)
  • 1978: Born to Lose (only in Europe)
  • 1980: Couldn't Get It Right
  • 1982: Back Into My Life
  • 1982: The Writer (only in USA)
  • 1985: This Time
  • 1988: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
  • 1991: One of Those Nights
  • 1998: Venus (I Just Can't Quit It Babe)
  • 2013: LIVE 'N' READY EP
  • 2013: Wonderland

Video albums

  • 1994: Too Hot to Handle
  • 2005: Showtime
  • 2010: UFO - Hard Rock Legends

Web links

Commons : UFO  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.laut.de/UFO/ accessed on October 20, 2019
  2. ↑ Former UFO Bassist PETE WAY Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer. In: blabbermouth.net. November 11, 2013, accessed July 5, 2017 .
  3. ↑ 10th March 2008 OFFICIAL UFO Announcement. (No longer available online.) In: www.ufo.band. March 10, 2008, archived from the original on August 12, 2017 ; accessed on August 11, 2017 .
  4. ↑ UFO: 'A Conspiracy Of Stars' Album Teaser. In: blabbermouth.net. January 30, 2015, accessed August 11, 2017 .
  5. ↑ UFO - LATEST NEWS. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 28, 2014 ; accessed on August 15, 2017 .
  6. ↑ UFO: 'A Conspiracy Of Stars' Album Teaser. In: blabbermouth.net. January 30, 2015, accessed August 11, 2017 .
  7. ↑ UFO: "The Salentino Cuts" cover album is out in September. In: rockhard.de. August 2, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2017 .
  8. ↑ KM-FFS: UFO - the classic rock band featuring Phil Mogg, Andy Parker, Vinnie Moore, Paul Raymond and Rob De Luca. Accessed June 5, 2018 .
  9. ↑ UFO. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  10. ↑ UFO - Ex-guitarist Paul Chapman is dead , accessed June 15, 2020
  11. ↑ a b c d Chart sources: DE CH UK US
  12. ↑ a b Music Sales Awards: UK