Michael Schenker Group
Michael Schenker Group

THE REVIEW

Michael Schenker is one of the most showy, talented, creative, and crazy guitarists, not only from Germany but the entire world. He started his career very young, as a child prodigy, alongside his brother Rudolf with the Scorpions in 1972. He only played on their debut album, "Lonesome Crow", and through a fortunate series of coincidences, he ended up in the UFO.

"Phenomenon, Force It, No Heavy Petting, Lights Out, Obsession" are the studio albums he recorded with them. He left the band due to some disputes in 1979 after the triumphant live album "Strangers in the Night". This is where the legendary story of the Michael Schenker Group and their self-titled debut album begins.

Schenker's solo career really took off thanks to the great musicians who accompanied him: drummer and session man Simon Phillips (currently in Toto), bassist Mo Foster, the great keyboardist Don Airey, and on vocals, the then-unknown Gary Barden, former singer of Fraser Nash. And then there's him, the legendary, great, rock-solid Michael Schenker, a guitarist who’s both refined and heavy, endowed with a great flair but also an uncommon genius.
You can notice it, for example, in the first track, Armed and Ready, a healthy hard rock piece just the way we like it. Cry for the Nations is a piece full of great pathos where singer Gary Barden shows off his incredible voice. Victim of Illusion is another great hard-hitting track, with a good riff and quite a catchy chorus, while Bijou Pleasurette is a classic and virtuoso piece where Michael unleashes his talent.

Then there’s Feels Like a Good Thing, another solid hard rock piece. But the masterpiece of the album is undoubtedly Into the Arena, a piece destined to be rightfully among the great classics and a permanent fixture in live sets. Starting with the intro, and moving through the pounding bass and the great keyboard riff, one can say this song is pure gold. What a blast!
Looking Out from Nowhere is perhaps the most commercial track on the album while Tales of Mystery is a beautiful acoustic ballad. The album closes with Lost Horizons, a unique, epic, mysterious piece that conveys vibrant emotions.

Some may label it as a bit raw and perhaps it’s not the most well-known album of the MSG, but it is definitely one of the most beautiful. To debut like this is every guitarist’s dream.