UFO
Strangers in the Night

THE REVIEW

Strangers in the Night is one of the 10 best hard rock live albums of all time. Unfortunately, though, it is less known than many others.

No offense to the fans of Thin Lizzy and Kiss, but Strangers in the Night wipes the floor with both Live and Dangerous and Alive! together.

And this is not an opinion, but a solid reality.

Michael Schenker was a sort of Ritchie Blackmore vol.2.

Very unstable as a guitarist, he frequently changed bands.

But if you put him on stage, he kicked everyone's ass… well, not everyone's, certainly not Hendrix's, not Blackmore's, not Randy Rhoads's, maybe not even Eddie Van Halen's… but live, he was above everyone else.

In this live album, you'll find all the best UFO tracks.

Now, let's be clear: I think getting a studio album by UFO is kind of a waste … at best there will be two or three strong tracks and all the rest is banal stuff you'll forget after five minutes.

Here, those two or three tracks per album are all together on the same record. Considering that you can get the CD for 2 or 3 euros, it's a freaking bargain. Often, you even get a free poster of a band of your choice that you like (not necessarily UFO, because who the hell wants a UFO poster? Much cooler one of Led Zeppelin, with that damn hermit and his damn lantern).

You might say, well, I might as well get a greatest hits…

Not at all! Here Michael is live, and live he was one of those who liked to mix things up a bit, improvise, not like those Iron Maiden guys who made the pieces always identical, perfect, the same as the original versions… oh, how skilled Murray is.. what precision… do an improv now and then Dave, for fuck's sake!

Let's face it, Live after Death is the most boring live album of all time. There, yes, put on a greatest hits and nothing changes.

Of course, though, he didn't improvise as much as Jimmy Page with his 47-minute scrotum-busting solos… stuff that Plant could go to the dressing room, do a line, screw a groupie and come back in time for the end of the solo… basically, he improvised just enough to make the pieces cooler than the original versions.

The rest of the band? Oh, yeah, there were others in the band too. I don't know who they are and frankly, I couldn't care less, and I don't think you care to know the bassist's name or the drummer's… they won't go down in history, but they knew what they were doing, also because someone as good as Michael usually surrounds himself with good people, not half-wits like those in the Sex Pistols or the Velvet Undersomething.

So, what else to say. Get this cd and spread the word: Strangers in the Night is one of the ten best hard rock live albums of all time!

Those who don't agree deserve to end up like my ex. Want to know what happened to him? Ask him, if he can still talk, that bastard.