Disco de UFO: “Strangers in the Night”

After 5 stellar studio albums, in 1979 UFO (Phil Moog, Michael Schenker, Andy Parker, Pete Way, Paul Raymond) released the live record Strangers In The Night. It went on to become highly acclaimed and a favorite among many musicians. However still criminally underlooked. What makes this different from the studio albums? UFO seemingly, after hearing the bonus live cuts on their new 2008 remastered editions come off as a cool live band but their performances are raw and in a way lack spark. This album however, track for track, second for second captures a spirit of rock and roll rarely heard on a live release. Re-relesed in 1999 with two bonus cuts and an altered track listing that more accuratly fit UFO's set list of the time, the sound is superb as is the 2008 as well. Apparenly the inbetween song banter and chat from Phil Moog and Pete Way was not on the original record however I think it adds a better live feel. With that in mind there are also no drop out or fades which is the case with about 98% of every live album you'll likely to hear. The show is one long concert with the exception of the two bonus cuts Hot N Ready and Cherry which were recorded at two seperate venues and tacked on at the beginning. Normally this wouldnt be very acceptable but the record isnt disrupted at all by it and if historical significance prevails that UFO did open their 78/79 tour with these tracks then let it be so here. As for the songs...guitarist Michael Schenker has complained there could've been a better song list. And while it's very very hard to see anything wrong with this albums tracklisting which is just about the best of UFO you can get. True there were some lost nuggets on those early albums but the major highlights will always be picked when it comes to this sort of thing. As for the performances themselves, UFO are tight as ever, possibly the tighest live on record band I've ever, very crisp, clean but very heavy, translating that vicious guitar sound from studio to stage without problem. The tracklisting itself fits quite nicely together as after you hear this album it'll be impossible to think of Natural Thing without Out In The Street as a segueway. Or This Kids following the in your face strut of Mother Mary. All the selected tracks take on a life of their own as they never have before but one makes special note of this on the closing epic ballad from the Lights Out album - Love To Love. The song, while surely effective in studio truely shows what a masterpiece it is in a live setting. Doctor Doctor, while a force of a song on the debut, also takes a much larger shape here in this setting to become a fist pumping hard rock anthem for the ages. Rock Bottom, once more...stretched out to almost 10 minutes here becomes a true guitar show case for Schenker and demonstrates just how much style he really had with the Flying V. With the good times roll party boogie of Too Hot To Handle wraps things up along with the encore Shoot Shoot, it ends up being the perfect show. Schenker quit the group after the album was recorded thus preventing any overdubbing, which unlike almost any other live album, this is how it was and there are zero mistakes, adding to the authenticity of how great this player was. Though it was said that Mother Mary and This Kids were studio tracks with crowd sounds, its impossible to tell. In the end, it goes without saying this belongs right up there with Thin Lizzy's Live And Dangerous, Kiss Alive!, Seger's Live Bullet, Deep Purple's Made In Japan, Cheap Trick's At Budokan and Nugent's Double Live Gonzo as the crowning live albums of all time and UFO's star document of talent and musical chops. Essentially this a record no rock fan should be without.

the original strangers in the night is my all time favorite rock album. it is the sound track for my teenage years. not only does it bring back memories of those days of old but i've never stopped listening to it so it's still as fresh today as it was back then. to me ufo is the greatest live band ever.none of their studio recordings ever quite captured the essence of what they truly are. this recording does. i can't recall ever playing this for anyone that wasn't captivated by it. songs like "love to love", "rock bottom", "i'm a loser" , just have to be heard to be believed. there is not a bad note to be found here. now with the extra tracks and different order of the songs this perfect album just gains another dimension of greatnessi would suggest everyone in the world have a copy of this album...even rap and country fans, just so you know what you're missing!

There was glut of live albums released in the late seventies, thanks, in no small part, to the hideous multi-platinum "Framptom Comes Alive". Most of those live albums were forgettable, but "Strangers in the Night" in one of the greatest live albums of the era. This recording captures a young hot UFO at its performing peak.

At the time UFO was opening for BOC, and they played that familiar late seventies blues influenced metal. In many ways this album represents an evolutionary link between 70's blues metal and 80's hair metal.

I appreciate the remastering and reshuffling of the song order to reflect the true set list. And this is the perfect opening act show, it starts out strong, then kicks it down a notch, before building to the final four songs in a gushing guitargasm.

Guys got this album for the guitar solos, and Michael Schenker puts on a clinic here. His shredding brightens up even the most cliched rock riffing. "Lights Out" is my favorite tune of this set. Not too many songs end on a guitar solo, and the one at the conclusion of "Lights Out" ranks up there with the best.

This live album captured UFO at their collective musical heights. It also continues to be left in the closet which is a sad statement. If you are familiar with the guitarist Michael Schenker or are not. His playing alone on this record makes this opus a must own. Everything in the production was top caliber as well. Hear a double bass kick played in front of metalheads for one of the very first times a metal band utilized this invention of madness. Mogg's lyrical storytelling leaves etches in the mind that last for the rest of your life. If you dig 70's and 80's metal, this was as real as Ozzy's hangovers in those days. Buy it! You will not be let down.

Wow... what else can I say? This is THE best live album ever, from the most under apprechiated band ever. So many guitarists owe their living to Michael Schenker- Van Halen, Malmsteen, Vai etc.... but none have ever captured his technical genius of soloing with complete melody. Back when all my friends were listening to Styx, Kansas, Journey and all the other sappy American bands, I would put this album on and blow them away. This album is the standard by which all live albums can be judged, but never equaled. It's incredible to think that this set still sounds fresh even today- and these guys simply walked on to a stage with nothing but amplifiers and instruments and just played. No smokebombs, lasers,hangings,choreography and twenty tractor-trailers filled with other trickery. This album has withstood the test of time because of superior song writing, arrangement and live performance, something all "bands" today sadly lack.