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Making Contact/Misdemeanour (UK) [2-On-1 CD]

UFO - Making Contact/Misdemeanour (UK) [2-On-1 CD] Audio CD

A fair review of the UFO "Making Contact/Misdemeanour (UK) [2-On-1 CD]" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all UFO reviews here, or go back to the UFO tabs.

Band: UFO
Title: Making Contact/Misdemeanour (UK) [2-On-1 CD]
Rating:

Release Date: 1996-07-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Blinded by a Lie 2: Diesel in the Dust 3: Fool for Love 4: You and Me 5: When It's Time to Rock 6: Way the Wild Wind Blows 7: Call My Name 8: All over You 9: No Getaway 10: Push, It's Love 11: This Time 12: One Heart 13: Night Run 14: Only Ones 15: Mean Streets 16: Name of Love 17: Blue 18: Dream the Dream 19: Heaven's Gate 20: Wreckless

an unfortunate end of great band for a while!
these two albums by ufo were the weakest ever! i am a fan of both the michael schenker and paul chapman era ufos, however by the time making contact was released the band had gone through a revolving door of personal changes which is a situation that does,nt always make for ideal conditions to create great albums under. making contact has a couple of fairly good songs. however after the making contact tour ufo split up for a while. . until 1986 when with yet another new line up they created mis demeanor. . which i bought at the time thinking it,s great ufo is back sort of!. . when i brought it home i could,nt wait to hear it!!. . . wow what a disappointment. . for the first time i had a ufo album that i did,nt even like one song from! i gave it 2 more listens. . and never listened to it again!!it is not a misdemeanor it is a felony!.

"This Time" Worth the Purchase Price
An interesting bit of info: Bassist Pete Way, a member of the original UFO line-up, left the band in 1982 to form Fastway with Motorhead guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke. One of my favorite songs from 1986, "This Time" comes from the Misdemeanor record (Phil Mogg and Paul Raymond are the only holdovers from UFO's glory days). I've always wondered if this is where the band's name came from: Fast Eddie + Pete Way = Fast-Way, or Fastway. Curiously, though, Way was never an official member of Fastway, and the band's 1983 debut record makes no reference whatsoever to who played bass on the album's 10 tracks. A possible falling out among friends that was forever given the hush-hush?.

Blinded by the Lies
The first half of this CD, "Making Contact", is a three-to-four star effort at best, more lightweight in style with a drifting towards American rock. Anyone giving this five stars must have a seriously pants music collection. Despite no Schenker on guitar, tracks like "Blinded by a Lie", "Diesel In The Dust", "The Way The Wild Wind Blows", and "When its Time to Rock" are examples that UFO could still cut it with the best.
After this album the band musically disintegrated. Phil Mogg and Paul Raymond were the only remaining members when "Misdemeanor" was produced and Raymond didn't stick around for long after that. This album is "UFO does Duran-Duran" and I can't say that any of the tracks are worth a listen. Cheesy lyrics, bad hair styles, this is really awful. Don't be fooled by the only good point which is the excellent album cover.

If you like Bon Jovi tributes then you might find something here. Unless you are a real UFO fan who must have all their albums then don't bother with this one. Go for the live "Strangers in the Night" or studio wise "Walk on Water" or any of the seventies Schenker albums first which are all real five star efforts! (see my other reviews!).
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Not as good as Schenker era, but better overall songwriting.
With the departure of Schenker the band incorporates much more of a keyboard emphasis. Schenker's distinctive guitar tone, vibrato and excellent palm muting is missing on these releases. The first thing I want to mention is that I can't understand the cruel reviews that the "Misdemeanor" CD has received. It is really pretty good. First I will comment on "Making Contact", though. This disc includes what I would say is UFO's best post-Schenker hit single. This would be "Blinded by a lie". Other than that there are about two other decent songs and the rest are just so-so. Lyric wise, the songs are a bit more in depth than previous releases with Schenker. For guitar playing, Paul Chapman is no Michael Schenker, though. He is very average when you get down to it. Very little vibrato, average speed, average tone, decent speed on the power chords, but that doesn't take a virtuoso. Any pretty good guitar player can this stuff and even a lot of the stuff Schenker put out, for that matter. On a basic level his work is not that hard, but it's the subtle components that often makes a guitar player's writing special. Chapman never really possessed those attributes in his work.

Next is "Misdemeanor". UFO definitely starts sounding like Bon Jovi here. Mogg is not able to compete in this area and his style of conveying lyrics is quite awkward. Still, none of the songs are really awful. In fact, again, there's about four decent tracks that stand out. But what is most remarkable is the guitar playing that makes this average keyboard-driven pop metal album really attractive. I play guitar but I'm not a good player. Still, I can certainly pick out a guitar great when I hear one. Atomic Tommy M is the guitarist here. This guy is just as good as Schenker. Just fantastic. He doesn't have Schenker's ability to produce those subtle palm mutes and left hand vibrato, but he has some other tricks. Just listen to his hard fast picking and hammer-on/pull-offs. Also, his sense of melody is on par with Schenker, coupled with pinch harmonics and the use of the right hand on the tremolo bar, instead, to obtain a thinner vibrato. Reminds a person a lot of another great Japanese/American guitarist, Jake E. Lee anyone? Don't know where Atomic Tommy went to after his stint in UFO, but I would include him in the same league as Schenker, Rhoads, Malmsteen, Satriani etc. In fact, I read that UFO had considered using the great Yngwie Malmsteen on "Misdemeanor", but opted for Atomic Tommy M guy instead.

great cd
First of all i'm a die hard UFO fan,i own EVERY UFO album not just the michael shenker cd's. . some of you fools reviewing the ufo albums without michael . . 1) do the band a disservice 2)are smokin crack, and 3) are very inept in your musical judgement. While i'm a huge shenker fan he is far from the greatest guitar god,and i hate to break the news to ya's but for overall sound/effect and appeal paul chapmans just good as michael on many a song. That bein said MAKING CONTACT is one of the top five UFO albums MADE!!!! the top five UFO albums any fan should get are (PHENOMENON,LIGHTS OUT,NO PLACE TO RUN,MAKING CONTACT,and WALK ON WATER) along with the two live cd's BBC,and strangers in the night. Misdemeaner has some cool 80's guitar and is an attempt at mainstream(and they deserve to be mainstream) so who can blame them,and some of these songs are pretty cool. . . IF,I might add if you have an open mind (so that excludes most of you shenker diehards).

You can see a complete list of all UFO discography, or go back to the UFO tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.