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Covenant

UFO - Covenant Audio CD

A fair review of the UFO "Covenant" 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: Covenant
Rating:

Release Date: 2000-07-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Love Is Forever 2: Unraveled 3: Miss the Lights 4: Midnight Train 5: Fool's Gold 6: In the Middle of Madness 7: Smell of Money 8: Rise Again 9: Serenade 10: Cowboy Joe 11: World and His Dog 12: Mother Mary [Live][*] 13: Let It Roll [Live][*] 14: This Kids [Live][*] 15: Love to Love [Live][*] 16: Out in the Street [Live][*] 17: Pushed to the Limit [Live][*] 18: Venus [Live][*]

Schenker Riffs A-Plenty - CRANK IT UP!
I don't care for live recordings so go ahead and toss the bonus disc included here. Speaking for someone who has all but 2 or 3 of the UFO studio releases, I can say this is a REALLY good release and well worth your rock'n'roll dollars. The studio work here rocks. "Smell Of Money" has one of the best Schenker intros and main riffs ever. "The World And His Dog", likewise. Sure there are a couple of weaker tracks here but the 8 or so gems on this album stand for themselves. Great lyrics and great guitar work. It may not be quite as good as "Walk On Water" but that was an incredible album. "Sharks" seems to follow the downward trend and is somewhat lesser quality than "Covenant". I can't strongly recommend "Sharks". Pick up "Covenant" and enjoy the Mogg/Schenker chemistry once again!.

Covenant: In the Shadow of "Walk on Water"
Even worse, the production, at least to my ears, is muddy, causing some great songs to occasionally get mired down in a sludgy mess. Covenant is a really good UFO album had that the misfortune of following a phenomenal album, Walk on Water.

Keep in mind too that this was released in 2000, a year in which boy bands, Britney, and hip-hop dominated radio play. Bands like UFO were at best fondly remembered by fans; at worst, derided as over-the-hill dinosaurs trying to avoid complete extinction in a musical landscape that would not permit them to adapt.

However, eight years after the fact, I've come to really enjoy the trio of albums UFO released between 1998 to 2002: Walk on Water, Covenant, and Sharks. To me, some of the material on these albums ranks and some of their best work ever. You heard me -- ever. Pretty high praise, but as a fan of guitar driven hard rock, these albums are in heavy rotation on the good ol' iPod.

The stand out tracks to me are "Miss the Lights," "Midnight Train," "Fool's Gold," "In the Middle of Madness," "The Smell of Money," "Cowboy Joe," and "The World and His Dog. " This is a great collection of unappreciated melodic rock!

To be honest, I really didn't care too much for the live album that accompanied this. With the welcome exception of "Venus" and "Pushed to the Limit," it's all been done before -- and better.

On it's own, "Covenant" is an excellent UFO album that had the misfortune of following an album some fans consider their best ever. Another item that probably had a profound effect was Michael Schenker's erratic behavior in the studio and on tour. That in and of itself may have doomed this album from the get go. And that's a shame, as this forgotten little collection of tunes deserves more. I give it a solid 3 1/2 stars. .

Another solid effort from UFO...
It definitely has some weaker moments but it also has some very good songs as well. First of all, yes - Walk On Water is the best of the "reunion" albums, but Covenent is not as bad as some suggest and is actually a very solid album. It seems the people who dislike anything by the band released after 1980 simply want to hear Lights Out, Rock Bottom, Doctor Doctor or any of the other "classics" on a continuous loop. UFO have been making great music for over 30 years and continue to this day, So, while not every album is going to be as strong as (insert your personal favorite here), each deserves to be judged in its own right. The vocals and playing on Covenant are as strong as always. Nobody delivers a vocal like Phil Mogg, Michael Schenker provides both blistering and gentle guitar moments and Pete Way & Aynsley Dunbar are a great rythm section. The songs are typical UFO ranging from hard rockers(Midnight Train) to ballads(Fool's Gold).

Song Highlights include: Love Is Forever, Unraveled, Miss The Lights, Midnight Train, In The Middle Of Madness and Serenade. The bonus live disc is nice but, again, mostly nothing new. There are live versions of Pushed To The Limit and Venus with the rest being the usual fare.

All in all, Covenant is a good album and worthy of a spot in your collection if you're a fan of UFO.

Pretty Good Stuff.....
I suppose it depends on what you are comparing it with and as a fan of their music I would prefer to give them credit for trying to do something original. This album seems to have created quite a split amongst the reviewers in USA who either love it or hate it. Taken in context with their other albums this is not one of their best, but on the whole Covenant has some pretty good stuff on it. You also get a cracking 7 song live set as a bonus so I don't see what you lot are complaining about!
As is always the case with UFO albums it opens well with "Love is Forever" and reaches a high with "Unravelled", a typical Mogg/Way rocker with a catchy basic structure. Next is "Miss the Lights" where lyrically Mogg excels and the style is more commercial. From here on in it slowly goes down hill. "Midnight Train" starts really promising, winding up to a bizarre change of tempo in the middle eight which spoils it completely. "In the Middle of Madness" is fairly light and would be ideal as a single release. "Fools Gold" is also OK, a typical start slow, build and change number that is their trademark style. "Smell of Money" has a raunchy vocal, "Rise Again" is OK then it gradually fades to "Cowboy Joe" and "The World and His Dog" which are a bit lightweight and eminently forgettable. "Serenade" is a very different style and you'll be tempted to get out the maracas!
Being critical you would have to say who ever employed the backing vocalists wants shooting. There are lots of tempo changes which make the songs a little disjointed and generally the drumming is very flat and uninspiring. The fact that the album features Mogg, Schenker and Way gets it 3 stars and with a great live set thrown in that lifts it to 4.
.

UFO low point
Schenker joined the band. This has to be one of the very worst cds the band has put out since 1974 when Mr. I worship Micheal and Phil for their respective talents over the years but to praise this very boring set is well beyond reason. .

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.