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The Monkey Puzzle

UFO - The Monkey Puzzle Audio CD

A fair review of the UFO "The Monkey Puzzle" 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: The Monkey Puzzle
Rating:

Release Date: 2006-09-26
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Hard Being Me 2: Black And Blue 3: Heavenly Body 4: Some Other Guy 5: Who's Fooling Who 6: Drink Too Much 7: Down By The River 8: Rolling Man 9: World Cruise 10: Kingston Town 11: Good Buy You

UFO still has it
The Monkeey Puzzle is a solid, gritty, hard rock album that never lets up. With their latest CD release UFO proves beyond the shadow of any doubt that they can still rock with the best of them. This is the second album that guitar master Vinnie Moore has cranked it up with them. And it was good to see original drummer Andy Parker back. His drumming style seems to fit UFO best. While I think it's very uncool and unfair to try and compare Vinnie with their former guitar great Michael Shenker, because thier styles are completely different. Both guitarist can and do complement lead singers Phil Mogg's vocals. In short, if you have always been a Shenker/UFO fan and maybe are having some reservations about buying this CD because your just not sure if it will be the same old rockin UFO your used to. . . . bannish those thoughts and rush out and get this CD. It's got plenty to like about it. Phil's vocals are sharp, clear and crisp; Vinnie's guitar shines with electrifing quickness, style and grace, along with Andy's drums, Paul's keyboards and rhythm guitar and Pete's, always incredable, bass lines, this CD truely shows that UFO has not lost a single step with their ability to ROCK hard with the best of them. .

Not really a disappointment...
Vinnie Moore's American influence has added even more of that blues flavour now, too. UFO have always dabbled with new sounds and in reality, if you look at tracks like "One More For The Rodeo" and even some of the tracks on "Walk On Water" like "Venus" it is likely Phil Mogg's influence or persuasion, perhaps, that has seen the band compose some bluesy or even country and western style songs in the band's past history. Although, again, even Schenker was playing that style on both "Walk On Water" and "Sharks" at times. So for UFO fans to say that the band has abandoned their former style, I think is a bit harsh.

There are still a few straight ahead rockers on here, and yes, they've added the black gospel style singers on the backing vocals at times, but it works. This is a solid UFO album. Phil is still writing decent, passionate, down to earth lyrics that people can relate to. You can't really say a lot of bad about this band. Even when they've tried something here that is a bit outside of their norm, the talent of the musicians pulls it off just fine. Don't get me wrong, I've had enough of the typical blues rock coming from the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, George Thorogood and the like, to last me a lifetime, but when you've got a guy like Vinnie Moore on the guitar you know something good will come. The rest of the band is tight, as always (regardless of who seems to be at the rhythm helm). Mogg, as well, has this uncanny knack of sounding mundane and unassuming and yet, is able to pull off some excellent melodies within the song that really stick with you. . . He's no ballad boy, but his singing style doesn't annoy a person over time, either.

Monkey Puzzle - the pieces all fit!

Take a look at a handful of these reviews and you'll notice that many of the reviewers are pointing out different favorites. Why do people always feel the need to make foolish comparisons? Were they really expecting another "Lights Out" when they purchased this CD? If you enjoy rock n' roll and you're "generally" a UFO fan, you'll enjoy this CD. . . and overall, the majority of songs are given praise. There's truly a lot of listening pleasure to be had here. Forget Schenker. He had his moment. If you listen to any of his solo stuff lately, you'll realize that Mogg and Way are much better off without him these days. If you're a true UFO fan, take a listen to "Chocolate Box" (Mogg/Way) and "Dancing with St. Peter" ($ign of 4) - both with guitarist Jeff Kollman - both fun and rockin' CD's. Nothing will (likely) ever equal the classics, but good rock and roll is not such a bad "next-best" thing. If you think you can't enjoy UFO without Schenker you're sadly mistaken.
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Monkey Puzzle is actually pretty good
I left it in the CD player in my truck for a couple of weeks and have to say that the tunes really grow on you. Although this will never be a classic like Lights Out or Force It, the album is pretty good.

At first listen the CD was kind of generic, but after actually paying attention to the songs for awhile the album has become one of my recent favorites.

I agree - a BIG letdown for UFO fans.
At least it had several songs that I could listen to, there's only one song on here that even caught my ear (Heavenly Body) and, when compared to all the other great new releases that are out there, the rest of the album is simply a waste of my time. I agree with the other 2-star reviewer here - this was a BIG disappointment to me and a BIG step-down from "You are here". And UFO is one of my 5 all-time favorite bands so that's really saying something.

But it does seem that, after the brilliance of "Walk on Water", each subsequent release wasn't quite as good as the last. "Covenant" and "Sharks" each had some good songs, more than bad, but weren't anywhere near as good as "Walk on Water". And each at least had Schenker, but then he left and Vinnie Moore came on board!

Vinnie may be a competent player and all but he's certainly no Schenker and I agree with the reviewer who said his "shredmastering" gets old after a few listens. He's one of what I refer to as "GITers", a term I use in reference to all these Guitar Institute of Technology graduate clones running around who all sound EXACTLY the same (Chris Impellitteri is another perfect example), technically competent but no heart, only up there playing as many notes as they possibly can in order to impress everyone. Heck, I can't even tell one of these guys from the next when I hear something new by them!! Goes back to my earlier argument that playing ability is only "half a guitarist", compositional skill is the other, more important half!! And Schenker is an excellent composer, far superior to any other guitarist that has ever been in UFO.

Heck the Sign of 4 CD "Dancing with St. Peter" is FAR superior to this and Jeff Kollman is as good as Vinnie Moore but has MUCH more taste and style (I wonder why Moog didn't just ask him to join UFO, he's on the Moog/Way CD "Chocolate Box" too). So get either of these magnificent CDs if you want to hear the BEST thing Phil Moog has done since "Walk on Water" and stay away from this!

Now. . . someone HURRY UP and post a review of the new UFO-Videobiography DVD and let me know if it's worth my time and money!! :)
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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.