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MICHAEL SCHENKER
My Years With UFO
earMUSIC

MICHAEL SCHENKER is synonymous with the term guitar hero. Schenker began his career along with his brother RUDOLPH SCHENKER in SCORPIONS before departing to join UK rockers UFO, where Schenker gained notoriety. The relationship with frontman PHIL MOGG was volatile, but it worked for a string of albums before Schenker departed. He made a cameo on another SCOPRIONS album, Lovedrive before venturing out on his own with MSG or MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP.

On My Years In UFO Schenker is revisiting the classic years from his tenure with UFO. You can easily say that was the band's 'glory years'. That era produced UFO and then MSG set staples like "Doctor Doctor", "Rock Bottom", "Only You Can Rock Me", "Natural Thing", "Love To Love", "Lights Out", "Too Hot To Handle", and "Shoot Shoot".

For My Years In UFO Schenker is joined by a cast of characters, with the core band composed by keyboardist DEREK SHERINIAN, drummer BRIAN TICHY, and bassist BARRY SPARKS. There's an impressive lineup of guest star vocalists and fellow six stringers including AXL ROSE, KAI HANSEN ROGER GLOVER, SLASH, JOHN NORUM, JOEY TEMPEST, BIFF BYFORD, JOE LYNN TURNER, JEFF SCOTT SOTO, DEE SNIDER, STEPHEN PEARCY and more. My Years With UFO is a tricky move from Schenker as he's coming off a string of fine studio efforts, and a recording like this is a momentum buster. Schenker has also been a part of a Heavy Hitters album series by Cleopatra Records. These cover compilations are a mixed bag, mostly uninspired and bland. Schenker covered some UFO for the bonus tracks on Heavy Hitters and again on 'another' Cleopatra Records album titled An Ultimate Tribute To UFO. It's a hard task to improve on a classic, and My Years With UFO is no different. I'm sure the star power featured within will draw interest, to help sell or stream the back catalog and stream the new renditions.

My Years In UFO has a handful of good moments. Joe Lynn Turner shines on "Doctor, Doctor" and "Too Hot To Handle" and brings his distinct signature vocal to the classics. Jeff Scott Soto brings the fire power on "Lights Out" and EUROPE's JOEY TEMPEST does his best to channel his best Phil Mogg on "Only You Can Rock Me". As I listened to these recordings, one thing is for certain: Phil Mogg was an adequate singer, nothing outstanding in the vocal department; however, the delivery and attitude of the performance, along with his lyrical genius, more than made up for what he lacked in vocal ability.

My Years In UFO is worth listening to at least once for the curious, and of course the completists will buy it. The album will then get tucked away in the Schenker or UFO collection and stay there, collecting dust and falling into obscurity.

2.5 Out Of 5.0