#5 UFO - Strangers In The Night

Recorded during Rock's first and strongest grip on the music industry, UFO's live album "Strangers In The Night" was taken from their live tour of America in 1978. It is by and large, one of the more anonymous records that punctuated that era, never receiving the same admiration as other seminal works from more storied bands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, or even live albums from the period, like Thin Lizzy's "Live and Dangerous" or AC/DC's "If You Want Blood".

Which is a massive shame, because it's fucking brilliant. As a live chronicle of a bands back catalogue, this is up there with the holy trinity of Classic Rock live albums(The aforementioned twosome and Deep Purple's "Made in Japan"). The prog stylings of "Love to Love You", AC/DC-esque(if only in the titling, UFO similar to the Aussie band in the tendency to use the word "Rock"in as many songs as possible) "Rock Bottom" and "Only You Can Rock Me", and my favourite, the excellent "Doctor Doctor".

For those of you who know little to nothing of UFO apart from their homage to extra-terrestrial life, never fear, I will inform you.

Formed as far back as 1969, UFO were very much part of the early British adoption of the Rock N' Roll scene and later development into the budding Heavy Metal scene.

After recruiting Scorpion's guitarist and general madcap Michael Schenker in 1973, the bands musical  breakthough came whilst recording 1977's "Lights Out" album. The band scored success with the album prompted them to record themselves in their musical peak whilst trundling around the US, which leaves us with "Strangers In The Night".

My Dad loves this album. As a big UFO fan, and therefore self appointed "defender" of UFO given the minimal fanfare that surrounds them these days, my old man felt the need to blast them out of his stereo system with an internal sense of kinship. Because, for him - and latterly myself, it was quite obvious that UFO were never going to penetrate the cultural Zeitgeist of the musical world, reaching the stadium filling, Marshall amp shattering heights of Zeppelin, AC/DC or latterly Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi or Gun N' Roses.

But that was the point. The album, the music and the band felt personal. Rather than turning into the distant, larger than life characters presented by some members of the music industry, it almost felt like one of your friends bands. Don't get me wrong, UFO are for all intents and purposes a "big band", and very comfortably support themselves to this day. It's not like they're a small garage band that my Dad discovered as a teenager and kept the tapes.

But that's not the point. The thing was aside from being a cracking band, with all the big belting choruses, guitar solo's and fills you would expect(honestly, if AC/DC or Aerosmith brought out "Doctor Doctor", it'd be massive), they were small, and therefore very close. They keep going because they rely on their fans, and their fans rely on them. It's a little heartwarming, almost to be part of a cult that relies on all its members continued loyalty to keep afloat.

And to me, that was important. The music being great helped too. The music that came out of "Lights Out" was as bold as anything came out that year(including the outbreak of Punk) - the use of keyboards, extended solos and instrumental pieces topped off by lead singer Phill Mogg's near operatic tone reminded me of the Iron Maiden led "NWBHM(New Wave of British Heavy Metal)" that came a year later, and was expertly captured in "Strangers In the Night".

The energy, the musicality and bound together by a band that is clearly at the zenith of the musical career, where talent and ambition briefly marry with the newly found professionalism and maturity that only comes with experience.

UFO - not a lot of people know who they are. And isn't that nice?