We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago……
They had been around since 1968 but their 2nd LP, “Flying” subtitled “One Hour of Space Rock”, didn’t appear until 1971. UFO formed in London and are viewed by many as a transitional group between hard rock, heavy metal and what became known as new wave British heavy metal. Many bands of the 80’s , 90’s and 2000’s said they were influenced by UFO and the band opened for almost every big rock band of the 70’s. They even recorded a well-received live album derived from these opening act shows.
But for their 2nd LP they were still the proverbially “work in progress”. The band’s sound was focused on guitarist Mick Bolton who gets to spread out on a number of cuts on the LP. The title track lasts over 26 minutes (one of the longest cuts ever recorded to that point) and the song “Star Storm” goes almost 19 minutes. The guitar shredding can get a bit monotonus and the vocals of Phil Mogg are not interesting enough to keep my attention for the entire LP.
The band became more popular when Bolton left in early 1972 and the songs became more focused with the guitar playing of Michael Schenker and later, Vinnie Moore.
I know alot of my hard-rockin friends like this band…I’m just not sure it’s this version.
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