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Like those mysterious Unidentified Flying Objects seen
mostly during the 60’s. 70’s and 80’s (and that still have
a cult like following who insist that aliens are visiting
us, probing us and for some obscure reason having sex with
us as well), UFO “visits” us again with a dramatic and strong
album. I’m not sure if they want to probe us or have sex
with us but they sure want to pull in both a new and existing
audience. The band’s 40th anniversary present to their fans
(they were founded in 1968) lands in the form of a new album
featuring two original members lead singer Phil Mogg and
drummer Andy Parker joined by mid-70’s member Paul Raymond
and Vinnie Moore who joined the band in 2002. The veteran
hard rockers have made a variety of terrific albums over
the years and had a virtual who’s who of other musicians
pass through their ranks (Anysley Dunbar best known for
his stint in Journey and former German born guitarist Michael
Schenker best known by many fans for his work in the Michael
Schenker Group and his brief tenures with the Scorpions
that UFO lured him away from in the 70’s)which makes it
all the more remarkable that they have endured and produced
a remarkably diverse body of work over the last 40 years.
The resulting album “The Visitor” isn’t the band’s best
but it manages to provide enough memorable songs so that
the band won’t be embarrassed by it either. ***
“The Visitor” may lack Schenker’s memorable guitar
attack and style but the strong writing and performances
certainly make for a fun and entertaining album. Recalling
the band’s 70’s style of hard rock and bluesy performances,
“The Visitor” stays just long enough to be a welcome diversion
for fans at 42 minutes. The band clearly recognized that
producing an old fashion album’s worth of songs would be
the best way to celebrate their past and still move forward
at the same time. There really isn’t a bad track to be found
on the album. Some are a bit derivative of UFO in their
prime but there’s no crime in that since this is, well,
UFO.
--- Sound: “The Visitor” sounds decent on CD (I can’t
comment on the LP version being released at the same time)with
a bit of head room in the dynamic range department and while
it is a loud sounding album and there is some noticeable
compression in the mastering, this isn’t as bad as the worst
sounding metal album I’ve heard the last Metallic release.
So while this doesn’t represent the potential of an ideal
sounding CD, it’s pretty decent for a new release CD. ---
Final Words:
A strong bluesy sounding hard rock release featuring
two of the original members of UFO along with members from
two different decades to round out the line up (original
member bassist Pete Way wanted to be a part of this release
as well but has been ill). The sound on the CD is pretty
decent although it’s hardly audiophile quality. The album
doesn’t over stay its welcome clocking in at just over 42
minutes which in today’s over long, over stuffed CDs is
a bit refreshing as well.
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