UFO – Live Force

Live Force

The Record Plant Sausalito, California USA October 6, 1975

(61:34) Let It Roll, Doctor Doctor, Oh My, Built For Comfort, Out In The Streets, Space Child, Mother Mary, All Or Nothing, This Kids, Shoot Shoot, Rock Bottom (Record Plant Sausalito, California USA September 23, 1975) C’mon Everybody

UFO’s tour in 1975 to promote Force It, their second album with guitar virtuoso Michael Schenker, produced a couple of great sounding radio broadcasts, the one featured here being the best in terms of sound quality and performance, the other from New York with the title Big Apple Encounters was recently released on the official Bootleg box set was a great recording but the performance was un inspired.

The sound of this recording is excellent stereo, well balanced mix of the band and when turned up loud sounds as if the band is in your living room. The recording was done with the band in a studio with a small crowd that can be barley heard. The recording starts with the sound of Schenker’s guitar and the opening of Let It Roll, the addition\ of short lived keyboard player Danny Peyronel gives the band the ability to flesh out the sound live, he trades notes with Michael to great effect. The bands signature song
is next, Doctor Doctor is a true classic with an aggressive guitar riff the band storms through this and the following track Oh My. The slow down for their interpretation of the Willie Dixon Built For Comfort, slow heavy blues at its best featuring a great guitar solo from Michael also a song that would be dropped from the set after this tour.

One of force It’s brilliant tracks is next, with beautiful playing from Peyronel Out In The Street is one of the bands most endearing tracks with it lyrics of vaudeville life and the bands controlled dynamics that was written musically by Bass player Pete Way. A killer version of Space Child is next, another tracks that would be dropped after this tour it is a show case for the talents of Schenker who plays a fantastic guitar solo, a blistering flurry of notes and melody. Showing the bands belief in their new material the band play another classic, Mother Mary. The song has a dramatic feel to it and was a perfect fit for being played live.

Phil Mogg has a dedication for the next song, “From Cathy To Richard, Its not my fault, I dont know what that means” and they go right into All Or Nothing, a track that was released finally on the re mastered No Heavy Petting disc in 2008. The song has a bubblegum feel and at times sounds almost like a Cheap Trick song. The band continue to deliver material from the Force It record with a heavy version
of This Kids with Schenker just killing the guitar solo, the band is so tight they launch into Shoot Shoot. Played towards the end of the set the song spins a lyrical tale of murder and being on the run that blends perfectly with the music, the band fires on all cylinders.

The last song is of course Rock Bottom, born the year before with its incredible riff the song delivers on all fronts the band lets the track build as Schenker plays his signature solo, starting slow he goes though a quiet passage that leads to the harmony part played against the keyboards then he just goes for it, ripping an incredible solo that combines notes and melody. Only drawback is the key boards are just slightly to dominate in the mix for my taste, Schenker is ripping and we hear Peyronel, AAARRRGGGHHH. The transition to the last bonus track is smooth and sounds like it is from the same recording, the band plays a rocking version of the Eddie Cochran classic C’mon Everybody and a great way to end this disc. Curious as to why there are two recordings from the same venue just weeks apart, possibly due to the first recording being unusable?

The packaging is simple full color inserts with some great pictures, first the cover has a picture of Schenker with Force It graphics, the inside pictures have one with Michael holding a Gibson double neck and one with him playing a Les Paul, unique indeed. 

The song titles and band names are spelled correctly. All of this is housed in a jewel case, great presentation combined with a great recording and performance make this title easy to recommend, just get it and turn it up loud !